Thankful for Zoom Year
Thankful for technology like Zoom, Facetime and Facebook which enabled me to continue having face to face, heart to heart conversations with family, friends and my students. ☺
While I prefer to meet with people in-person, I am grateful to say I am now a video call expert, especially after hosting 200+ online math classes and attending 80+ online church services.
Zoom
- 1st time teaching online
- 1st time attending online church
- 1st time attending online wedding
- 1st time hosting online birthday party
- 1st time hosting online math competition
Before 2020, I would use video calls to catch up with friends, so teaching a large group of students and attending church online was a new experience for me.
School:
There were few bumps along the road…of course some students refused to turn on their video camera or submitted assignments 5 minutes after the deadline “due to wifi issues.” That being said, I learned different things about my students that I would not have known had they come in person. Because it is naturally hard to make friends online, I was intentional in building community and gave each student a math buddy. In the breakout rooms, the students would get to work on assignments together as well as do icebreakers to get to know each other. It brought me joy to see some friendships form from math class. I realize that I should also employ these community building activities when school is in person. 🙂 Zoom actually helped me connect with parents, especially parents who are not free till after 6pm (which is a majority of working parents in the Bay Area). In the past, I would schedule a phone call with these parents, but I found video calls to bring even more of a personal touch because the parent and I can both see each other’s facial expressions.
While technology was once a large distraction in my life, I admit that I was addicted to my phone and social media in high school and college (my parents can confirm), God has awakened me to the way technology can be a huge blessing in my life. There would be times I crave a pick me up coffee at school and the Holy Spirit would nudge me to sing along House of the Lord on YouTube (https://youtu.be/h8uKldEUrPE) I would also find myself being spiritually hungry midweek. Because of the lockdown, many churches transitioned to moving all gatherings online. I now had access to attend a worship night, prayer meeting or even a midweek service from the comforts of my home. God provided the ways for me to be well-fed spiritually as I learned how to establish my identity fully in Christ and how to minister in evangelism, discipleship and healing.
It is true that God never wastes anything. God works all things together for good to those who love Him. Romans 8:28
