Lauren with her husband and daughter!
Teacher Name: Lauren McDonald
Office Location: Harrisburg
Currently Teaching: Kindergarten
How do you build relationships with your students?
In addition to spending some time talking with my students during our biweekly calls, I like to give them opportunities to share about themselves in LiveLessons and class activities. In turn, I try to share things about myself with them, so even though we aren’t seeing each other in person each day, we still have a chance to get to know each other. Since elementary has vertical teams now, I think it is even more important to try to encourage students in my class to form relationships with each other. Many of my Learning Coaches are excited at the thought of seeing the same names and faces in LL in the years to come!
What are your favorite ways to engage and involve students in your lessons?
I love to find new ways to get my kindergarten students actively engaged in my lessons! This is one of my goals for myself this year. Since the majority of my students are not able to spell, especially at the start of the year, the chat pod is something that is used more by Learning Coaches than students. So, we spend a lot of time in the beginning of the year practicing with microphones, requesting control, and the other fun tools of LiveLesson. Once they get the hang of things, we can use a Pod Practice set up, breakout rooms, or even just a few whiteboards on the screen, and my students go from being just passive participants in LL to being truly involved in an activity to practice skills and demonstrate their understanding of the lesson content.
When you’re not working, how do you spend your time?
Outside of work, most of my time is spent with my husband, Kevin, and 4 year old daughter, Jocelyn. We like to get out and do things together, but we also really enjoy having downtime at home and watching movies on the couch together! I also love to go to Georgia to visit my family any chance I get!
What are you looking forward to this holiday season?
I’m really looking forward to some time to relax and recharge over Winter Break! I can’t wait to be able to sleep in a little bit and enjoy spending days at home with my daughter! We are going to have fun doing Christmas crafts, making Christmas cookies, and reading Christmas stories.
Thanks for sharing, Lauren!