Now I must admit, I have had some doozies in terms of school years. Hell, in 19 years, one is bound to have a few. Here is a little sum-up of my school years on a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being worst, 10 being best:
2002-03: 7
2003-04: 7
2004-05: 1
2005-06: 6
2006-07: 9
2007-08: 8
2008-09: 6
2009-10: 7
2010-11: a negative 2 (as I ended the year on FML, this score is generous)
2011-12: 7
2012-13: 9
2013-14: 10
2014-15: 8
2015-16: 7
2016-17: 9
2017-18: 9
2018-19: 8
2019-20: 6
and, drum roll...
2020-21: 5
Those 2 lowest were, in order, my first year ever of teaching 5th grade and my first year teaching 4th grade. That 5th grade intro was once the worst until the year of 4th hit, and worst went to 2nd worst. It would be easy (and a cop-out) to say the kids were the factor, but honestly it was pretty much me and how I reacted to people and events.
I actually ran into one of the kids from the 5th grade intro year shortly before the pandemic. He was one of my personalities that drove me nuts back then, but when I saw him and all the memories came flooding back, I remembered just how funny that group could be and how much of an easier time I could have had if I'd been less reactionary.
As for the other year, well, I am not sure what could have helped that. I was the new guy at a pretty established school and before the year started I had to move my family to a new apartment. It was also my first regular year of teaching as opposed to year-round, and I was exhausted by November. On top of that, I had not sat down to form any real classroom management plan and as a result a lot of things went by that shouldn't have. Truly, this is the year I would choose to do over if I could.
And then we come to this past year that ended on May 26. When the teachers re-convened in early August, we weren't quite sure what to make of what was coming in terms of online learning. There had been a small taste of it the previous Spring when we went into pandemic mode, but now we were in full swing. We spent a couple of weeks trying to learn an online system called Canvas, though we ended up using Google Classroom for the year instead. Those appeared at first to be 2 wasted weeks, though it looks like it will be our plan in the fall...even though we are scheduled to be in regular learning mode.
The year commenced with the kids on August 12. I had a couple of kids from a previous class when I taught 2nd. I would have to say the toughest thing to get the grasp of was time management. The idea of teaching for 30-40 minutes, then having the kids do things on their own for the next 40 or so minutes was insane. Plus, there was no way to get the kids back on track if they weren't doing the work. The problem was, parents worked and often the kids were at home alone.
The students themselves were pretty good. Many of them kept their cameras on to be engaged in class. With this new learning mode, there weren't a whole lot of true behavior "problems", just a lot of kids not getting their work done.
Sitting in a classroom by myself managing the class, assigning things, and trying to teach via the ELMO was pretty tough, as well as lonely. A school without kids in the halls isn't a school. Staff meetings on a Google Meet are bizarre to say the least.
On the homefront, Natalie was doing 6th grade from home. It wasn't going well for her as she missed the physical and social engagement aspect of each class.
I have to say that one of the best things in the year was something I created...a new tradition of coffee Fridays with my friend Candice, who was teaching from her home (as other teachers did as well) with her 2 kids learning from home as well, and she lived very close to work. One Friday I'd bring her brew to her front gate and the next Friday she'd have it ready for me...meaning more often than not her husband went and grabbed it. On either instance we'd talk for a few minutes about how school and our own lives were going, then I'd head to work.
This tradition lasted until mid November when the spike in COVID cases forced everyone to be home. This was bad news for me, since our Internet wasn't all that strong. Luckily, I was provided with a hotspot from work that Natalie could use. Even with fairly good Internet, my home system was not designed for work use and it was impossible to play educational videos. Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks were definitely looked forward to.
After the New Year, January 6, and inauguration happened, my boss informed us that we could return to the school building if we followed the distancing rules. Really, I would have worn a hazmat suit if required just to go back. The home environment was just not working well with me.
I really was overjoyed to be back and enjoy the smell of new carpet that had been installed after we were all kicked out. There were only a few of us coming back but it was better than nothing. Even so, a month later, pre-K through 3rd was scheduled to come back in a cohort format. This meant that teachers in those grades had to teach both kids in the classroom plus the ones at home via Google. One cohort was in Monday and Tuesday, one was in Thursday and Friday, and the other cohort just stayed home all the time.
Also in early March Vickie had a hysterectomy and I had another kidney stone blasted 3 days later. That was quite the week!
Before Spring Break, it was decided that everyone who wanted to could come to school on April 6, but those choosing to remain home could do so. I was scheduled for 18 kids in class and 8 at home..that later changed to 20 in class and 6 at home.
I have to say, the best part of the teaching year was being with the kids physically. Even though there were restrictions like no full class bathroom breaks and limited play outside, it was workable and made the end of the year more bearable even with the fucking state testing!
Teacher appreciation week was pretty good for me, getting lots of Starbucks cash among other things. Even though our coffee tradition had more or less died in November, we still got each other a brew here and there like we had before the pandemic hit. One day during the week before the last week, I was dragging for some reason and out of nowhere she brought me a rescue coffee! Friends like that you hold onto for life!
Then came the end. Like the previous year, we had a parade at school after hours and it was great to see those faces one more time. And then, it was over. That day was the last day with students and the next one pretty much consisted of a morning where teachers couldn't wait to check out and get out. Granted, most years end like that for teachers, but this one seemed particularly empty of emotion, just a desire to get out.
If I was forced to, I could do another year like this, but I really do not want to. At one time I was thinking about getting a provision on my license for blended/online learning, but I no longer feel this way. There is a definite bond between teachers and students that cannot be replicated on a computer screen. And there is a bond between teachers that also cannot be recreated digitally. In closing, I raise my Starbucks cup in salute to all those who survived 20-21 and are returning for the real thing!
