Still Struggling and Learning

The Covid-19 pandemic changed our world forever. As a retired educator, I was very concerned about how this pandemic would affect our schools. I know that change is hard and takes time and commitment, but there was no time for a smooth transition. Suddenly, providing education via distance learning was the norm, and schools had to scramble to address the challenges. It was my concern for schools, students, educators, staff, and school communities that led me to write my second book, Educating with Aloha: Reflections from the Heart on Teaching and Learning. I wanted to challenge the status quo, to encourage anyone who is interested in education to reflect on whether we are preparing our students to become the problem-finders, problem-solvers, and the innovative and empathetic leaders we will need in our future.  I hoped this book could lead to honest and open discussions about how we can improve our schools. But as other authors have shared, launching a book during a pandemic is a challenge. 

Therefore, I was excited when I was asked to present at the Schools of the Future Conference. I was concerned, though, because I had not presented virtually before. I was more comfortable having a talk story session sharing my book through conversation rather than through a formal presentation. I realized though that this was an opportunity to grow, and if there's anything I've learned in my life, it's that we need to be open to new experiences. So I gratefully accepted the invitation.

I was a lot more concerned about my presentation than I would like to admit. I knew what my message would be: that educators need to write and share their stories. It took me awhile to work on my slides and a week before my presentation date, I practiced with my husband. He has always been my most honest critic, and as a non-educator, he sees things from a different lens. As usual, he asked the best questions, and I ended up changing the way I approached my presentation. 

I contacted the host who had been assigned to assist/support me during my presentation. I told him that having retired in 2018, I have not had much experience with Zoom other than attending meetings. We scheduled two sessions where I was able to get comfortable with him and to practice sharing my screen so I could share my slides. It worked just fine, and when I shared my presentation with my husband, he stated that it was much improved.

It's amazing how large conferences have adapted during this pandemic, and SOTF is no exception. The conference organizers communicated regularly via email and held a virtual meeting to share information for the presenters. If I had questions, I could email and I received a response immediately. I was able to view some of the presentations from the comfort of my home, and I appreciated that I had so many choices. The great thing about a virtual conference is that everything was recorded so if I couldn't attend a session at the time it was presented, I can watch it later since the videos will be available until January. 

I wish I could say that everything went smoothly with my session, but for some reason, I couldn't share my screen despite the fact that my host and I had practiced twice and I had used Zoom to share my presentation with my husband. Ordinarily, if something like this happened to me, whether in-person or virtually, I would have panicked, but luckily, the host for my session stepped in and volunteered to share the screen with the audience. Whew!

I will be viewing my presentation when it is uploaded to the SOTF website. This is also something new for me. In the past, I haven't had the opportunity to critique myself after a presentation. It's not something I'm comfortable with yet, but I know that watching it with a critical eye will help me in the future whether in-person or virtually. Hopefully, I'll have more opportunities.