Prompt: Reflect on what you learned from the EdTalks project and how you could apply that knowledge or skill to your own teaching.
The Edtalks project was a very valuable step in my pre-service teaching journey. I learned the importance of engaging conversations, being prepared for lessons, and many teaching strategies I could use at my job now and in my future career. This project helped me learn how to prioritize key aspects of the material that I was given. In my case, my book was pretty long and there was a lot of topics and experiences that my character faced. So, my partner and I really had to pull out the most important lessons from the book and learn how to weave it into our discussion. For me, I think the turning and talking to a partner during each presentation was really beneficial and something I’ll use a lot in the future. It helps to get to talk to a classmate about the questions before we are asked to share to the whole class. I know as a student I felt less anxious sharing my responses when I had someone agreeing with me. I think this reassurance is something that can be used in all classrooms and in any grade. Making sure we connected with the audience during our presentation by getting their feedback throughout was really important for engagement and something I liked that other groups did as well. Getting your audience to participate by using the whiteboard, sticky notes, or giving thumbs up or down are all examples of this. I learned the importance of teamwork and being flexible with ideas. We both had to listen to each other and adjust to what each other was saying so that our project blended well.
While those were all technical things, I learned from working on the project, I also acquired a lot of knowledge and strategies to benefit the emotional well-being of my students. We talked a lot about the importance of accommodating to each individual student and being empathetic to their situations. In all of our books, the characters experienced some type of adversity. The situations were very realistic and can happen to any one of our own future students. I learned the importance of looking out for my student’s mental health and being a trusted adult, they can go to when they need. Reaching out to students who are struggling, noticing changes in behavior, and having private check-ins are all strategies we discussed, and I will use throughout my career. We also talked about setting boundaries and helping students find resources when further expertise is needed. I will be sure to separate my home and work life and make sure I know when I can’t do enough to help my students. Overall, I have realized how much a teacher’s job isn’t just education.
