Mia Wadlington is an elementary school teacher with over 15 years experience who created a slideshow about her experience teaching online during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some key advantages she observed were that students could learn from the comfort of their homes and that online learning helped prevent the spread of the virus. However, she also found that online learning required continuous parent support, was more prone to distractions, and needed engaging activities to keep students focused. She provides some examples of online platforms that helped make her lessons more interactive.

1. Advantages and Disadvantages
of Teaching Online During a
Pandemic

2. Inspirational Quotes
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3. About the Author
Welcome to my slide show. I hope it will inspire and inform
you about the effects of online learning for young students.
My name is Mia Wadlington and I have been a public school
teacher for over 15 years. Because of the technology age we
live in, our school communities are making vital decisions
that heavily impact teachers, administrators, and most of
all, students. Please take a minute to read some interesting
information about the results of online learning for our
future leaders.
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4. What is happening?
"We are going to teach what and where?" "How long are the
students going to be out of school?" "How do you teach young
students online?"
Those were the questions many teachers were asking others and
themselves in March of last year. Since the COVID-19 pandemic,
people have become more educated about our mental and
physical conditions. Not only are we more educated on the
impact of COVID-19 on our bodies, our education system has
made tremendous changes about how to educate our youth.
Because of the pandemic, many, if not all, students are learning
mostly through hybrid classes, a virtual setting or a traditional
setting using COVIID-19 restrictions, such social distancing and
masks. As an experienced elementary teacher, I have learned so
many new and exciting things since the start of it all…
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5. “Education is the most
powerful weapon which
you can use to change the
world.”
Nelson Mandela
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6. Advantages
*Students are learning
from the comfort of their
homes
*Saves time
*Helps to prevents spread
of Covid-19
Here are some advantages and disadvantages I
have observed while teaching online during a
pandemic
Disadvantages
*Continuous parent or
learning mentor support
needed
*More distractions in
environment or social
isolation
*Need more engaging or
hands-on learning
activities
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7. Saves Time
When students are going to school in a traditional
setting, there are many schoolwide transitions
made throughout the day. Some of the school
transitions are lunch, recess, arrival, PE, art,
music, and dismissal times. Because students are
learning online, the amount if time transitioning
from one activity to another has declined.
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8. Learning from home
✦ Our homes are the first place children feel comfort and it is
where they first explore a variety of literacy concepts. This
is also the first place children become little scientists and
have the opportunity to explore a wide variety of new
concepts and ideas through their home library.
✦ Because of the pandemic, everyone's safety serves as top
priority. According to the Center of Disease Control (2020),
children can be infected by the virus that causes COVID-19.
✦ Homes serve as a huge safety net for children. Whether
students are in a classroom or at home, students need to
feel mentally and physically safe in order to become
successful learners.
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9. Preventing the spread of COVID-19
One great advantage to online teaching is preventing
people from contacting COVID-19. According to the
Center of Disease Control, people should wear a mask
when possible and stay at least six feet apart from
others. I believe our public schools are doing the best
they can keeping people six feet apart and wearing
masks.
I tested positive in December of 2020. I can remember
having a difficult time breathing. I do not know where I
contracted the virus, but here is a sample of how I think
I contracted the virus…
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10. Ms. Wadlington's COVID-19
Sample Contract Trace
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Classroom
students had
to quarantine
Asymptomatic
person
ineffected
another
teacher
Positive
Asymptomatic
person
Asymptomatic
person
inffected me
Classroom
students had
to quarantine

11. A picture is worth
a thousand words
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12. Parent Support
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13. One disadvantage to online teaching was the lack of
parent or adult support. I must say, some parents were
available and they could work from home or there was
a learning mentor present.
When teaching online, it is vital for younger students
to have a learning mentor present while attending
online instructional classes. If not, younger students
are not as engaged in the lessons and they are easily
distracted by what is in their immediate environment.
Social isolation can also become an issue as well. If
parents or adult mentors are not around, students
attend to feel alone and unsafe. Consequently, many
students are not focused on the online learning
classroom.
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14. Engagement
✦ What I learned from teaching young students online is that
engaging activities is a must! At first, my lessons were quite
boring. I was annotating my reading and math slides
through a PowerPoint. Several of my first-grade students
were on the floor, eating popcorn, drinking soda, playing
with their stuffed animals. Their level of engagement was
low.
✦ After brainstorming with other teachers, I started making
my lessons more engaging by incorporating Classkick
lessons, Kahoots, Seesaw, and Nearpod's "A Time to Climb".
They are all fun and engaging lessons that saved my life! My
students REALLY enjoyed the "Time to Climb" Nearpod
lesson. On the next slide, I have included a hyperlink to each
of these online platforms in case you are interested in
learning more about them.
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15. Engaging Online Learning Platforms
for Young Learners
✦ Kahoot - https://kahoot.com/schools-u/
✦ Classkick - https://classkick.com/
✦ Seesaw- https://web.seesaw.me/
✦ Nearpod's "Time to Climb" -
https://nearpod.com/time-to-climb
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16. Level on engagement after using online platforms
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17. Whoa! That’s a big
improvement, aren’t you
proud?
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Thanks!
Thanks for taking the opportunity
to allowing me to tell my story. I
hope it has been insightful. Any
questions?
You can find me at:
mwadlington@my.apsu.edu

19. Special thanks to all the people and the
CDC website for helping me make this
slide show possible
✦ Background illustrated by Alex Monge
for SlidesCarnival
✦ Presentation template by
SlidesCarnival
✦ Photographs by Unsplash
✦ Center for Disease Control -
https://www.cdc.gov/
Credits and References
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