The routine has set in, and what once felt strange and odd is starting to feel like normal. It took time for schedules in my school to be figured, online educational platforms to be set-up, and for routines of how the business of the school would operate. Maybe part of this feeling reflects me reaching a true level of acceptance of our situation.
This week had some really nice moments. I got to jump into the 3rd graders morning meetings and I got to see these students for the first time since we left the school building. The decision was made that music would not have live teaching in 3rd grade, so I’ve been created content for them to explore on their own but I have not actively taught them. Even though I didn’t teach them this week, it was wonderful to see their faces and feel their excitement to see me through the computer screen.
There are so many people at this school that I see and talk to in the halls. The moments before and after meetings are often full of conversations. It takes more effort to talk with these people now that we are apart but I’ve done the work and it’s made this all feel less nebulous. Just like how we catch up in times between classes, after a 5th grade meeting this week, the classroom teacher and I stayed on the video chat and caught up about how things were going at school and in our personal lives. It felt like how it does when we are at school doing the same thing.
It is possible to create a feeling of community in an online space, and I can tell that people are starting to figure out how to do this in my school. It’s in establishing online norms for chats, pushing students to show love and support by keeping their camera on and sitting nicely during a meeting, and it’s in learning to talk to people, not the camera. It’s taken weeks, but I’m starting to feel like I’m talking to my students more than I'm talking to a camera. There have been moments this week, that it left my mind that I was online talking to a student and we were just simply talking. That felt amazing.
I don’t believe that teachers should fake it in front of students. Things are, strange, and less than idea. It’s important that teachers and students together have the space to share the process of mourning all that has been and will be lost this school year. Only by doing this can we genuinely and fully move to a space that we can be ready to learn.
Doing what’s right, and making things work in less than idea situations is normal for teachers. Most teachers have budgets that are too small, not enough time to prepare for classes, far too many students, and a system of administrators and school board members that hinder more than they help. Yet despite all of this, teachers in America do amazing work. Yes, for some teachers this crisis is a that last straw, but for many this is just another thing to overcome in a career full of making amazing things happen for students against the odds.
Without extra pay, and without meaningful national recognition teachers are refusing to give up. More than anything else, it’s other teachers that inspire me to keep trying to make this work.
There's still joy in the work, because there's still magic in our students.
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