Pilots Prevent
Education
March 16, 2021
Classroom field experience is a key component of University of Portland’s School of Education degree programs, and one of the reasons why its graduates are so sought after by primary, middle and high schools, with close to 100 percent of those seeking a teaching job after graduation getting one.
But when COVID hit last spring, the School of Education had to pivot to online classes, as did pretty much every school in the state—and that, of course, meant all of those classroom field experiences had to go virtual too. Shifting classrooms online was a major challenge for even the most experienced educators, let alone student teachers. Was it even possible for them to continue getting the classroom experience they needed?
Absolutely. In fact, not only did the UP students rise to the occasion and prove it was possible, but they also found that the experience enriched their teaching skills in valuable and lasting ways.
“The asynchronous time has really allowed for student teachers to meet with students individually a lot more easily,” says Deirdre Katz, assistant professor in the School of Education. “They’ve been able to step in and really support the students who are struggling and seeking help, and that one-on-one time has really bolstered how they’ve learned to support students.”
When classrooms shuttered and teaching went online, the SOED students were thrown into the deep end right along with educators who’ve been teaching for decades, and everyone had to figure things out together. “Normally it’s a mentorship situation, and there’s still that, but it’s also been very much more like co-teaching,” says Katz. “Like, ‘Ok how are we going to do this dissection online?’ They’ve learned a lot about collaboration, which is great when you’re dealing with colleagues in the future.”
They’ve also learned a lot about the many tech resources available for online learning. “They’ve discovered a much wider source of materials to make lessons more engaging,” says Richard Norris, a supervisor of student teachers in the School of Education. “I know I was blown away throughout the fall term in seeing what my student teachers could come up with to grab student attention online and the interactive materials they can work with. I saw a level of planning that will definitely carry over to in-person teaching.”
And Katz says the students have gotten impressively inventive with their approach to online teaching. “Right out of the gates they were asked to brainstorm and use their creativity,” she says. “And a lot of them have adapted things they’ve seen in the classroom for online. They’ve really had to rise to the challenge and be entrepreneurial and think, ‘How can I take this thing and turn it into something else?’”
And all of that translates to a mindset of resilience and determination when they do get to be in the classroom with students again. “They really grappled with this question of ‘Am I really learning the skills to be a teacher? How will it be when I get to be in the classroom?’” says Katz. “But we’ve been reminding them of the skills and assets they’ve acquired in this unique online environment. They had to jump in and figure it out. No one was handing them anything.”
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