December 2020

 Into this climate of fear and apprehension Christmas enters,

Streaming lights of joy, ringing bells of hope

And singing carols of forgiveness high up in the bright air.

The world is encouraged to come away from rancor,

Come the way of friendship."

~Maya Angelou (2005)

I am on the eve of the last week of school before the end of the calendar year. I have so many mixed emotions surrounding the end of 2020 and the start of a New Year. I know I'm not even halfway through the academic year. I knew I wanted to be a teacher from the time I started kindergarten, and I have a late summer birthday; the academic year has been a more important guidepost for me my entire life. But this year, the calendar year upstages the academic year. 

I have no way of knowing what 2021 will bring, and I am fearful that June will bring yet another transition in my career. My current school hired me to help reduce class sizes, enabling six feet of of distance between student desks in all classrooms. Thus far my grade level has not been in the building for instruction, but there are high hopes in my administration that we will be back in the building sooner rather than later. But come the end of the year, I will be a new hire in a school that will almost assuredly be looking to reduce the size of its staff. These thoughts had me scrolling through LinkedIn this weekend. But I cannot apply for jobs yet. I have to finish this school year for the sake of my students.

Building relationships with students has always been a huge part of my teacher identity. This year, building relationships has been markedly different, but it is still at the core of who I am as a teacher. I have introduced my students to my pets and used funny voices to introduce new topics and keep them engaged. I have scheduled weekly one on one meetings with each student and made sure to send missing work emails to students and their families as soon as I discover a missing assignment. I have sent postcards at least once a month with quotes and jokes to my students' homes.

I am rewarded with pictures of student pets, funny comments on assignments, and emails with information about their daily lives.

 

I have one student who sends me tens of chat messages a day and requires me to close my email when I am in meetings because my computer will ring with an invitation to a video chat. If I answer, the student invariable hangs up. But regardless of whether I answer or not, he will leave the Hangout and open a new one, and send another chat message, or even another request for a video call. It's draining. Incredibly so. But he is a very cute nine year old who is just reaching out for some contact, for a relationship with his teacher.

Students this year didn't do anything to cause the disasters that have befallen their communities or the additional stress that their teachers are facing. Even though 2021 doesn't look like it's going to be any easier than the current year these kids deserve the best I can offer. I'll deal with the next step in my career in a way that will not impact my current students.