Teaching through a pandemic

As many educators, parents and students enjoy the Christmas break, many also await what the school year will look like in the new year. As the number of cases rise across the province and the country there most definitely is a sense of uncertainty. Where is Shrek and Donkey these days? Oops, when will Doug Ford and Stephen Lecce decide to make an announcement about an announcement? After almost two years, educators, parents and students have become use to last minute announcements, pivoting and adapting!

In March 2020, as I drive home from work, I was taken aback when the province announced schools would be closed two weeks after the march break due to a virus known as Corona. Well those two weeks went on to be three months. Never as a teacher, would I have ever imagined going through a world wide pandemic and teaching online. At the time, we as teachers were navigating uncharted waters. I cannot believe I taught by posting lessons for kids to read, expecting them to teach themselves and then submit the work. As a language teacher, whose program is more oral than reading and writing, I personally felt I was doing my students such a disservice. I think it is safe to say that the education I was providing was more busy work and not rich content. As the weeks went on, and our platform EDSBY failed us by being too slow or simply crashing, slowly more and more students stopped checking in and submitting their assignments.

September 2020, teachers, parents and students were all thrilled to be back! Back to in person learning, students happy to be back with friends, teachers happy to be able to actually teach and work with the students. I would ask many of my students how they felt about being back to school and I would say, 99% were all happy to be in person over online. With that I must say, going back last fall was refreshing, despite wearing a mask all day, socially distancing and not having extracurriculars, the fall of 2020 seemed like a new approach to education. It was odd not being able to gather in the gym for an assembly, nor having teams or clubs, no Christmas concerts or not being able to book class trips or even having guest speakers. The greatest challenge was asking our students not to mix and mingle in the hall or in the yard at recess. I lost count on how many times I had to say, "Put on your mask?", "Cover your whole face?" or "Did you sanitize"??

Unfortunately after Christmas 2020, we had to pivot for the month of January due to a rise in numbers over the winter break and the fact there was still no vaccine available. This time around, teachers were zooming, allowing us to see our students and communicating with them in real time. Unless you had a group of intermediates that chose to turn off their screens, in which there was just me, Madame Cascini looking at a black screen for a 40 minute french periods every day. Fortunately we did not stay home as long, as we headed back to school in February. Back to the same protocols, which was a little easier after all the practice in the fall. But still no Winter Carnaval or the traditional Pancake Tuesday lunch. I think these extracurriculars that we as teachers do, really add to our students overall educational experience. One aspect that many of us noticed with all the protocols was the lack of a sense of a community, since we had to stick to just our cohorts. Even eating in the staff room was limited and there were days you would not see many of your colleagues. Due to restrictions socializing was not an option for both students and staff.

In late winter, we were told, the march break would be pushed to April after Easter. Ugh, some teachers were not happy! Mind you, no one was really travelling as the virus now a year later referred to as Covid continued to spread. However we made it to April break and the good news was vaccines were finally approved and arriving in Canada. Much to the disappointment of educators, we were not a priority which could have allowed for schools to stay open, but after the spring break, we pivoted again to online learning. Third time the charm. This time around, things were a little easier as it was not so new, but trying to teach children as you would in the classroom still presented its challenges. We continued to stay online the remainder of the year. Yes we were dealing with a pandemic, but many of us were starting worry about the academic of our students.

In September 2021, we once again returned to in school learning. I have learned just how resilient we, educators, students and parents have all been. Throughout the 2021 school year, Covid protocols are still in place, but some extracurriculars have made a return much to the delight of students, parents and educators. With some careful planning, we have been able to bring some normalcy back to school. As we went into Christmas break, the omicron virus was spreading faster than previous strands, which was and still is concerning. No matter what our leaders decide, I know we will persevere! But personally I look forward to the day of no more masks and no more last minute decisions!

Here is to 2022, let's hope the light is finally at the end of the hallway!