The Coronavirus pandemic has turned the world upside down and changed how everything is operating. Schools in particular have had to make many changes and adjustments to keep students safe.
With these new adjustments many challenges have followed. Teachers are having just as much difficulty with the “new normal” as students are. Three educators have shared their experiences about teaching through the pandemic. While there are some federal and state guidelines schools have to follow, such as mask wearing, schools and universities were largely left to decide what the best course of action for their students’ safety was.
Katherine, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, said that
“We allow the [students] to transition in staggered times so that they are not all in the hallway,”
She said that at Port Neches Middle School where she works,
“We spread out what grade goes where in the morning. The cafeteria has several precautions for lunch. The kids don’t grab the food, they must sanitize their hands before going in the lunch line, and we allow the kids to eat outside to spread out.”
Something that two of the teachers’ schools are doing is cleaning desks before and after students use them and having plexiglass desk shields. A teacher, who wished to remain anonymous and works at a local intermediate school said that,
“Kids clean when they leave and the group that comes in after them cleans also.”
Desks are constantly being cleaned in case a student is sick but isn’t showing any symptoms. It protects the students from unknowingly contracting COVID.
A professor from Lamar University who wished to not be named, says that the university is,
“Limiting classroom sizes, contact tracing, quarantining positive individuals and those who come into contact with them for 14 days.”
This way if a student possibly has COVID, they won’t be coming into contact with other students in class.
All three educators said that the hardest part of teaching during COVID is dealing with the online learning aspect. They had very similar opinions, saying that it is harder to deliver instruction online and students are less motivated when it comes to paying attention and doing their work.
The intermediate teacher and the professor both mention that is feels like it is double the work for them, while they already had a busy workload before COVID. The biggest struggle for all of them is trying to keep the online students engaged and motivated. But as one of the teachers said,
“I’m not a magician, I’m a teacher. I can only do so much when they are at home. At that point it’s the parent’s responsibility,”
It’s hard for teachers to motivate students through a screen. At home there are many distractions. Students and parents are the ones responsible for keeping the focus on school, but not every parent is a teacher so it can be a hard for everyone.
The emotional wellbeing of teachers is also another aspect of this COVID pandemic. Educators rarely get asked about their own wellbeing during the school year, one of the teachers was surprised that she was asked how she was doing mentally. They feel frustrated, discouraged, and anxious just like students do. One educator even thought about taking drastic measures saying,
“I think about quitting all of the time. It has been extremely frustrating because I am giving so much effort and most students are not in return. I am very exhausted,”
The mental toll on educators right now is often overlooked, and if they were to quit then it would make learning for students even harder.
But there are some silver linings through all of this. Katherine said,
“That the kids are more appreciative of public education. They got a chance to see what it was like to self-teach and stay at home. They realize that they need teachers and the help we provide.”
There are also some moments of laughter, the educators recall times in online class when kids would say funny things that they normally wouldn’t say in person. Technical difficulties would cause a student’s screen to freeze while they were making a funny face.All three teachers had the same thoughts about online learning, that kids do better in a classroom environment and it’s hard to teach certain subjects, such as math, through a screen. They all have hope for the future and just can’t wait for things to return to the old normal.
Gabby Gaspard 