Classroom Kickstart Online Teacher Training Program | August 2020

    Hello everyone, welcome back to my blog. Today you're going to be reading about an online course that I've attended in August 2020. The experience was strenuous, challenging nonetheless informative, educational, and creative. This course was given by the U.S. Department of State. Our instructor was one of the most amazing, knowledgeable, and responsible teachers I've ever had in my life. Dear Jacqueline M. Peterson was the creator, moderator, and instructor of this course. It was an intense 3-week program that brought a lot to my attention and changed me as a teacher in the classroom. I was fortunate enough to be teaching at a private course myself at that time (considering the Covid-19 situation). I was able to try almost everything with both young and adult learners. You can find many activities on my blog from that time. Let's dive into the content of the course.

    As I've already stated, the course lasted for 3 weeks and almost 2 weeks ago we did an alumni event with all the graduates to talk about our experience. We've used Canvas Learning Management System (LMS) to hand in the assignments, to participate in discussions, and to watch and read the course content. We've also attended three Zoom sessions every week. In total we had six modules: Classroom Management, Gamification, Teaching vocabulary, grammar, listening, reading, writing, speaking, error correction, and board work. Each week we would watch modal lessons, read articles, and participate in the discussion board. Then we would discuss and practice more on Zoom sessions. We also had groups of four within the group. We would meet up with Dear Jacqueline and practice opening routines, classroom management techniques, the lesson plans, and activities that we create every week. So each week we had two modules and two assignments. I think the best part of this course was the practice sessions that gave me the confidence to work online which became a reality three months later in another lockdown. We've used Zoom Breakout rooms constantly even though we were a small group of 18 students -I guess-. Another thing that was beneficial for me was the detailed feedback we've received for every assignment and discussion board participation we had. It was very valuable. 

    Overall this course appeared in the most needed time for me. I was a little lost as a teacher-student. Miss Peterson worked very hard to help us with anything we need. All the extra material she distributed, in the beginning, is still being used with students from every level. 

    The great news is that now she is giving this course again! This time she spread six modules to six weeks instead of three. I believe everyone, especially the ones who would like to work in K-12 levels would definitely find something for themselves in this training. 

https://classroom-kickstart.com/

Proudly presenting my certificate;