2019-2020 was when the pandemic started in early spring. It was a time of great fear, unpredictability and challenges. We thought it would just be a couple of weeks like break, but it turned into months. Online teaching became a norm. We had to learn by doing.
2020-2021 was when the un-thinkable led to the un-imaginable over and over. The start of the pandemic we never dreamed of led to teaching in-person. This was something I couldn't conceive of until that rainy first day of school in September of 2020, when we went in person. That year was without singing, wind instruments, and no music classroom.
2021-2022 was a year when things felt like they had the potential to become “normal,” but they never did. Singing came back, but we had to spread out. Masks came off, but then they had to be put on again. We were trying to do all that we had done before the pandemic, but so much of it didn’t work as it did before. The students were different, we were different, and so was the world.
Like learning how to better prioritize my family in 2019-2020 and working with my incredible student teacher in 2020-2021, there were things about 2021-2022, which were important, meaningful, and fulfilling.
I made new connections and developed relationships with administrators, faculty, and staff. There were many moments of laughter, cathartic conversations full of love and kindness, and the calm knowing that there were people in the school thinking of me and supporting me.
I helped people in this school through challenging moments. I was that person that people cried on figuratively and literally. I empowered people to take what they deserved, helped others understand what they deserved, and found ways to elevate people and amplify voices.
I solved problems in moments when it seemed like no one else could. I made the impossible happen, and got people to work together. I absorbed people’s stress and anxiety so that we could move foward for our students. I got people to calm down when they were close to making mistakes and I helped people refocus on their goals. Over and over I made things work.
Throughout all of the bad times, all of the stress, I never lost my cool, and I never acted unkindly to anyone at this school.
And I embraced my love getting on stage and joyfully leading hundred of students in song and dance.
That was 2021-2022.
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