This school year has been pretty long. It began for us on August 24th with two full weeks of teacher in-service. Usually, we get 2 to 3 days of teacher in-service at the beginning of a school year. So to get two weeks of in-service really testifies to the degree of information we had to learn before beginning this covid-protocol year. Students returned to school on September 8th, so our school year was already starting out roughly a month late.
In our county, students were given the option of being a
traditional or a virtual student, and each school then got to choose how often
students could transition between the two. Each school also had the option of
assigning certain teachers to only be virtual teachers or traditional teachers,
or if the teachers would be required to shoulder the burden of being a
traditional and virtual teacher simultaneously.
In our school, students could choose to go virtual at any time, but
could only return to traditional learning at the beginning of a new 9 week
period. In our school, we were instructed to teach in the traditional classroom
setting and also to manage virtual students. Therefore, despite whether the student was
obtaining his or her biology education in the traditional building or via an
electronic platform, the teacher was the same.
Me. At first this was SO
overwhelming. Eventually, I hit a groove
and feel like I settled into a routine where I could survive. It wasn’t easy. In fact, when I think back about all we’ve
accomplished in this year, I’m surprised at the way in which we made it
through. It was a lot. Mentally.
Emotionally. Physically. Educationally.
We also had to wear masks all year long from the time we
stepped out of our cars in the morning until the time we got back into them at
the end of the day. I felt so bad for
school bus drivers and school bus riders because they had to wear masks during
our long summer & spring afternoons on our non-air-conditioned buses.
In looking forward at the upcoming fall, and now hearing
that we will not be required to teach virtually this next year, I am giddy with
the thought of how easy the year
might seem.
We’re also told that we won’t have to wear masks next year
(barring some ridiculous rise in cases). The thought that I could teach “mask
free” is an enlightening one.
I’ve often referred to this year as “eating our
vegetables.” I’m such a “save the best
for last” person. I savor all desserts
and enjoy looking forward to a reward. It makes the trudging through the pain
bearable because I’m heading towards a reprieve. However, the entire 2020-2021 school year was
written in the dialect of “you just had a 5 month break, so now you have to pay
for it.” In reality, though, that 5
months off was in no way a “break.” We
couldn’t go many places. We couldn’t
have a “normal” summer. Several
businesses weren’t open (like the library, etc.). The news around us was so scary that I didn’t
feel comfortable taking my children in
any stores anyway. My kids actually
didn’t go into any store until November.
This being said, our summer was spent in our own home and visiting my
parents and my in-laws. It wasn’t
“normal” and it wasn’t a “break.”
Therefore, the pain that continued into the 2020-2021 school year
was nearly devoid of breaks. What breaks
we had were partially used as “eLearning Days” which meant that all students in
the county were doing virtual learning on those days. So I still had work to do—I was just able to
be in my home while doing that work and monitoring my own sons’ work for their
classes, too. These days still counted
as school days and certainly put a damper on what a true “break” felt like. We
had these days in September, in November for Thanksgiving break, in December
for Christmas break, and in March for Spring Break. We had some holidays removed from us
(Columbus Day, President’s Day, Good Friday, etc.). It was a very rough year.
So since we were essentially told that we had a big long
“break” before school began, that was akin to us eating our dessert first and
needing to suffer through eating our vegetables throughout the remainder of the
school year. One that would last until
June 4th.
Along the way, we had a few increases in morale. At
Christmas, I had a couple teacher gifts that were nice and provided a little
boost to get me through the first semester.
In March for the second half of Spring Break, my family was able to
travel and not wear masks during that time.
In early May, we celebrated Teacher Appreciation week at school and were
provided lunch and some snacks (to include M&Ms, trail mix, etc.) on a
couple days.
My year ended with a family providing a Starbucks gift card and a sweet note showing their appreciation for what teachers have endured this year.
I’m grateful for the experience; I truly am. It was eye-opening. I firmly believe it made me a better
teacher. I am grateful for my
opportunity to be the parent of school aged children during this time too
because I had the unique chance to see what the electronic database looked like
on the student side of things. I count
the experiences this year as character-shaping ones, and it makes me truly
relieved to be looking towards a future school year without all these
requirements in place. The pandemic year
was a long one (technically, it was more like a pandemic year and a half), and
if we can correctly say that it’s behind us now, then I will shed some tears of
joy in the hopes that we made it through and that we just might see “normal”
again.
Until Next Time,
Much Love, Reba
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