Every time I think I have pandemic teaching figured out, a new surprise rears its head. I know I am not alone when I say that I am tired. I am tired and I’m very disillusioned. I’m a late career teacher (6 more after this year) and my retirement pension has me locked in for the roller coaster ride… but some days I really dream about what it would be like to NOT be in the classroom right now.
This year, I anticipated some difficulty. How could there not be adaptations to make and new legislation to follow?? But I don’t think I was prepared for how much like last year it would be… with two notable exceptions… last year COVID still shut schools down and last year we had extra planning time.
My room is full of coughing kids. I know that some are just allergies, colds, seasonal things… or are like me, my asthma makes me cough… but some turn up COVID positive the next day and we just keep right on trucking at school! We are so lucky because when they are positive, we have the ability to bring them into class on Zoom but… last year we had a lot of remote students and we had extra planning time. This year, we just roll on with our normal schedule so I never feel like I am caught up on school work.
I don’t have a solution. I think my district, and I hope yours too, is doing absolutely everything possible to make the best of a terrible situation. I just wanted you to know that if you’re overwhelmed, you’re not alone.
I keep thinking/hoping/praying/wishing that by second semester, we will have exhausted every possible new “hard” scenario in teaching and we get to have a smooth and easy spring… Until then, here’s some good vibes for good days in your classroom!
