What I Learned from Teaching during a Pandemic

So now that school has been out for a week, I have had time to decompress from this year of craziness and reflect on the challenges and successes. First off, these observations are coming from a hybrid middle school teaching model. I work in a fantastic school district that started back to school last Fall with elementary students in a family-model (in person, 5-days a week, smaller self-contained classes) and middle and high school students in a hybrid model (A/B days with classes from 10-15 kids, students coming M/W or T/Th and on Fridays for extra help). And, these are just my personal observations. I am sure there are others with different experiences, but these are mine.

I work with one of the most amazing ELA coaches on the planet, and she encouraged us to assess the things we were “done” with by flipping them around and looking at how they impacted our growth. I did this activity with my students on the last day of school, and it was so encouraging to hear what their reflections were, so here is my own “I Am So Done With…/On the Flipside…” analysis!

I am SO DONE with new protocols.

This year was HARD. Like the climbing Mt. Everest of teaching hard. Social-distancing protocols and rules about shields, masks, and quarantines seemed to change weekly, prompting teachers to have to constantly rearrange lesson plans and seating charts to support new procedures. In-person best practices like cooperative learning, small group instruction, and one-on-one instruction were thrown out the window. Teachers tried the best we could to create learning communities for our students using web-based platforms, awkward socially-distanced table or hallway groups, and by setting timers to alert us when our 14.5-minute limits were up, but it just wasn’t the same. Bonding with students was a challenge through masks and plastic shields, and I can’t tell you how many times I had to say, “Please say that again?” or “Can you repeat that? I’m so sorry, I can’t hear you…” It was hard to hear, and hard to see. And I never knew when I might have a student or seven go out for quarantine, or when I might have to vacate my classroom immediately because of a positive test.

But on the flipside…

Smaller class sizes in a hybrid model were a dream. When I only had 10-15 students per class, we had deep conversations. There were very few behavior problems. The students valued the time they had with each other and their teachers, and they learned!

MASKS WORK. We usually have a pretty bad flu season every year. This year, we did not. I think I could count on one hand the number of flu cases in our school building. So even though people hated wearing masks, they worked. And personally, I think the adults had bigger issues with them than the kids did. My youngest son started PreK this year in a mask and didn’t know anything different, so he was probably the most well-adjusted of us all! Both my boys loved their school years, their teachers, and their classmates, and wearing a mask just became part of their wardrobe each day—it didn’t seem to hinder their learning at all.

Teachers were given more time to plan this year than ever before. Our planning periods were protected, because those in charge knew we needed time to adjust to the ever-changing circumstances. Because we could attend meetings virtually, they were shorter. That time was a gift!

I grew closer to the staff I work with than I have ever been before. As teachers often do, we spend more time together than we do with our own families, and my work family bonded and supported each other educationally, mentally, emotionally, and physically. We vented, problem-solved, freely shared lesson plans and instructional materials, and even taught each others’ students when one (or two or four) had to be absent without a sub. I don’t know how I would have survived without my work family!

I am SO DONE with “learning loss.”

The divide between the “haves” and the “have nots” became the Grand Canyon. Kids who had support at home did fine, despite some of them having to be home alone on their off-days, while the kids who had little to no motivation and no support at home just continued to slide backwards. “Learning loss” didn’t happen for the kids who worked on their hybrid days—but it did affect the kids who chose to play video games all day or had no one checking behind them to make sure they did their work.

And oh my goodness, the lack of accountability…absences were at an all time high. Sure, families got sick and had required quarantines, but there were also families who scheduled or rescheduled vacations mid-year or just decided to keep their kids home for a day or two here or there, opting for their children to attend school virtually—even when they were not technically enrolled in a virtual school! Many students learned that due dates don’t matter, you can bomb an assignment and just redo it over and over until you get it right, and school attendance is optional.

But on the flipside…

I saw kids who had lots of challenges at home (sporadic WiFi, parents who had to leave for work, younger siblings to watch over) work hard to figure out ways to get their work done, and by the end of the year, pull themselves out of a pretty deep hole and begin to thrive. These are the future success stories—the kids who learned to adapt and work hard no matter the circumstances. They can do anything!

My own children thrived. My PreK student learned how to read. My 2nd grader started the year below grade-level in his reading skills and finished above grade level!

I learned how to deliver content to my students in the classroom AND students who are at home in a way that will change how I deliver content for the rest of my teaching career. I will no longer struggle to accommodate kids who have legitimate absences because of all of the tricks I learned this year!

I know we are all tired of hearing the word “pivot,” unless it comes out of a sofa-wielding Ross in a stairwell, but teachers and this generation of students learned how to do just that! Flexibility became key, and we all learned to adapt at a moment’s notice. From shifting our lives to learning at school to learning at home, teaching at school to teaching from home…we all realized that just like the church extends beyond a building, education does not just happen at the schoolhouse. Education is how we respond to learning opportunities and those who provide them.

I am done with juggling ALL the things.

When we had e-learning days and I was responsible for doing my job AND helping monitor my own children’s education, it was a huge challenge. I had a 5-year-old in PreK and a 7-year-old in 2nd grade who needed constant supervision and interaction. So I get it. I understand those families who had to take on working from home and managing child care at the same time.

But on the flipside…

My own children loved e-learning days! Once they were no longer necessary, my boys asked for them—because they enjoyed being with me. My 2nd grader even wrote a journal entry about how he liked learning from home because I could help him (and he could play games in between work!).

I learned work-life balance. For the first year in my life, I did not bring any work home (well, mostly). I left my work at work. Because last Spring, my work WAS at home, 24/7, and that did not bode well for my anxiety! So this year, when I left the school building, I did as little thinking about the school day as possible so that I could relax and enjoy my family and friends. I think I’ll continue this little habit.

I am SO DONE with politics.

Teachers bore the brunt of society’s hostility about something completely beyond our control. For a few weeks last Spring, teachers were declared heroes for staying connected to their students and pivoting their instruction overnight. But that ended as quickly as it began. Teachers still taught, sometimes making themselves available 24-hours a day, creating content in ways so that our students could access it via video tutorials, Google docs, and online learning platforms—but it wasn’t enough. We were still constantly belittled by social media trolls saying that parents were “tired of having to do the teacher’s jobs while teachers get paid for doing nothing.” When families grew tired of quarantines, social distancing, and masks, they took it out on the teachers, as if we were the ones who created the restrictions and protocols. It was asserted that teachers were “muzzling” children (while I was in the middle of teaching my “finding and using your voice” unit, ironically). When vaccines started becoming available for teachers in some states, an all-out war seemed to be waged by the governor of SC against teachers, forcing us back into the classroom at full capacity before many of us were allowed to get vaccinated. All we wanted was the opportunity to become vaccinated if we chose BEFORE all students returned to school full-time, because as most people know, schools are petrie dishes, and social-distancing in a classroom with 25 students is impossible, no matter how many plastic shields or masks are in place. And then, just a few weeks later, after the school day ended and district officials went home, our governor lifted the mask mandate, giving DHEC and districts zero time to prepare or alert their teachers or families how this new measure would be implemented. This was just a few weeks before school was out, which made the last month of school a literal nightmare for teachers and school nurses as we juggled the mask vs. no mask concerns and contact tracing. It was a huge disruption to a flow we had finally established and a direct attack on educators right when state testing was beginning. And state testing, which all teachers know is not an accurate measurement of a child’s learning, was still required by the federal government. In a year that everyone knows was not normal. A year when we would never have been able to teach all the standards. Who will be held accountable for the abysmal scores that are bound to be reported this Fall? The teachers.

But on the flipside…

A spotlight was put on education this year. People noticed how much harder teachers were working and how directly legislation and politics affects what happens in the classroom. Awareness is happening, and hopefully, things are beginning to change. There has already been legislation pushed through that will have a positive impact on public education, and more people are watching. And listening. And in the future, hopefully voting. And trolls have been identified as just that…trolls. Thankfully, the wide majority of parents and students I had experiences with were NOT these people! I was so encouraged by the support of my administrators, coworkers, parents, and students. And I removed myself from most of social media so that I didn’t get sucked into reading the constant negativity.

And one last flipside…

I have never appreciated a summer more. NEVER. So on that note, I am going to go enjoy the rest of it and leave this little reflection of the year for whoever may stumble across it and for myself to read years from now. We just lived and taught through an unprecedented, history-making era, and we survived, even thrived in ways. And that’s about as positive as it can get!

Special Thanks:

• To Jennifer Dundr, who always inspires us, no matter how tough things are, and reminds us to look on the flipside

• To Kathy Corbiere, my sounding board, who always gives me honest and supportive feedback on my writing

• To my OMS WORK FAMILY…I don’t know how I would have gotten through this year without you all! WE DID IT!