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Impressions After Two Months in a Hybrid

Twelve years as a classroom teacher and 25 years as a building administrator did not prepare me for the events of 2020. Yet, I continue to learn at a pace much faster than any year in recent memory. Some impressions thus far:

     Most educators are working harder than they have in their careers. They are taking on medical and pedagogical challenges far beyond what they signed up for. Everything seems to take more time.

     In my desire to keep morale up, I have to be careful not to sink to “toxic positivity,” focusing on the optimistic side of the ledger to such an extent that I do not acknowledge how challenging this pandemic is for teachers, and frankly, all of us.

     Remote education’s value is generally inversely proportional to a student’s age. However, remote teaching quality is significantly higher this fall than last spring when schools were engaged in “emergency education.”

     Most parents are very anxious right now. They’re nervous about catching Covid and keeping their jobs, concerned about their child’s academics, and trying to figure out how to handle daycare. I’m sure this often results in strained home relationships too. Because it is increasingly easy to express one’s opinion to a broad audience, educators will hear negativity that may have little to do with their job performance or intentions. As much as humanly possible, we should assume best intentions.

     The role of the school nurse is more critical than ever. The 2020 nurse is a contact tracer, a Covid expert, a quarantine determiner, and takes on the most significant health risk of anyone in a school.

     The role of the Principal has changed dramatically too. (This sounds like a separate post or series of posts). The 2020/2021 Principal is most concerned with safety, ensuring social distance, mask-wearing, and hand washing. Indeed, he/she must provide conditions in a school that allows teachers to maximize instructional time while helping parents by answering questions and being reassuring.

I’ll come back to this topic in another month or so, and given the pace of this pandemic and its effect on education, I’m bound to have an original list of new impressions.


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