Two months ago, we talked about what school might look like this year. In our School District there was the whole hybrid vs virtual debate, and families had a choice to make about which way to go. I witnessed the heated conversations of friends trying to balance the social and emotional needs of their children with the physical need to ensure their children were safe. I saw friends argue that 2 days in school was not enough, I heard others say they would home school their children full time to keep them safe. 

And then school started, and we all held our breath. For us the first two weeks were all online. Ruby worked here with a friend for support and as a help to her family. And then slowly slowly we went back to in person school. Ruby attends in person school on Mondays and Tuesdays, and remotely the rest of the week. On Mondays and Tuesdays her teachers are teaching half a class in person in front of them and half the class remotely from a zoom link on their computer. On Thursdays and Fridays, she swaps and attends the classes via a zoom link. On Wednesdays all children work from home, the teachers run virtual ‘office hours’, students check in and ask for help if needed, but often end up working independently. Every in-person day requires a health questionnaire to be completed for students and staff and any symptom that could possibly be Covid requires negative Covid test results before return to school is allowed. For us the system is working. I take her to school each of her in person days and collect her afterwards. Field Hockey has even re-started and she can do that 4 days a week; but it is tough to get our act together enough to get there on our virtual days, so far we are averaging 3 of the 4 sessions a week… but it’s sports and there was none of that through the Spring! So, anything we manage is a blessing.

And as we held our breath, we watched schools and school districts around us close; for a day for deep cleaning, a couple of days for contract tracing and some for a week or longer for quarantine due to exposure risk. Waiting and watching for these closures is the same as waiting for a snow day but in complete reverse… “stay open, not us, stay open!”

The teachers are tired and overwhelmed. I can’t imagine teaching to 30 students split 15 in front of me and 15 online; how can they gauge understanding from facial expressions under the mask whilst also ensuring no one virtually has dropped off into the zoom waiting room and is eagerly awaiting readmittance? I wonder how many have been scrutinized by parents during those virtual days and then challenged in a way parents have never been able to before? Whatever we pay teachers it has not been enough this first quarter! 

And parents too are exhausted. Too many are balancing home schooling and reading school emails with working full time. The lucky amongst us can work from home, the not so lucky are often forced to leave their children home alone studying in isolation. No judgement or guilt here friends, it’s like the choice of Solomon we are being forced to make, over and over again…

And now the deadline is approaching in our school district, at least, to choose again. Friends what are you thinking? I know some grade levels have a 5 day a week in person option in elementary school, are you pleased about that? Will you stick with the option you picked for quarter 1?

For me teaching has been different, more different than I could have possibly imagined. I work as a visiting educator across Saratoga County schools. And normally by now I would have taught 3 programs across 4 schools. But as a visitor I am not welcome in schools in person. Overwhelmed teachers don’t have time, resource or energy to liaise with me and plan how to make me work for them virtually… so I am incredibly grateful to the staff of one local elementary school who have welcomed me in with virtual arms wide open. There are 5 classes I teach, 4 are in person just like this picture and 1 is virtual. I am especially amazed by the teacher of that class because the children are all there right in her face, except the ones who have their cameras off for a reason, and those she has to check in on in different ways. I am finding it tough to keep focus when those remote students unmute their microphones to respond to my questions, I can hear their home life beyond them, and it isn’t always as conducive to learning as I would have needed when I was at school. The other teachers are amazing as well though… normally my presence in the classroom would give them a teeny tiny respite, a chance to count photocopies for the next lesson, to staple booklets or grade a piece of work. But not so this year! This year they are my eyes and ears in the classroom. I can’t circulate, I can’t help or guide individual answers, I can’t hear the child from the back corner shouting their answer towards the microphone at the front from under their mask willing me to hear it the 4th time, so effortlessly they step in. They don’t roll their eyes or think how they would like a chance to do less instead of more, they do what teachers the world over have always done; they adapt their practice to the level of need in front of them. 

I would imagine if I surveyed the careers of all of my social media friends, I would have more teachers than anything else… so please tell me; how has this term been for you? To my friends over the pond, share some insight with us. Are there virtual lessons? Are class sizes reduced, and if so, how? How much more exhausting than a normal first term has this one been? And what does the next term look like? What has worked and what hasn’t? 

As parents tell me about how the experience has been for you? What would you do different if you could? What made you think I absolutely nailed that?

Be kind, be gentle,

Denise xoxo