A Hopeful Message for Parents and Students
Here is a first-hand experience from a teacher, Lynn, who works in a west coast state.
While reflecting on March 13th, the anniversary of the COVID 19 Educational D-Day in my state, I realized the many stages of grief I have experienced as a special education teacher and wondered if my students and parents had similar experiences such as the following:
Cycle 1 – Denial: For the first time in my career, my parents truly understood the magnitude of my responsibilities as a teacher. I have never experienced so much gratitude from parents and the public as an educator. Parents understood that education was not just teaching literacy and math skills but also taking care of my students’ social emotional/behavioral and adaptive living skills. They understood my job included teaching students to be intrinsically motivated to learn, work, and be advocates for themselves. It was excruciating to lose my ability to perform the very essence of my job and watch my parents and students struggle as education became a battle of wills between parent and child. I was arrogantly bathing in the praise.
Cycle 2 - Anger: As remote learning progressed, I was beyond frustrated with not being able to hold my parents accountable for making sure their child was completing all of their work. I had to search for parents that “went dark” and refused to work with me. In most cases, these parents did not have the resources to work and educate their children. I spent many late nights and early mornings bridging the gap and teaching these parents how to differentiate instruction and streamline a teaching objective so their child would have equitable access to their education during a pandemic. I was facing and overcoming my personal prejudices as an educator.
Cycle 3 – Bargaining: When the Fall of 2020 arrived, I was so thrilled to be able to synchronously and/or asynchronously teach my students. Finally, I would be able to forge relationships and hopefully regain the essence of my job. I could bridge the learning gap remote learning created for some families. I found myself having to slow down the progression of curriculum in order to help balance mastery of Common Core Standards along with addressing the mental health needs of my students. Students bonded with one another while adjusting to juggling the new normal of learning from both a teacher and a parent teacher. I was happy to be partially functioning in a classroom again.
Cycle 4 – Depression, Reflection, and Loneliness: As asynchronous instruction continued and evolved, the realization that my students were progressing and learning, but not at the pre-pandemic pace depressed me. Despite the slower pace, my students were experiencing many breakthrough learning moments. As an educator, I was so excited to see my students being so insightful and wordily compared to the students I taught in the Fall of 2019. My students were not missing out on an education as much as they were receiving a very different education, which fully embraced mental health instruction balanced with Common Core instruction. Unfortunately, state tests will not measure these benefits from adjustments made to curriculums and approaches to educating our students during the COVID-19 pandemic. I was reflecting on how my students were teaching me as much as I was teaching them.
Cycle 5 – Upturn: I have adjusted to the twelve-to-fourteen-hour work days and the challenge of not having enough time to complete my work as I did in the pre-pandemic days. Students are back in school with PPE and plexiglass boxed desks. Classroom doors are prop open and students' voices fill the hallways again. Students are thrilled to get a piece of their life back even if it looks different. They are resilient and so are educators. Students will not remain academically behind – there will be summer school and extended learning days in order to bridge the learning gap caused by the pandemic. Because my students are so focused on their academics in a way I have never witnessed before, I think the gap will repair itself. Now, parents truly understand how important a partnership with their child’s teacher directly benefits their child’s academic success.
I have hope.