As 2020 Ends...a teacher's reflection

May we just take a moment...and happy dance...for we survived my/our first ever of teaching in a pandemic!  Hands in the air!  Give it up!

Now, some might suggest this came at a high cost.  Yes.  I would agree.

Thus, before we return (numbers are ever so high...new even-more-contagious virus now within the States...to maybe even more unknows), may we just chat about what we do know...or more specifically about what I did learn about that high cost?

1. Fortunately, for school districts, teachers are not paid by the hour, for teachers are on salary.  We work until the job is finished.  (As a matter of fact...this Christmas Break?...teachers are not paid.  We are only paid for the days we work.)  And did we work!  I put more hours into that first 14 weeks (finally felt some slack about week 14-15...when my students began research papers...unfortunately, many still slacked...while many worked/wrote harder than ever).  From the posts I read and the action research within my own hallway, teachers more than doubled the normal work-hour load.  The cost is high.
2. Students need structure; specifically, they need the routine of school.  With the exception of @15% of my online students, the remainder failed the first semester.  Not just my class.  Most...if not all of their classes.  Also, those who would have to be quarantined knew...would tell me...they knew they would get behind.   Just too easy to put off what they thought they could complete later.  This cost is just too high.
3. Parents need the structure of school for their children as they, too, are living in a pandemic and are not teachers and often do not have the time to ensure their children are completing work, for...shock!...they are often told the work is finished.  Then, grades are released.  Parent contacts are made.  Then, reality.  Just bless them.  The cost is high.
4. Virtual students...for the future is not 20-20 for them...are making decisions that affect their GPAs which, in turn, affect not-earned scholarships...which will affect their future education decisions.  This cost to them just makes me so sad.  Right now, they are forfeiting careers, pay raises, advancements...future choices they will never now experience.  The cost is just too high.
5. Teachers are teaching less than we ever have...but are teaching more than they probably ever thought would be obtainable in a pandemic.  Finding that doable line can be frustrating.  Students need success; they need to be learning...but with rising COVID numbers, families are experiencing sickness and loss of loved ones. Besides these losses, many people's finances have been affected.  Stress!  Therefore, teachers work hard to find the lessons that are engaging and realistic and doable.  How much is enough?  How much is too much?  For regardless of this pandemic, still we work daily to prepare them for a world after COVID (and maybe that state-mandated test?!  Stress!).  That's right...the cost is high.
6. Based on my action research, teachers' health were affected...to their detriment.  At one point, nearly 100% of my teacher friends were having some sort of health issue that all stemmed from stress of teaching in this environment that none asked for...but one in which they all showed up for...day after day...week after week...month after month...until 16 weeks were accomplished.  And?  None of these health issues were related to the virus...just from stress caused by working in this pandemic.  The.  Cost.  Is.  High.
7. I could go on...but...
8. I am sooooooo proud of us...the students, the teachers, the staff, the admin, the families...we are making it happen, for school is the best place for these kiddos to be. My mind cannot be changed about that...school is the best place for students (could so easily digress her and chat about brain development...but...I won't!)  I shared with all of my students who would hear...their remaining engaged is the same as earning money for their futures...for their GPAs will remain high; they will earn the scholarships; they will secure the jobs of this lost year.  Yes, the cost, while high, will be so rewarding for them.
9. Technological advancements...teachers are making it happen!  Many who just knew they could not...now know they can.  Yes!  You see...we will learn and utilize whatever to make this thing call school happen.  

Tell me...at what cost have you succeeded this year?  I know the perks and benefits do outweigh the cost.  Yes!