This is Not Normal

 A good blog post, like a good small moment, focuses on one topic.  But when you haven't written for a month, and even though you have been nowhere and done nothing worthy of mention, many moments have passed and it is hard to focus on one when you finally decided to write!  That is where I am this morning as the air has turned, promising fall is near and summer is ending.  

While cooler temperatures and searching for a sweatshirt are familiar, there is little else that is this September. Like SO many teachers and students, I am teaching virtually, online through Zoom, a platform I, like most others, did not even know existed until recently.  Now, if I had been a savvy investor, I would have bought stock in this platform and watched it zoom!  Of course, I never thought of that.  I did not think about the long term implications of this pandemic until I had to do so....

For the record, Zoom school is not easier for anyone.  Yes, you can teach in sweatpants or shorts and learn in pajamas.  Yes, you do save time commuting, traveling, busing, and perhaps packing lunches.  Nothing else is easier.  The planning end is immense and frankly daunting.  The goal of meeting students where they are and helping them each grow and learn is frankly daunting. How can you keep students engaged when you cannot coerce with proximity, stare to corral attention, or empower with encouragement?  

For the record, in person school is not easier either as sharing, cooperating, and eye to eye connecting is the heart and soul of learning.  Yes, the kids have someplace to go for a bit; yet, the worry is intense and the risks daunting.  How can you keep students engaged when you cannot coerce with proximity, stare to corral attention, or empower with encouragement?  

So, here's a shout-out to the teachers, pod-teachers, brand-new-thrown-into-teaching, zoom-newbies, administrators, parent-educators, grandparents-in-charge, and everyone else struggling always, or at least at times, with the unbelievable demands on your time, energy, love and patience.  This fall/year is not/will not easy - for everyone.  

To my former colleagues, who are still in the trenches, to my former grad students, who are now teachers, to my son, and my nieces, who are teachers and parents and students, I wish you all a safe school year.  To my grandchildren entering the murky waters of kindergarten and to everyone one of you working with kids who find learning challenging, know you are heroes.  Be on the lookout for stress and share compassion. This is not anyone's idea of normal.