Online Teaching During A Pandemic

Teaching is difficult anyway, but throw a super-virus in the mix…

I’ve been a classroom teacher for ten years now, not counting the two years that I subbed while looking for a full-time teaching job or the year that I took off to be an office administrator.

I have taught 3rd-8th grade in different capacities: split classes, a charter school, a multi-grade Montessori, a boys’ home, and middle school English in a traditional district. I’ve seen and been through a lot of rough stuff in those years, as most teachers have. Being called vulgar names (in more than one language), dodging flying books or even chairs, bullying parents, and the never-ending disruptions. Oh, and increase those test scores on top of it all, because that affects your evaluation and determines whether or not you get the coveted “Highly Effective” rating. Teaching is a tough profession, no doubt, and I thought I’d seen it all.

Then came COVID-19.

Suddenly, our whole world changed. We had to come up with a new way of teaching overnight and it was all online and remote.

If you’ve ever worked with kids in any capacity, you know that they learn in all sorts of different ways. Some kids could learn on their own, no matter what; they’re just naturally inclined to school. There are also kids that flourish during online…