5! 4! 3! 2! 1! Happy New Year! As the clock struck midnight many declared the year 2020 as the year that would be the best of them all. We entered the year with hope and promise for our futures. By mid-March most Americans were asked to shelter-at-home to reduce the spread of the coronavirus that leads to COVID-19. School buildings closed and educators quickly transitioned to implement new teaching and learning tools to adjust to the new virtual learning space. Many teachers had never used the resources and tools required to thrive in the virtual learning environment but they learned almost overnight and prepared to give their very best to students. Zoom meetings and virtual classrooms became a daily norm.
Suddenly, both the triumphs and challenges of public education took center stage. Parents celebrated their child(ren)’s teachers after experiencing firsthand the intricacies involved in educating a child. A national outcry for teacher pay raises and adequate funding for classroom supplies ensued. On a much larger scale, the pandemic exposed the challenges of teachers and students in poverty- stricken areas. The lack of access to technology and internet connectivity made it nearly impossible to provide a quality education. The success of solving this issue runs the gamut. Some districts were able to provide one-to-one technology and WiFi hotspots to all students while others decided to deliver weekly learning packets to the home. The school system’s role in aiding with food insecurities also became magnified. Consequently, many community organizations and corporations stepped up to the plate with both food and monetary donations to help the hardest hit. Just before summer break global protests began all over the world in response to the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man killed by the police in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This resulted in many school districts promising to include an antiracism curriculum in their Fall 2020 plan. Despite the challenges we closed the 2019-2020 school year with virtual graduations and celebrations.
We began our summer break cautiously optimistic about returning to some sense of normalcy in the fall and preparing plans to address learning losses. Unfortunately, for many states the pandemic has grown much worse and the dream of a normal fall return may not be a possibility.
We have far more questions than answers and even the best school-opening plans seem slightly inadequate. With all of the uncertainty, what is the best course of action? What can you do to prepare for back-to-school in a COVID-19 world? How do you ensure meaningful learning is taking place in the middle of a global crisis? You can start by establishing these principles:
Trust Yourself. You began your career as an educator because you wanted to make a difference and impart knowledge into our youth. You are uniquely equipped with innate knowledge and skills to determine the needs of your students. Your commitment to being a lifelong learner fuels your passion to research new and exciting tools to deliver content. Trust that you are now, as you were before, the very best person for the job.
Plan and Prepare. Read your local and district return-to-school guidelines to determine how to prepare for an in-person or a virtual classroom environment. If possible, make adjustments based on the data and demographics of your class or school.
Build Relationships. Transparency is key. Be open and transparent about the collective trauma we all have faced amidst a global pandemic, protests and economic crisis. Both teachers and students will have anxiety and be apprehensive about the return to school. Acknowledging these truths and preparing a warm and welcoming environment is vital for a successful school reopening. This must be addressed before learning can take place. In the words of Dena N. Simmons, Ed.D, “Every child deserves an education that guarantees the safety to learn in the comfort of one’s own skin.” To meet this need, the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) recently published the SEL Roadmap for Reopening School. This publication is filled with several social and emotional learning resources that can support you with implementing regular practices to build an inclusive classroom environment where teachers and students are encouraged to bring their whole selves to school.
Be Kind and Have Fun. Educating during a pandemic is new for us all; therefore, be kind to yourself. You will make mistakes but, in our mistakes are our greatest lessons. Fail forward. Students will benefit from observing your productive struggle and will begin to develop a growth mindset as a result. Don’t forget that learning is fun. If you approach the new learning environment as a serious yet fun problem that we all get to solve together, then this will ease your anxiety and that of your students. Project-based learning is a great way to cluster multiple learning standards and give real-world connections while also promoting a high level of student agency and engagement. The learning can be both self-paced and fun. The Buck Institute’s PBLWorks site includes projects, project planners, rubrics and other resources to help teachers get started with project-based learning. Your district may have purchased or have access to free virtual learning tools to support instruction. The Online Learning Consortium has created a For Teachers Moving Online resource bank that provides information on lesson planning, learning schedules, digital learning sites and learning management platforms.
Make Time for Self-Care. You cannot pour water from an empty cup. Be mindful of yourself and others. Whether you are in person or in a virtual environment it is important to take breaks regularly. It could be something as simple as a stretch break, reciting a school creed, class chant, playing music or student choice self-expression. This can help refocus students and yourself after sitting for long periods of time in socially distant classrooms or at home in front of the computer. Remember to stay hydrated, eat a balanced diet and get plenty of sleep because there is no school to return to without you.
We are experiencing a new era in education and no one person has all the answers. We may not know what the future holds and funding may be scarce, but the collective “we” has always been our greatest resource.
Shakeatha Butler is the Director Programming and Choice School Implementation with the Office of Transformation and Innovation for Dallas Independent School District. In this role, Ms. Butler leads the Public School Choice proposal process to redesign neighborhood schools and create new start-up schools without attendance boundaries to provide best-fit school options for families regardless of socioeconomic status. Her tireless efforts, commitment to equity and desire to increase student access to high-quality schools led to the launch of 34 new innovation and transformation schools over her three year tenure creating a pipeline for innovative school models for years to come.
Prior to joining Dallas ISD, Ms. Butler was the Elementary Science Director with Duval County Public Schools in Jacksonville, Florida. There she was instrumental in raising the profile and performance of the school systems’ STEM programs and played a key role in improving student performance on state academic science assessments. As a grant project manager, Ms. Butler secured and oversaw math and science grants and developed significant funding streams in partnership with area colleges, universities and the U.S. Department of Education.While with the Florida Department of Education, Ms. Butler led instructional reviews and provided consultation to transform the lowest performing schools in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach county school districts.
She began her career in education 15 years ago as a Biology teacher and has remained connected to her first love, the classroom, to stay abreast of challenges and needs of both students and teachers.