There Were No Classes on Teaching Through Pandemics

One Year Later

It has, once again, been a long while.

Not for lack of things to say, but for perhaps too much to say.
Stuck between the rock of wanting to write and the hard place of not being able to bring myself to write seriously about lesser things.
I think I'm beyond that now, and can scribble happily of other ponderings that have begun to pile up in the interim between the heavier times and the present.

Speaking of Hard Times....

The Pandemic

Today, April 5, 2020, the world is navigating between wanting to carry on as usual and the stark realities of the Covid19 pandemic. It seems almost silly, odd at the very least, to be staying home so much, avoiding people, not driving in to work. But then the news of deaths, climbing positive cases, over-worked and anxious hospital staff, and the cumulative stress and suffering worldwide give us pause. At this time, no one truly succeeds alone.
The concept of being an island is revealed for what it always has been - illusion. What we do or don't do, affects others.
And so we stay apart to try and keep each other well. To protect the elderly and sick, and those whose bodies are simply not able to take on another battle. To show solidarity with those working to heal, to transport groceries, to keep the roads open, to bring essential goods to hopeful residents behind closed doors.
It will be nice to hug again, to pass close to someone and not hold your breath, not see The Virus everywhere. I want to go for long walks and look people in the eye as I meet them, smile, wave and chat for a bit.
It will happen. Meanwhile, to be patient, creative, productive. I'm trying, and I know you are too.
I may settle though, for sanity.

Teaching from Home

I am having to isolate for two weeks, so haven't been to the school since Thursday, March 26. It has been incredibly busy, trying to put lessons online with the site crashing, links disappearing, and students and parents wondering how best to proceed. 

On a positive note, I'm learning a great deal. 

On the flipside, I wonder if we are doing this right. I wonder if we may be drifting toward the rocks.

Here's the deal. 

This isn't a situation schools have navigated before. There is no precedent, as we keep hearing from literally everywhere - "these are unprecedented times". 

It's almost like they are all using the same script. It's efficient, at any rate. 

Some teachers and schools are doing everything they can to communicate with parents, have creative lessons uploaded regularly. Stay accountable. 

Some teachers and schools might do as little as possible, letting students flounder and figure it out on their own, and if they drown, they drown. I hope that is a rare occasion, but human nature often takes the road most traveled. 

And does it really matter, in the end?

To a few students, who enjoy school work, love their teachers, and feel lost without the routine and rigor of the classroom, it will matter. These students will be conscientious and somewhat anxious. They will look for direction and gladly take it, as it settles their world. School is an escape and a way to find purpose in all of this crazy. 

Other students, who see school and school assignments as a colossal waste of time and infringement on their freedoms and very life, will rejoice. Until the Late Assignments and the Calls Home commence, and everything gets tense and miserable indeed. Either that or school will fall so far off the radar that the possibility of an actual calamity or failure at the end of it all doesn't even register. It matters to these students as well, but they don't know it yet. 

Students who struggle with anxiety, perhaps mental illness, a terrible home life, or other heavy weight to bear will stumble under this new Unknown. 

Maybe they can't ask their parents for help. 

Maybe there are no parents, not really. Not decent, caring ones. 

Maybe they spend all day helping with siblings or chores or grandparents, and have nothing left at the end of the day to decipher a vaguely worded email from their teacher, or begin a stack of assignments that might be "DUE TOMORROW or ZERO!!"

Honestly, my family has it pretty good. We have a roof over our heads, steady work for right now, and even a pack of off-brand scratchy toilet paper at the ready. We have each other and we love each other (well the love part may be wearing slightly thin ...too much p r o x i m i t y you understand).

I am well aware though, that some families are torn apart by the stress of job loss, no income, an uncertain future, the illness or death of a loved one. There are families, with children that go to our schools, who were barely hanging on before this. And now, they are undone. 

Who is going to help Junior with his science experiment when mom is catatonic on the couch, no sleep, completely exhausted. Or Dad is taking care of the younger ones while mom recovers from night shift. The house is a mess and there isn't a clean spot at the table. The internet is down. The computer is being hogged by one person and everyone else has to wait. 

Or single-parent families. A mother with no groceries terrified to go out and get them. Impossible decisions, like whether to leave the toddlers alone in the crib and go to the store, or risk taking them with. And then the phone rings, "Hello! I'm the cheery teacher just checking in on why little Johnny hasn't been coming to our online class?" 

Or a teenager who barely emerges from his or her room, lonely and depressed, sleep schedule decimated. "Honey, your teacher called, and you have 12 pages of Chemistry to hand in tomorrow. And an essay due! And did you even know about such-and-such-a-course?? WHAT is going on?? Honey?! What do I tell your teacher?!"  

This is a nasty way to spell S-T-R-E-S-S. 

Online schooling will cater best to highly motivated students and families who have a solid support structure, a decent income, and nothing much else to do. Those are straight facts. 

The ship is sailing ahead as if the sun will forever shine and the seas will be calm. 

My worry is that we are not prepared as schools and teachers for the rocks ahead. We are not prepared for "man overboard!" 

A one-fits-all approach cannot work here. As teachers, we know this and face it every day in our classrooms. But the divide grows and the differences escalate when everything moves out of the classroom, where every student at least has a desk and a place, a pencil, a group of friends, a time to focus. How do we teach when it is so far out of our hands? How do we assess when we don't know what is going on in our student's lives? How do we give an A to the student who has an ideal situation, and an F to the student who may be working to keep the necessities coming in? Or a C to a bright student that cannot seem to learn in this new way? 

I think every teacher is doing the best they can, as teachers generally do. And schools, too. 

The idiosyncrasies of teachers will perhaps stand out more starkly during this work-from-home period. For example, a chronic issue in high schools is that each teacher believes their subject to be The Subject of Highest Importance.  They can't understand why students are not getting the homework done, because it seems very "do-able" to them. They do not really grasp that at one and the same time Mr. English is expecting an essay, Mrs. Physics is expecting a completed assignment booklet, and Mr. Math is wondering why no one looked up the extra bonus question. On the same Monday morning.  

Teachers can be isolated in their classrooms as well as in their disciplines. Usually, it's something to chuckle about in the staff room, a bit of light-hearted banter and some occasional teasing by fellow teachers. Now, it's worth a second look. 

We must learn to take in the whole picture of student life, and adjust accordingly. 

There will be students who truly enjoy your subject, and this lights up your day, but they are not more special than the other students. Just different. Each deserves the same attention. 

I think the next few weeks will tell the tale. 

Perhaps this is all over quickly and we can get back in the classroom, make a few adjustments and carry on. 

Or one by one teachers realize that we need to actually communicate with our students, and not expect that they will remember to look in on your (although very organized and fantastic) website that you told them about in January. They have forgotten. I guarantee they have. 

Teachers with their own teens will probably understand better the trials of parents urging on their great big offspring to stop everything and do schoolwork. Teachers with young kids will be sympathetic to those struggling to keep sane inside a house clanging with literally everything going on at once. 

My point, if I have one, is just to breathe. 

Yes, we need to prepare lessons.
Yes, we hope and pray they get something out of them. 

Yes, we have an obligation to our students, parents and school districts. 

Can we carry the load with more ease? Can we adjust with the changing winds and currents? 

This too shall pass, as the old saying goes, and what we all will remember is how we cared for each other. Not who worked the hardest or who passed the test. 

To the teachers - you are going to make a difference during this pandemic. One way, or another. May you have rest, courage, support, and hope as we move into another week of uncharted seas.