69传媒

Opinion
School Climate & Safety Opinion

The 8 Things Teachers Know for Certain When 69传媒 Reopen

The idea of reopening schools is rife with uncertainty. Here鈥檚 what teachers can hold onto
By Casey M. Bethel 鈥 July 21, 2020 4 min read
BRIC ARCHIVE
  • Save to favorites
  • Print
Email Copy URL

COVID-19 is taking a toll on everyone, but the pandemic is an especially tense time for teachers who are grappling with a separate list of concerns. You can tell from the questions being posted on teacher-discussion pages: How and when will schools open fully? How prepared will students be to learn when they do? With the way last semester ended, how much did students miss? With no camps this summer, how much did they slide?

Did any of them lose family members? Will students have questions about the protests over George Floyd鈥檚 killing?

Like you, I am praying that our leaders make the right choices. However, during this time of tremendous uncertainty, I hope that one certainty is as helpful to you as it is to me: Whether in-person or digital, school will open.

I am not trying to distract from the all serious questions that still need answers, but focusing on a few certainties can center us. To teach during this time of uncertainty, we should focus on the goals of teaching that will remain the same:

1. Relationships: Whether they meet you in a classroom or on Zoom, students will be wondering, 鈥淲ho is this person?鈥 Start planning how you will connect with each student. Remember the wise teaching adage, 鈥淣o one cares how much you know until they know how much you care.鈥 Get hold of your roster early and start calling each home to introduce yourself.

In my traditional classroom, I used to eat lunch with different kids each day. During remote learning, that might look like assigning three or four different students each day to stick around after the Zoom call just to chat. Don鈥檛 believe that it is impossible to build relationships virtually. (You can鈥檛 tell me I鈥檓 not besties with my favorite television personality whom I鈥檝e never met.)

2. Reassurance: On every first day of school, kids come to class nervous. Kindergartners are coming to school for the first time while others are coping with a new grade, a new teacher, or a new school. Add in the possibility of face masks or virtual lessons this year, and the need for reassurance will be even greater. Start brainstorming how you will calm students鈥 fears to make them feel comfortable and capable. Good teachers know how to get kids feeling like they can handle it.

Develop your pitch. Mine is, 鈥淚鈥檓 Mr. Bethel, and I鈥檓 going to teach you everything about science. Although it鈥檚 going to happen differently, I know you are going to excel because I鈥檓 going to do everything I can to make sure you succeed.鈥

3. Relevance: Get ready to hear, 鈥淲hy do I have to know this?鈥 69传媒 will still question the usefulness of what they are learning. Although COVID-19 might steal the chance to make magic in your physical classroom, it presents an opportunity to connect the dots for your students. Start deciding how you will tie your lessons to students鈥 daily experiences.

Teach math to understand daily COVID-19 statistics. Inspire students to use their writing to describe all they have seen and heard since March. Explain how this pandemic has affected geographic regions differently. Art can be a medium for students to express their deepest feelings during this time. Whatever your subject, you don鈥檛 have to squint hard to connect the dots.

Just remember, the goal of education is to help young people make sense of the world. You cannot teach without first considering the thoughts and experiences that shape students鈥 worldview.

4. Rigor: Now is not the time to take it easy on students academically. It is still a good time to push them. Infuse rigor in your instruction. Remember, instead of just harder tasks, rigor requires students to do something with their learning. Make a list of the ways your students can put their learning into practice. Eleven-year-old Holli Morgan for essential workers and people without homes in Atlanta this summer. Awe-inspiring! It鈥檚 your students鈥 turn.

5. Risk-taking: Teachers are creative, and now is not the time to scale back. Whether in-person or digital, it is still the time to try new things. Look outside the box for ideas to reach all of your students, even the struggling ones. Toss out lesson plans that won鈥檛 fit the new normal and sprinkle extra magic on the ones that will.

6. Resilience: All of us have experienced the failed lesson. The projector bulb died or the website crashed in the middle of your dream lesson. That will still happen this year. We need to do exactly what we have done before鈥攃ry for a moment, then dry our eyes, and get back to work.

7. Reaching out: Guess what? You still cannot do this alone. If we end up teaching from home again, you don鈥檛 have to do it by yourself. Find new ways to create those coffee-pot moments with your colleagues. Call and text your teacher tribe. Schedule a weekly Zoom for your teammates to bounce ideas and motivate one another. No one is an island鈥攁t least, you don鈥檛 have to be.

8. Righteousness: Teachers are getting lots of attention right now, some of it negative. In a month, we went from being celebrated heroes to being blamed for hindering the economy. Don鈥檛 let that get you down. Remember the students and remember that our cause is still righteous. We have the privilege of molding tomorrow鈥檚 leaders. We have the best job in history, and it鈥檚 almost time to put our capes back on and save the world yet again.

I hope that those making the tough decisions land on the right ones. But for us, preparing to teach while watching the world change, focusing on the elements of teaching that won鈥檛 change can be the rope we grab hold of and use to pull our heads above water.

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Artificial Intelligence Webinar
AI and Educational Leadership: Driving Innovation and Equity
Discover how to leverage AI to transform teaching, leadership, and administration. Network with experts and learn practical strategies.
Content provided by 
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
School Climate & Safety Webinar
Investing in Success: Leading a Culture of Safety and Support
Content provided by 
Assessment K-12 Essentials Forum Making Competency-Based Learning a Reality
Join this free virtual event to hear from educators and experts working to implement competency-based education.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide 鈥 elementary, middle, high school and more.
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.

Read Next

School Climate & Safety Opinion Restorative Justice, the Classroom, and Policy: Can We Resolve the Tension?
Student discipline is one area where school culture and the rules don't always line up.
8 min read
The United States Capitol building as a bookcase filled with red, white, and blue policy books in a Washington DC landscape.
Luca D'Urbino for Education Week
School Climate & Safety Letter to the Editor School Safety Should Be Built In, Not Tacked On
69传媒 and communities must address ways to prevent school violence by first working with people, says this letter to the editor.
1 min read
Education Week opinion letters submissions
Gwen Keraval for Education Week
School Climate & Safety Opinion How One Big City District Is Addressing the Middle East Conflict
Partnerships are helping the Philadelphia schools better support all students and staff, writes Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr.
Tony B. Watlington Sr.
4 min read
Young people protesting with signs.
DigitalVision Vectors/Getty
School Climate & Safety 69传媒 Feel Less Connected to School. Here's Why That Matters
There's a body of research that points to a number of benefits when students feel close to people at school.
3 min read
An illustration of a black broken chain link on a red background.
iStock/Getty