Each year, the world experiences many changes politically, economically, and socially, in addition to all of that the public school system has had to maintain balance within this phenomenon. With the cycle of constant changes, teachers have had to adjust the standard classroom expectations year to year to be able to give students the most beneficial material.
“So every year I would reflect back on what worked, what didn’t work, what the students liked, what I liked, and what I didn’t like. What went well and what didn’t go well and I would adapt from that. We definitely needed more time on this topic or this one seems to be a harder topic so we need to spend more time on it than last year. I’m always changing and adapting, not necessarily what I cover, but how in-depth I cover things,” said Spanish teacher Amanda Ford.
The changes that happen within classrooms can become a direct reflection of the changes that happen outside of the classroom. With this knowledge, teachers staying connected to current news becomes an essential part of a teacher’s job.
“The key is that you’re changing and evolving as the changes are coming about so that you keep up with everything and so you don’t have to have a drastic change in one year.”
I saw my older kids do it and I subscribed to lots of online articles, online resources, and online things. I will read about things that are happening and so I will look into it and investigate. We’ll go to professional development about those things,” said math teacher Rebecca Cambron.
Of course, teachers are not able to make all the changes that are needed by themselves which then leads to the involvement of the school system to be able to help make the demand a reality. In most classrooms, the use of apps has been used to enhance a student’s learning experience, but not to its full extent.
“There are many like Conjuguemos.com and StudySpanish.com. Those are the ones that we play from time to time, but unfortunately, we don’t have a school-purchased site where every student gets an account. If the school would pick up the tab for all students to have a certain app that teachers could agree upon,” said Ford. “Could the school pay for it? Absolutely, that would be awesome and sometimes students pay for the paid version of apps. I hate that they have to do that because sometimes the paid version obviously has a lot more bells and whistles.”
The involvement of the school system isn’t the only connection that can help teachers adjust, but also the involvement of other teachers can create the same noteworthy change a teacher needs. Teachers collaborating together gives teachers a way to be able to understand students as a whole instead of just individually.
“One of my education professors also preached to us to beg, steal, and borrow material if something works well. A teacher friend of yours would say ‘Hey, tell me about it and how did it work? Your students did really well, can I borrow your activity?’ So we’re always looking for different ways to help our students and year to year it sort of changes,” said Ford.
The most seen change year to year overall has been the use of technology in everyday life. Teachers have had to adjust to the throw of technology which became most apparent during the time of Covid.
“Covid was a tough period, but I feel like we’re adjusting that and getting back to what we might have called normal before then. We had to make a lot of adjustments as teachers and you guys as students back then because of technology. I know that I’ve incorporated videos a lot more than I used to,” said math teacher Thomas Jenkins. “Every year more technology comes into the classroom, so as math teachers, we’re just looking for ways to incorporate that more and also trying to figure out how to get around those challenges. Technology just keeps becoming more of our daily lives.”
In some curriculums, the use of technology in classrooms has had a more extensive history even before COVID-19. Teachers have had to find a way to make sure that students are learning and advancing with their own knowledge and not the knowledge of what is known as AI.
“You know AI you know that’s a big one obviously and that’s been around in math for at least the start of it. You know all the little apps that they use and those have kind of been sneaking in here and there forever. So we just have to be more diligent and I think that we have Blocksi which is something we can use to control the sites that students go to and those things are going to become more evolved as well,” said Cambron.
Teachers have to take extra precautions around the use of technology and the amount of change that was brought with COVID-19. The job of being a teacher has become even more of a task.
“I would say teachers are constantly getting more stuff added to their plate, more responsibilities, more things that are asked of us and it can take away from teaching itself. There are so many extra things that teachers have to do outside of teaching, but I would say COVID had a huge impact because so much fell on the teachers to post things online. Before it would be hit and miss of the teachers that use Google Classroom or Remind, now who doesn’t use Google Classroom,” said Ford.
Everyone has had to make accommodations for the advancements and changes that have caused significant differences from the previous years. Still, the school system as a whole has been impacted significantly. As the years go on, teachers have had to adapt to these changes and struggles of the world to be able to prepare students for the future.’
“One of my education professors also preached to us to beg, steal, and borrow material if something works well. A teacher friend of yours would say ‘Hey, tell me about it and how did it work? Your students did really well, can I borrow your activity?’ So we’re always looking for different ways to help our students and year to year it sort of changes,” said Ford.
The most seen change year to year overall has been the use of technology in everyday life. Teachers have had to adjust to the throw of technology which became most apparent during the time of Covid.
“Covid was a tough period, but I feel like we’re adjusting that and getting back to what we might have called normal before then. We had to make a lot of adjustments as teachers and you guys as students back then because of technology. I know that I’ve incorporated videos a lot more than I used to,” said math teacher Thomas Jenkins. “Every year more technology comes into the classroom, so as math teachers, we’re just looking for ways to incorporate that more and also trying to figure out how to get around those challenges. Technology just keeps becoming more of our daily lives.”
In some curriculums, the use of technology in classrooms has had a more extensive history even before COVID-19. Teachers have had to find a way to make sure that students are learning and advancing with their own knowledge and not the knowledge of what is known as AI.
“You know AI you know that’s a big one obviously and that’s been around in math for at least the start of it. You know all the little apps that they use and those have kind of been sneaking in here and there forever. So we just have to be more diligent and I think that we have Blocksi which is something we can use to control the sites that students go to and those things are going to become more evolved as well,” said Cambron.
Teachers have to take extra precautions around the use of technology and the amount of change that was brought with COVID-19. The job of being a teacher has become even more of a task.
“I would say teachers are constantly getting more stuff added to their plate, more responsibilities, more things that are asked of us and it can take away from teaching itself. There are so many extra things that teachers have to do outside of teaching, but I would say COVID had a huge impact because so much fell on the teachers to post things online. Before it would be hit and miss of the teachers that use Google Classroom or Remind, now who doesn’t use Google Classroom,” said Ford.
Everyone has had to make accommodations for the advancements and changes that have caused significant differences from the previous years. Still, the school system as a whole has been impacted significantly. As the years go on, teachers have had to adapt to these changes and struggles of the world to be able to prepare students for the future.