During the third week of our mentoring relationship, Nicole was back teaching her kindergartners and was busier than ever. I'm glad we began our mentorship while Nicole was on vacation so we could spend a lot more time talking. This week, we mostly emailed each other for our communication. I did get to see Nicole more in person because she was back at school, so we also had quick conversations as we were passing each other in the halls.
For our in person mentoring session this week, we had planned to practice using the InterWrite tablet to provide visual support during math lessons. However, Nicole was starting her DE experience with a sixth grade class on campus, and she asked if we could focus on that. I knew that I would have time to demo the InterWrite for Nicole in the weeks to come, so this was no problem. I supported Nicole by answering questions about her DE lesson. I also helped to plan out what she would go over in her first main lesson with the sixth graders. To help the sixth grade teacher, I would be in her room Google Chatting with Nicole while teaching an introduction to Google Slides lesson. Nicole's plan for her first DE lesson was ready to be executed.
During our in person meeting this week, I was supporting Nicole in implementing her DE lesson. I stopped by Nicole's classroom before the lesson and talked with her about how she was feeling about it. She said she was nervous because she didn't know what to expect. The sixth grade teacher had never used Google Chat or Drive, so that teacher was more of an observer than someone assisting with the lesson. As we talked about earlier on in the week, I assured Nicole that I would be in the sixth grade classroom co-teaching the Google Slides lesson while Nicole was on Google Chat. I told her I would take care of the sixth grade classroom and teacher and that she didn't need to worry. I told Nicole she only needed to focus on herself and that I would take care of any mishaps that occurred in the sixth grade classroom. This eased her anxiety.
Nicole told me she was worried lesson would be a failure. She said she didn't want to get a bad grade and didn't know if teaching from a distance would be effective. I told her that it would all work out. I explained that even if something didn't go as planned, it was all about the learning experience. I assured Nicole that she was right on track and that everything would be fine. This interaction made me think back to the many times my professors, Tim and Loretta, would remind us Masters students to "focus on the trees, not the forest." I think I felt much like my professors did during the first semester when we were much more unsure of ourselves and how we were doing with EdTech.
After calming Nicole's nerves and going over the sequence of what she would be teaching with Google Slides, it was time for Nicole's recess. That meant if was time for me to run upstairs to the sixth grade classroom to wait for Nicole's call that she would make from her classroom.
A few minutes after I arrived in the sixth grade classroom, Nicole called via Google Chat. We had her projected on a screen so the students could see her. Nicole did an excellent job of introducing herself and the objective of the lesson. She told the students that I would be working with her to teach this lesson. Today she would teach the students how to make a Google Slides presentation. She said that they will be working in groups to create one presentation per group. Each student will be responsible for creating one slide. Looking at the sixth grade teacher's expression in the back of the classroom, I could tell that she was already impressed.
Nicole telling the sixth graders the purpose of today's lesson
Nicole then moved onto the Google Slides demonstration. We were going to try screen sharing through a Google Chrome extension, but decided that morning to keep it more simple. Nicole was worried about trying something new and didn't want to risk it not working. I understood her concern and said that I would be navigating the computer so the students could see the steps and would ask Nicole questions about Google Slides. Nicole was sitting at her computer with Slides open so she could easily explain the steps. Nicole was the teacher and my role was to ask Nicole questions to help clarify any of the steps. First, Nicole explained to the students how to access their Drive from their student portal. I was able to show every step of what Nicole was explaining. She moved onto showing students how to create a new Slides presentation and walked through the basic features. Nicole explained how to change the background, font, add images and videos, and covered all of the basics the students would need for their project. I asked questions that I thought students might ask to keep the lesson fluid and make it engaging for the students. One of those questions was, "Can we have different colors for all of the slide titles?" Nicole explained that all the slide titles need to be the same font and color. She said that even though four or five students will be working on the same presentation, that it needs to look like one person made the entire project.
Nicole explaining the features of Google Slides while I navigated the computer
Once Nicole explained the features of Google Slides, we showed the students how they can work on the same presentation at different times. We showed the students how to know what each person worked on by looking at the revision history. The sixth graders were laughing when they saw Nicole's picture popping up on the slides she was typing on. She explained that they would see the same thing if their group members happen to be working on the project at the same time. The class was in awe of this new way to work in groups and all of the students were highly engaged in this lesson. The final part of the lesson was Nicole creating a presentation, sharing it with me, and a demonstration of how students will add that shared presentation to their Drive. Nicole's recess was coming to an end, so she reviewed her expectations for the projects, thanked the students for being great listeners, and said goodbye to the class.
Later on that day, I asked Nicole how she think the lesson went. She said it went a lot better than she had imagined. She said it was a little tough to know what I was showing the students in Google Slides and that she would like to try the screen sharing extension next time. Nicole was glad to hear that the students were engaged in the lesson. She was laughing at the pictures I took during the lesson because she didn't realize how gigantic her face would look to the class. Nicole was glad that part of her project went well, and said she would be following up with the sixth grade teacher to make sure the students get started on their presentations and work on them asynchronously. I asked Nicole what she thought about teaching at a distance, and she said that it went better than she thought it would and is open to trying more projects like this in the future.
A few days after the lesson, I checked in with Nicole to see how it was going. She said that the lesson with the sixth graders inspired her to contact a kindergarten teacher from another school that she knows. Nicole is going to be leading more DE lesson with her kindergartners and another class. She is thinking of doing reading buddies at a distance and was telling me all of her ideas. Nicole said she didn't know why she was so nervous earlier in the week. As I reflect on how Nicole progressed this week, I am so happy and proud to be working with her. I know that it is Nicole's inner drive to excel that is mainly making her progress at such a fast rate. However, I think our mentoring sessions have also helped to give Nicole more confidence in her EdTech abilities. Seeing the dramatic change in Nicole's viewpoint of distance education from the beginning to end of the week, I can't wait to see what happens in the weeks and months to come! It has been an honor to work with such a driven teacher.
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