Teachers across the United States, and probably much of the world, will tell you that this year has been one like none other, and they are not exaggerating. What many of us now take as normal – a virtual room full of student avatars, varied uses of synchronous and asynchronous time, participating in the chat and suites of digital tools – wasn’t even in most teachers’ frame of reference at the start of March 2020. And here we are, approaching the end of the school year with almost a whole year of remote teaching under our belts.
I confess that coming into September and the start of the new school year that I was skeptical about how well remote learning would work. Would I be able to get to know students and build relationships? Would they engage and participate? Would they be able to stay focused for 50 minutes a period eight times a day? And while I would be lying if I said I haven’t felt frustrated, challenged, and often flat out exhausted by the process, overall I’ve been lucky to have a successful year. Many students are struggling. They’ve lost friends or family to COVID-19, have struggled to engage remotely as they deal with social isolation, mental health issues, and all the distractions inherent in learning from home. Many of my students have had to care for siblings, pets and help their parents, while others have fallen into patterns of addictive behavior playing video games and scrolling through their phones without interruption. Many of the students most disengaged and unmotivated by the in-person school have struggled mighitily to adapt alongside students who excell from the social elements of in-person learning that are missing online.
And yet, despite all these challenges, I’m not sure how the year could have gone much better than it has given these issues. Despite the fact that I wouldn’t recognize most of my students from a random stranger walking down the street, I do feel like I know most of my students reasonably well. They share intimate details from their lives in assignments and in discussions from their experiences with sexual abuse to the impacts of gun violence on their lives. I have a sense of their personalities (some more than others), and we joke around as we might in person. Instead of hearing laughter, I see “LMAO” in the chat. Halfway through the year as one term ended and three of my five classes switched to another teacher, I got a lot of appreciative feedback from students, thanking me for my understanding and compassion during this challenging time. Letting my classes (two of which I would have had for part two of the course) know that I was moving out of state, their dismay and sadness were palpable as they (jokingly?) suggested I should divorce my wife rather than move, and I was close to tears myself.
On top of the socio-emotional elements, I’ve witnessed powerful learning from many students, including those who’ve struggled. We’ve had deep discussions about identity, climate change, systemic racism, conflict, and a host of other important topics. Students in my last period of the day stay past the bell to continue our class discussions, something that’s never happened to me in person. I’ve seen unusual growth in writing and presentation skills in particular, and some students who struggled in-person in past years, have excelled remotely. And somehow, after a long day of 8 periods of remote learning, I’ve had a consistent group of 6-10 students showing up after school to participate in the after-school club I run.
To be clear, I don’t like remote teaching, and most of my students don’t like remote learning. But, we’ve made it work, we’ve adapted, and we’ve made the best of the circumstances. I have truly been inspired by my students this year. The capacity of many of them recognize the situation and make the best of it, to be disciplined and focused and on top of the many demands on their time has defied my hopes, even as I’ve been challenged by my inability to engage other students. And to be honest, I’m not sure that if if I was a student right now, I’d have done any better than they have. I am very hopeful that these young people will have a positive impact on the world and whatever they choose to pursue in the future.