Hi! I
'm Hannah from 21st Century K. I teach kindergarten and I help other teachers bridge the gap between traditional kindergarten and 21st century expectations. I am thrilled to share
my free video series with you! This year I tackled the biggest beast of
all in teaching kindergarten exclusively online since the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year. I knew it would be tough, but i had no idea how hard it would be for so many different reasons. I've felt like a first year teacher again!Who's with me?
It's been hard. It was a tough start to the
school year. I was working around the clock and the learning curve was so steep. I felt ineffective and stressed and overwhelmed.I had all the feelings.
It wasn't until I made a shift in my
mindset that things started to improve. So my ultimate message is... when you start
to pinpoint the problem and realize what you can (or can't) do about it, you can start to feel comfortable and successful in teaching again. And that's why my free video series is about...
The top f
our things I've learned teaching online this semester. But, without my shift in mindset I
could have never learned those things. You see,
everyone around me was acting and feeling as though online learning was the problem. I'm here to tell you that online teaching and learning aren't the problem. They are part of the solution. The problem is the hand that we've been dealt in education and in the world today. The problem is the pandemic, and there's not much as teachers that we
can do about that.
But what we can do is our best to offer education regardless of the means. When i decided that I was going to
make online kindergarten as close to in-person kindergarten as I could. And when I decided to give myself some grace about the things I couldn't do and recognize that the situation was the problem and not my mode of teaching... then I was able to find my groove again and start feeling successful teaching in the online platform
in the year 2020.
It wasn't without
some bumps in the road,
and it wasn't without some curveballs. I
t's been
tough for all teachers. I feel you. I see
you. We, as teachers, have gone through so much this year.
W
e've gone from hero to zero and back
again. W
e've felt like essential workers and
discarded workers at the same time. S
o many teachers have been under so many
different kinds of stress this year. M
y heart goes out to every one of
you who is struggling. W
e are a team and, if nothing else, we've
proved that we can help each other during tough times. W
ith each other's help there's
nothing
teachers can't do.
I'm ready to break past 2020 and break
into 2021
prepared for the future. What I've
learned
in the last semester about teaching
doesn't just apply to online learning. T
he things iIve changed about my
teaching
will remain changed for the duration
of my career. You see, the things I've
learned from teaching online also
impact teaching in the classroom, in the
hybrid model,
or any way that you encounter
teaching students.