Teacher: 'Omicron Is Truly Bringing Education to Its Knees' (Opinion)

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Opinion Contributor, Education Week

Larry Ferlazzo is an English and social studies teacher at Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento, Calif.

(This is the second post in a three-part series. You can see Part One here.)

The new question-of-the-week is:

What are you doing鈥攐r trying to do鈥攖o sustain your morale and the morale of your students in the face of Omicron? What are you doing鈥攐r trying to do鈥攖o sustain any kind of learning momentum you had built up before the winter break?

In Part One, teachers Bill Ivey, Sarah Cooper, and Amber Chandler shared their thoughts during this first week back from winter break.

Today, Tairen McCollister, M.A., M.Ed., Alice Mercer, and Andrew Simmons contribute their responses.

It Is a Season of 鈥楲ack鈥�

Tairen McCollister has taught all grade levels, including higher education. She is currently in her 14th year of teaching high school English and as an adjunct professor at university. She is a trauma-informed educator, SEL advocate, diversity and equity coordinator, and children鈥檚 author and podcast host (The Namaste Stories) with a passion for meeting the needs of the whole child:

Omiricon is truly bringing education to its knees. It is a season of 鈥渓ack.鈥� There is a lack of proactivity at times, a lack of consideration, a lack of consistency, and a lack of accountability. 69传媒 are tired. They are exhausted. They are in need, and rightfully so, they are not totally focused on education.

In an attempt to provide what students, no matter the circumstances, need in order to learn, I have tried to show structure, stability, and allow a safe space for processing and navigating the world we find ourselves in. Curriculum, yes, it鈥檚 necessary and must be followed, but if we need to shift midclass, shut down the novel we are reading, and do some deep breathing because the energy in the room is heavy, we do it.

I could get into the neuroscience, the needs of the nervous system, and the impact that stress has on learning, but let鈥檚 keep it simple: We can just pay attention to our students. That鈥檚 been my guiding light through this. Pay attention to the energy and space, and it will tell you all that you need to know about what your students need and how best to proceed.

This past week, we got an asynchronous day that also ended up falling on an unexpected 鈥渨hat would have once been a snow day!鈥� Sure, I could have created a screencast, posted an interactive assignment, had students begin the literary-analysis essay assignment that we should have been starting, but no. I knew that my students didn鈥檛 need that.

Instead, I had them reread a passage from our current text, J. D. Salinger鈥檚 classic The Catcher in the Rye. Holden, the teenage protagonist of the novel, is struggling his way through the adolescent years, just like my students, and as he travels New York City trying to find himself, he ends up in the midst of a snowstorm. The assignment: Go outside and record yourself in the snow assuming the character of Holden, submit, done. They needed it, deserved the break, and judging by the laughter and smiles in the videos filled with faces I had only seen behind masks, most actually ended up enjoying it.

Socially and emotionally, students (and staff) are not doing well; they are both at the mercy of people in charge with limited knowledge of how things are really going. Morale comes and goes. I have simply tried to remain honest with my students about the importance of staying present and in the moment. Mindfulness exercises, our class-playlist music breaks, impromptu dance parties, even hangman all seem so simple, especially with high schoolers, but they can work wonders. My goal as their teacher has always been to teach beyond the academics and encourage them to look beyond themselves and the moment. This pandemic has truly allowed me to travel that path even more.

School Counseling Is Needed

Alice Mercer teaches 4th grade at an elementary school in Sacramento, Calif. She started her career in Oakland, Calif., and moved to Sacramento in 2001. She is the parent of a now-adult son with ASD and is a caregiver to her husband, who is medically fragile. Alice is active in her union and on social media:

Larry asks, what am I doing to sustain my morale and the morale and learning of my students in the face of Omicron? I鈥檓 going to start by saying that while all the ideas that follow are great, they are likely not enough. Does that mean you should not even bother trying to do things like this? No, but it also means that our working conditions, and student learning conditions, are in serious peril as this pandemic grinds on no matter how hard we work. I鈥檓 trying to adapt my approaches to both my class work and my personal situation to limit the inevitable damage.

Here are things I am doing with our class:

I try to end each day with a daily reflection, and since returning from break, I am also trying to add a daily opening to think about and help frame the day.
I鈥檓 adding more information on Google Classroom to explain assignments AND I鈥檓 doing some videos for that as well.
I鈥檝e gotten into a flow, and the kids seem to really know what I鈥檓 expecting at this point, so I鈥檓 trying to keep a schedule and process that they have become used to. Routine matters, and it is good for them to be able to predict what comes next.
I鈥檓 doing Zoom check-ins with students who are out on quarantine.
I鈥檓 trying to introduce some new and interesting elements. We did a science lesson with some fun activities (comparing leaves, celery with colored water). I鈥檒l probably look into having my sister do another art lesson via Zoom next week or so (which can happen however we鈥檙e teaching).
I鈥檓 always advocating for more counseling services anywhere I can. At my school site, there are none. This to me is the most critical need, while also the hardest to staff. It鈥檚 a tight job market, and not many have gone into the profession because they鈥檙e one of the first positions cut. Folks talk about how damaging being out of school has been, but this hasn鈥檛 led to providing services sufficient to address the challenges. This is a significant problem.

Here are things I鈥檓 trying to do for my own self-care because this is hard. For the most part, these all involve making space for myself, physically and emotionally:

I鈥檓 taking daily bike rides along local paths. It鈥檚 harder now because the sun drops at 5:00 p.m., and so I鈥檝e got to get started at 4:30 p.m.; this means not a lot of down time when I get home.
Taking baths. I had been visiting a local spa/bath house, but with this new outbreak, that鈥檚 on hold. I鈥檝e upgraded my Epsom salts, lotions, etc.
Always asking for help. This week, I鈥檝e asked others in our household to pick up more so I can do less.
Listening to audiobooks about something that has nothing to do with politics or education. I鈥檝e been listening to James Herriot鈥檚鈥淎ll Creatures鈥� series, and I鈥檓 now on to Aubrey-Mautrin series of Hornblower-esque tales.

Returning to the issue of counseling, there is a reason I鈥檓 consistently advocating for school counseling services. Simply put: I cannot be the sole source of psychological support for my students, most of whom have needs that exceed my training and skills. I鈥檓 getting pulled into doing things that normally would be under the purview of a school counselor.

While all these changes help to some degree, the amount of psychological, emotional, and social support my students now require is an urgent need they have that I cannot meet, and trying to respond where I can just is not sustainable for me, either.

Flexibility

Andrew Simmons is a public high school teacher and writer living in Oakland:

If I鈥檓 being honest, I want to foster a classroom community that improves upon the society outside.

Just two years ago, I almost never called in sick unless my daughter had to stay home from school. I was willing to teach while deliriously ill, hopped up on cold meds, losing my voice. I was great at soldiering through. And I would have minor panic attacks when I did call in and a less-than-agile substitute would email to say they skipped an assignment because the projector wouldn鈥檛 turn on.

The pressure to maintain productivity and efficiency, to have perfect attendance, to be rewarded or at least not punished for that soldiering through faces many American workers with far less flexibility than I enjoy. You see it when people who work from home go on social media and blame teachers for school closures they say have ruined American children. The shadow concern is often about blows to their productivity and efficiency in the wake of lost child care.

On Tuesday, I told my students that we were entering a phase of acute stress. It鈥檚 Day 3, and I鈥檝e had about 15 of my 120 students email to say they鈥檙e out with COVID. And there are other absences, more than usual, I can鈥檛 help but guess are often also COVID-related. Because my school鈥檚 population is heavily vaccinated (all but one staff member, I鈥檓 told), the fear is less about deaths or hospitalizations than destabilization, the uncertainty around when a teacher might have to leave for a week, or how a lesson that might work beautifully one day won鈥檛 fly the next, when half the class is suddenly out. For me, it鈥檚 actually easier; instead of a flu swooping in by surprise and knocking me out for a few days, I know it鈥檚 coming and can calibrate my planning to accommodate it.

Every week鈥檚 agenda is on Canvas on Sunday or Monday morning. Every text is scanned, every assignment posted. Every piece of news can reach students and parents in seconds via email, ParentSquare, Canvas鈥攁ll the platforms! If I have to Zoom in (and I鈥檓 feeling fine), I know I can because I鈥檝e, sadly, done it before.

My Lit 12 students in particular read a great deal of literature in which uncertainty and powerful, practically inexorable forces buffet characters: The Stranger, Hamlet, There There, The Handmaid鈥檚 Tale, and so on. In such real-life circumstances, we can control our responses, express our best selves through actions. Vaccinations and masks aside, we can鈥檛 control the virus, but we can control how we react to the way it scuttles our best-laid plans, our reassuring rhythms鈥攚hich maybe aren鈥檛 always the healthiest anyway.

I told my students Tuesday that we will have to be more flexible, adaptable, and fluid than usual for at least the next month. Communicate frequently and clearly with me. You will not be shamed. When you return, I will not harangue you about missing assignments. Do the reading and writing from home if you can. Ask me questions. But if you鈥檙e sick or caring for others, don鈥檛 let this class be an added burden. It can wait. I will not dock your pay, vaporize your vacation time, or demote you. I will welcome you back and ask you if you鈥檙e doing OK.

But is that not a better approach in any month? I know of a colleague (also a parent, someone who should know better) who seems to take particular glee in reminding a heavily concussed student that she鈥檚 falling behind and has tests to make up. What good does that do but stoke that teacher鈥檚 sense of their power and make a student feel like health must be subservient to the whims of authority?

I don鈥檛 think an academically rigorous and engaging classroom is incompatible with helping students see that a healthier society is possible. One silver lining of the pandemic is that it offers a glimpse of what could be: living at a more deliberate pace, making personal choices informed by what helps others feel safe and secure, and prioritizing health over a relentless push for productivity.

This is an opportunity to educate students about that as well as classroom content.

Thanks to Tairen, Alice, and Andrew for contributing their thoughts!

Consider contributing a question to be answered in a future post. You can send one to me at lferlazzo@epe.org. When you send it in, let me know if I can use your real name if it鈥檚 selected or if you鈥檇 prefer remaining anonymous and have a pseudonym in mind.

You can also contact me on Twitter at .

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The opinions expressed in Classroom Q&A With Larry Ferlazzo are strictly those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Editorial Projects in Education, or any of its publications.