This month our Monthly Dose looks a little different. Because, well, things are a little different. Here’s a roundup of the best COVID-19 realities for teachers.
#TeachingInTheTimeOfCorona
1. Relationships feel more important than worksheets sometimes
When you go from seeing your students day-in, day-out, sometimes that school roll attendance over video where you actually get to lay eyes on your students feels more important than an assignment.
Check on your students. They need you more than ever right now with the rapid change in our world. I recorded a little video and posted it on my google classroom page. I challenged Ss to send me an email and tell me how they’re doing. My inbox was flooded. #edchat
— Elizabeth Raff (@elizabeth_raff) March 17, 2020
Somehow Zoom’s 10 page guide to using their video software for education seems not so bad.
2. Virtual backgrounds are the teaching gift we never knew we needed
Didn’t tidy? No problems. Go bold like this professor:
ONE OF MY PROFESSORS MADE HARRY STYLES HER BACKGROUND ON ZOOM THIS IS SENDING MEEEE pic.twitter.com/wui2MQrR2g
— mar! (@faitdesoleil) March 17, 2020
Or for something a little less distracting and a little more on-brand, a STEM-themed background is just the ticket:
3. Teaching students also means helping parents stay sane
“I have gone through five boxes of Thin Mints myself, and I’m out of Thin Mints now and I’m very upset about it. That’s been my quarantine.” — Supriya Kelkar, author and mother of three. This, from the brilliant article, Thanks to the coronavirus, my daughter now has America’s worst teacher, which also includes such gems as:
“I know that Satya’s teachers — Molly and Lex, those heroes — never yell, because she reminds me every day.”
Got more realities? Tweet @shemapsau with your #TeachingInTheTimeOfCorona moment and we'll add them in!
4. Staying sane is something teachers with kids can also relate to
If you are a teacher currently doing the triple threat: shifting your lessons online, teaching them, and homeschooling your own kids — we take our hats off to you.
5. The teacher appreciation is going strong across the board
Coronavirus takeaway: Parents really like sending their kids to school.
When the creator and producer of Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal says you should earn a billion dollars, you’re doing something right:
Been homeschooling a 6-year old and 8-year old for one hour and 11 minutes. Teachers deserve to make a billion dollars a year. Or a week.
— shonda rhimes (@shondarhimes) March 16, 2020
#Homeschooling / #WorkFromHome Day 1 . Biggest takeaway so far, my son’s teacher needs a raise. #QuarantineLife pic.twitter.com/UHDliyEaBi
— Lindsey C (@lilDnD) March 16, 2020
And people want to make it last:
That 8pm Thursday clap for workers we all depend on, crisis or not, is amazing and inspiring.
— Owen Jones🌹 (@OwenJones84) April 2, 2020
But let's make our thank yous really mean something: let's fight for them all to have decent wages, terms and conditions and properly funded services, now and forever #clapforkeyworkers
Which is important because —
6. Inequalities are more obvious than ever
For kids with learning difficulties, learning English as a second language, or whose home situation isn’t a good learning environment, the inequalities in our education system are getting a light shone on them like never before.
In one rural county in California, 25% of homes lack any internet access, including smartphones, equating to over 73,600 households.
When this happens in the fifth largest economy in the world, this isn’t an issue of wealth, it’s an issue of where that wealth goes.
This is a conversation you’ll see us continuing through our Impact Program work — the light needs to stay on it long after this pandemic is controlled.
7. But for right now, we’re all just figuring out what kind of COVID-19 teacher we are
Happy April to all the teachers teaching remotely for the next month. We got this. Credit my old Nashville friend and coworker Casey Giacamo for inspiring this stellar video idea! #COVID19 #StayHome #StayHealthy #TeacherTikTok #Quarantine pic.twitter.com/mNitthvYwY
— Bethany McQuiston (@BHank1987) April 1, 2020
Got more realities? Tweet @shemapsau with your #TeachingInTheTimeOfCorona moment and we'll add them in!