Return to Campus

I know we are all struggling with the world since it broke in March, especially educators. It was proven that, relationships matter. They helped get us through all of the video classes, the isolation, and the overall pandemic fatigue. Our patience and flexibility were stretched even farther. New skills, different perspectives, new technology all became part of our toolbox in Emergency Remote Learning.

It is important to call it Emergency Remote Learning because when we return to school it won't be on the fly. We will have had time to prepare, time to learn and expand our skills, and time to heal. Between the pandemic and the civil rights movement, the 2020-2021 school year will be very different. There is no going back to the way things were, we are all on a forward path now.

What makes it interesting is that we have no idea what direction that path is going to take us. There is much uncertainty. Some of us don't even know when school will start or whether it will be in person or remote. We do know that students will be anxious, they won't be the students we saw in the spring. We do know that teachers will be stressed (more than ever) and they will be asked to do more both in and out of the classroom. Mostly, we do that that teachers will be there for their students. We will be the light they need us to be. We will help them grow academically and emotionally. Through our masks and plexiglass, we will be the support they need so that our students can count on us, they can lean on us. 

There isn't much we can be certain about when it comes to the new school year, but I do know this: Teachers will pivot (again). We will change (again). We will meet the challenge head-on (again). I know this because that is what we do best. Teachers adapt for the good of their students.