If you’re going to school or you have children of that age, then you know how the pandemic has restricted the learning process. Especially for kindergarteners, who really depended on physical interactions. It is a lot harder to teach children the things they need to experience to understand through a screen.
But there are amazing teachers who don’t give up and still try to make the Zoom classes exciting. Mr. Talcott is one of those teachers. He shares his teaching methods on social media and one of his TikTok videos gained particular interest when it was shared on Twitter. In this video, Mr. Talcott is showing how he is taking his kindergarten kids to a zoo by showing them around virtually.
Mr. Talcott is a kindergarten teacher who took his class on a virtual field trip to a zoo
Image credits: vividmichael
Garett Talcott is a kindergarten teacher at Ella Baker Elementary school in Redmond, Washington. Like many teachers around the world, he is now teaching his class online and when dealing with very young children, you have to be creative.
Mr. Talcott shares his methods of how to capture children’s attention on his social media. One of the most recent videos he uploaded on TikTok was of him taking his class on an online trip to a zoo. He was walking around the Woodland Park Zoo near Seattle with his computer showing the kids around and teaching them about various animals.
First they go to see the penguins and they meet a zookeeper there
Image credits: vividmichael
Image credits: vividmichael
The zookeeper interacts with the children when she overhears them saying that penguins live in the Arctic
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The first animals they visit are the penguins. Mr. Talcott asks the children if they know where penguins live and he gets an answer that they live in the Arctic. Coincidentally, there is a zookeeper feeding the penguins and she overhears the children, so she interferes to say that this is not entirely correct. The zookeeper explains that penguins live below the equator, which means they live in Antarctica and not the Arctic. Mr. Talcott doesn’t get lost in the situation and proceeds to make this interaction an example of learning new things: “Look at that! We learn something every day, friends.”
Image credits: vividmichael
Image credits: vividmichael
The first video on TikTok gathered more than 800k views and the second one was viewed over 200k times. Twitter user @iMDRW shared the second TikTok video and it went viral with more than 6 million views and 300k likes. People in the comments are admiring the teacher’s dedication to his job and their hearts are melted from the sweet comments coming from the children.
The zookeeper patiently explains that penguins are only found in the Southern Hemisphere
Image credits: vividmichael
Image credits: vividmichael
The teacher is very enthusiastic about learning new things
Image credits: vividmichael
Image credits: vividmichael
A teacher’s profession is not easy, because they have to keep the children engaged, spark an interest in learning, and not only that. Teachers have a huge responsibility because they have so much influence on a child in their formative years, so they have to be careful about what they say as it has powerful impact. It is safe to say that Mr. Talcott is nailing it and the kids in his class are very lucky to have him as a teacher.
The trip continues and Mr. Talcott shows the kids a tapir and encourages them to read the label
Image credits: vividmichael
Image credits: vividmichael
The children get really excited when they see a rhino and recognize it right away
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You can hear the children commenting that they are enjoying the trip
Image credits: vividmichael
Next they go to see a tapir. The teacher encourages the students to read about the animal they are looking at for themselves. And the children are really responsive and willing to participate. The class gets excited when Mr. Talcott takes them to the rhino. You can tell that they are enjoying themselves, because you can hear one of the kids say “This is a great trip.”
Appreciation from the children has to be the best reward for a teacher always searching for ways to make their lessons interesting. And it seems this teacher’s extra effort is paying off.
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The children agree that this field trip was amazing and they are looking forward to the next one
Image credits: vividmichael
Image credits: vividmichael
Mr. Talcott had only 30 minutes in the zoo, but the children had a really fun time. Even though they couldn’t go on a trip in real life, they still had an opportunity to learn about animals and their habitats. When the teacher asks his kindergarteners “What did you guys think about our class field trip?” at the end of the video, they say it was amazing. And that means a lot, as children are always honest. It is easy to tell that they are looking forward to a new trip because the excitement in their voices when they are shouting “Yeeeees!” to a new field trip can’t be faked.
Image credits: vividmichael
The TikTok video shared on Twitter now has more than 6 million views, so take a look at what the internet is loving at the moment
The video got a lot of reactions online and here are some of them
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