I wrote this in early January 2022, the week after returning to school from winter break. Things were up in the air, many students, teachers, and staff were absent.
This month I wanted to write about the 80/20 principle and its place in education. The principle states that 80% of results come from 20% of the actions. (If you want to learn more check out this article.) I thought it would be interesting to list all the “actions” I take as a teacher and see which ones have the biggest impact on student learning. I started to track what I did in a typical teaching day and then realized January 2022 is NOT typical.
As we closed up the school in December for the winter break things seemed as normal as they could be (besides students wearing masks). COVID numbers were low, we were back in the “normal” routine, and I felt like I was starting to get my teacher groove back. But, as we came back to school in January it was craziness again. Each day more and more of my students were absent, either because they had COVID or had been exposed and were in quarantine. I tried (and continue to try) to try to keep things as consistent as possible, but it’s really hard. How can I serve students both in the classroom and at home? How can I support my students in this strange world of constant COVID testing, and the looming truth that we will all most likely contract COVID at some time? How can I continue to plan as usual knowing there is a good chance I will be out with COVID at some point?
Back this story up to the last November. As I started to hit my groove I thought January would be the perfect time to reflect on how things were going and refine my practice. I wanted to do this for myself and share what I created with other teachers. I felt so strongly about this that I created an online course “Teacher Midyear Reset”. (Here’s the link in case you are up to checking it out Teacher Midyear Reset.) I excitedly planned, recorded videos, created a workbook, curated resources, and uploaded the materials to an online course platform. I invested in marketing to share this product with teachers. Then silence. Nothing. There didn’t seem to be much interest in a reset. And, I totally get it. How can we reflect and revise what we were doing in the fall when we don’t know what tomorrow will hold? Teachers are literally taking things day by day, and their energy is in keeping up with the changes. It’s hard to reflect when you are in survival mode.
I’m still happy I made the “Teacher Midyear Reset”. And, even though it hasn’t been as popular as I had hoped, creating it gave me a chance to reflect on my practice and think about how to share ideas with other teachers. Besides, it will be there for teachers to use anytime they want (and hopefully NEXT January we will be able to truly take advantage of the course).
In the spirit of resetting, and reflection, I’ve spent time thinking about what I can do as a teacher right now to best support my students, other teachers, and myself. Here are a few things I came up with:
Keep things as simple as possible for everyone.
That awesome new project you planned to do with your students that required the special new program, a ton of supplies, and lots of collaboration - rethink it. Note what your learning outcome was, what you want students to know and be able to do, then streamline the project. You may not know how many students will be in class tomorrow, if they will have access to supplies, and if you will have a chance to introduce them to the new program. Simplify the project so the learning outcomes are met, but the process of getting there is more straightforward.
2. Provide support to All students as best you can (but remember to keep it simple).
Students may be absent due to COVID and you will need to provide materials to these students so they can continue with their instruction. For me, I was trying to recreate the classroom experience for the students at home. This is impossible. Instead take advantage of the millions of materials teachers created over the past 2 years (while we were all distance learning) and think about assigning an alternative assignment to students at home. This isn’t ideal, but we aren’t in our usual and ideal teaching environment right now.
3. Double down on collaborating with fellow teachers
This is a time like no other for teachers to work together. Consider finding a teacher and divide up creating those at-home lessons for students that are absent. Share strategies with other teachers about what is working and what you would like to find better systems for.
4. Don’t over plan
I am a planner, so I’m trying really hard to take my own advice on this. Because I’ve realized I don’t know what next month, next week, or even tomorrow will hold at school, I am planning out “big ideas”. I know I want to finish a certain unit by a certain date. Then, I plan the specifics week by week. I am also preparing myself mentally to alter assignments if needed (for example if I need to be absent).
For more moral support check out Larry Ferlazzo’s take on this latest wave of Covid and how it is impacting educators (it definitely validated my feelings).
So, here is to us getting through this time the best we can, and looking forward to days when things are consistent enough that we can truly reflect and revise (instead of constantly reacting).