Teaching in the Time of Corona

This is a strange thing to be writing about. It’s a strange thing to even be contemplating. Because of the COVID 19 pandemic, teachers all around the world are teaching remotely, connecting with students only through a webcam, and spending their days in front of a computer for the most part. When you’re used to being in a middle school with over a thousand teenagers all day, this is a huge shift.

And not just for us teachers. Students are having to adjust, parents are having to adjust. Whether they are navigating Google Classroom for the first time, trying to share one device with siblings who also have schoolwork to do, or communicating with teachers only electronically, students have been thrust into scary territory. Some are reacting by jumping in and doing the work the best that they can. Others have found that online learning really works for them. And some–well, they find themselves overwhelmed, and unable to function in this environment. So, they’re not doing anything.

Parents now find themselves as teachers, mentors, and cheerleaders, in addition to their usual parental duties. Many parents I’ve spoken to are teaching multiple students in various grades, with different levels of support from the teachers. And, most of them are still working outside the home as well. They are experiencing frustration trying to help their children with work they may not always know how to do. They are overwhelmed, just as their children are.

My colleagues and I have discussed feeling useless as educators right now. We are working, using Google Classroom, Zoom, Google Meet, Loom, every technology tool and app we can get our hands on. We experiment with tools and strategies we are not entirely familiar with, or especially comfortable using. We’ve experienced the same sort of frustrations students must feel when they feel like they don’t know what to do. We post lessons, create videos, hold virtual meetings. But it’s not the same. The underwhelmingness is overwhelming.

As I sit here in my perfectly silent home office (silence is not something I normally encounter during my workday as a middle school teacher), I wonder how we will all move forward when the curve flattens and we find ourselves back in our regular lives. Will we return to all our old ways? Will we continue to use the tools and strategies we found during the pandemic? Will we settle on an almagam of those possibilities?

I don’t know. I hope, though, that we maintain an appreciation of the journey that all of us have been on. We’ve all walked a mile in each others’ shoes. That has to count for something.