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The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically altered the education landscape. Many teachers have transitioned their classrooms in and out of remote, hybrid and in-person models. Students of all ages have had to adapt to new methods of instruction and face the unique challenges of pandemic learning. Cedar Crest has also adjusted instruction, offering classes in a dual-delivery model with online, hybrid and fully face-to-face options. This semester, 18 undergraduate and graduate 51���� education students are working as student teachers across the Lehigh Valley—gaining valuable experience during this extraordinary time for educators.

Cedar Crest’s education programs offer enhanced coursework, add-on certificates and a variety of pre-teaching and student-teaching experiences to prepare students for the classrooms of the future. Each year, education students enroll in different field experiences that target various disciplines and settings in education. By the time student teaching begins in the fall or spring of their final year, students will already have completed four field experiences. These pre-student teaching field experiences provide Cedar Crest students the opportunity to practice teaching and classroom management strategies in real classrooms, building a high level of self-confidence.

In their last year at Cedar Crest, education students are placed at a school according to their area of study. Throughout this student teaching experience, students are supported by mentor teachers, college supervisors and a practicum course. Cedar Crest student teachers typically experience two different school settings, either in rural, urban or suburban school districts. This year, pandemic restrictions limited the school choices that were once available for student teachers. Despite these constraints, the Cedar Crest education department made sure that students could still participate in the critical student teaching experience. “Thanks to the endless efforts of Dr. Purdy, student teachers were placed at a school and assigned a mentor teacher,” explains Ivonne Miranda, Ph.D., assistant professor in the education department.   

Using what they learned at Cedar Crest, student teachers adapted to the “new normal” and met the challenges of remote teaching head-on. “Since COVID-19, teaching looks different, and our student teachers have risen to the task of instructing in a virtual environment,” adds Miranda. “Our student teachers’ work in lesson planning, creating interactive slides, manipulatives and worksheets to support students has proven their dedication and foretells their effectiveness as teachers.”

Meet Rebecca Pisko ’21 

A graduate student studying early childhood education, Rebecca is student teaching fourth grade at Jefferson Elementary School in the Allentown School District. Rebecca received her undergraduate degree in communications and marketing and worked in editorial for four years until she decided to return to school to pursue her Master of Education. “I love to write, but it just wasn’t fulfilling and what I was passionate about,” she says. “Education always was.”  

Near the end of the summer, Rebecca learned that her student teaching experience was going to be a little different than she had expected—completely virtual. The 24 students in her class are learning synchronously, meaning that Rebecca is online with her students for the entire school day. “I had to accept that it was going to be a little bit different than I had hoped,” she says. Once she knew her student teaching experience would take place remotely, she began to prepare. “I wasn’t familiar with a lot of the technology and the different curriculums that are being used for virtual,” Rebecca explains. “I did a lot of research to get ready.”

Meet Savannah Jarjous ’21

Savannah’s student teaching experience started this spring at the Jackson Early Childhood Center, a building exclusive to kindergarten in the Allentown School District. Savannah, a transfer student, is now in her second year at Cedar Crest and is majoring in early childhood education. “As a transfer student, I was a little bit behind,” she says. “But, I’ve been able to catch up and will graduate on time. It was hard work, but Cedar Crest helped me make it happen.” 

Savannah’s love for children, especially for her younger cousins, inspired her to become an early childhood educator. “I watched them grow and develop into educated individuals with bright futures ahead of them,” she explains. “Children are born with their entire lives ahead of them and being able to provide them with the education they need to thrive in this world means everything to me.”

Savannah’s classroom at the Jackson Early Childhood Center is completely online, but the students’ days are a mix of live instruction and logging off to complete schoolwork. Once she found out that she was placed in the Allentown School District, Savannah knew that she would be teaching remotely. “I had to figure out how to adapt what I had learned and use it in a digital setting. I reached out to my mentor teacher to learn about what she was doing and how I could best prepare,” she says.

Fortunately, prior to her student teaching placement, Savannah completed a field experience at a daycare where the students were doing online schoolwork. She was able to observe virtual methods of instruction and how those students handled online learning. “I’d seen the good and the bad which helped me figure out what I did and did not want to do in my student teaching experience,” she says. 

Navigating Pandemic Teaching

Since March 2020, the Cedar Crest education department has modified lessons in order to prepare future teachers for both a normal and virtual education model. “They’ve done a great job of adapting to the situation and figuring out how they can prepare us to be able to teach in both kinds of environments,” explains Rebecca. “We’re learning how to teach under these unusual circumstances while keeping in mind that someday we’ll be back to normal in the classroom.”

Student teachers also benefitted learning from Cedar Crest’s experienced education department faculty members. Professors are veteran teachers with experience working in public and/or private schools from pre-kindergarten through secondary school. “Our professors have worked and are working in schools around the area,” says Rebecca. “We learn so much about local districts and are immersed into the teaching experience in the Lehigh Valley.”  

“Hearing about their experiences, their struggles, their reactions and their solutions has helped me learn how to handle these situations myself,” adds Savannah. Professors use their real-life experiences to teach students how to adapt to new circumstances and handle challenges as they come their way. 

Remote learning, for example, has been a major adjustment for schools across the country and led to numerous challenges for both educators and students. Rebecca and Savannah explain that building connections with students, keeping students engaged and focused, and a lack of peer-to-peer interaction are just a few of the many obstacles brought on by the pandemic.

In a virtual environment, educators are finding it harder to build the trust and understanding needed for a successful teacher-student relationship. It is easier to get to know students and their learning styles with face-to-face instruction in the classroom, both students explain. “When you can see their body language, it’s easier to read them and tell when they’re struggling. It is overall easier to get to know your students in-person. It’s even harder when the students are muted and have their cameras turned off,” says Rebecca.

Savannah adds that the teacher-student relationship is the foundation of a successful learning experience, especially in the kindergarten classroom. “You can’t expect your students to trust you and learn from you if you don’t have that relationship as a base. Most students love their teachers, especially the younger students, but getting them to feel that way when we don’t see each other in person has been difficult. Once you establish that relationship, everything else falls into line,” she explains.

Keeping students focused and engaged throughout the day has also been a challenge for the student teachers. The melding of home and learning environments has made it much harder for students to stay focused, and the educators are constantly trying new ways to keep the students engaged in a virtual setting. “Getting the students to sit down, focus and stare at a computer screen for hours of the day when they’re at home is difficult,” says Savannah. “At home, they’re used to playing with their toys and watching TV, not being focused and in school-mode.”

“There are so many other elements going on at home. Students might have siblings who are also learning virtually, or they might get easily sidetracked by other tabs or games on their computers. You have to go above and beyond to keep them engaged and keep their focus,” Rebecca adds.

In addition to video calling platforms, both student teachers utilize virtual tools in their classrooms to keep students on track and engaged in new and exciting ways. Websites such as Google slides, YouTube, ClassDojo, Nearpod and Edgenuity all contribute to the virtual learning experience. “You really have to be able to find new ways to keep students engaged such as using different programs, incorporating videos and playing virtual games,” explains Rebecca. “Teachers are constantly trying to find new resources.”

“These tools have allowed me to make things as hands-on as possible when teaching through a screen and many are interactive. I can move objects around and let the students see things differently,” adds Savannah. “YouTube has also been my best friend recently. There are so many great educational videos and the kids love them.” 

While educators like Rebecca and Savannah are going the extra mile to build strong relationships with their students and make the best of the virtual environment, it remains difficult to foster student-to-student connections. Due to the pandemic, elementary school students, whether they are learning in remote, hybrid or in-person environments, are more separated and isolated from their peers than ever. “This is the age when they start making friends and learning how to build relationships. They’re totally missing out on that and that’s tough. One thing that we’ve been trying to do is figure out how they can have some semblance of that experience in a virtual setting,” says Rebecca.

For Rebecca, Savannah and the other Cedar Crest student teachers, the pandemic brought unexpected circumstances and unique challenges, but also created opportunities for learning, building confidence and improving their ability to adapt and be creative. Time spent teaching virtually will also provide graduates with marketable skills and experience.

Rebecca believes that she is a more well-rounded educator due to her pandemic student teaching experience. “I find myself constantly trying to figure out new ways to go about teaching things, whether it be finding new resources or making my own,” she says. “There’s a lot of pivoting with online learning, and you’re always trying to build and better what you’re already doing. I feel like I’m a better teacher because of it.” 

Virtual student teaching has taught Savannah how to be more flexible and creative. The first three years of her teacher education prepared her for face-to-face teaching in the classroom. Now, the pandemic has shown her how to take everything she has learned and adapt it to be just as effective in a virtual environment. “Through this experience, I’ve grown and built my confidence as a teacher,” she adds.

Lessons Learned

Rebecca and Savannah share these final words of advice for fellow and future student teachers. “My advice for other student teachers is to be flexible and open to learning. This is a unique experience where you’re constantly getting feedback on your work and growing and improving as a teacher. Be flexible, take it one day at a time and if things go wrong, that’s okay—it’s all part of the process,” says Rebecca.

Savannah also recommends that student teachers be flexible, as well as communicate with their mentor teachers and relax and appreciate the experience. Have a backup plan and a backup for that backup plan, and be able to adapt at a moment’s notice, she says. Additionally, a student teacher’s relationship with their mentor is vital to success. “Build a professional and friendly relationship with your mentor teacher. You have to understand their way of teaching, what they’ve been doing and what they plan to do. They also know the students better than you because they’ve already been working with them,” she explains. 

“Student teaching, especially during a pandemic, is an opportunity that you should take full advantage of. Try to relax and don’t forget that your mentor teacher, your professors and your college supervisors are all in your corner and are here to help and support you. It’s a tough experience, but it’s worth it,” Savannah concludes.