Ever since COVID-19 has hit our territory here in the United States, many of us have found a lot of extra time on our hands. This extra time could be filled with online teaching, teaching your own kids and students (Bless you! Special place in paradise for you!), finding a new hobby, intense spring cleaning, and finding alternative methods of taming your Starbucks fix.
We may not be in our preferred traditional classroom at this time, but that doesn’t mean learning has come to a halt! I am a strong believer that no matter our age or location we can learn something new.
As the days at home begin to merge into one long period of time with no true concept of what day or time it is, I have decided to share five things I’ve learned during this.
- This is Not a Productivity Competition
I’m happy that you are finding time for your list of to do’s! However, you’ll find me being happy for you while I’m relaxing on the couch watching my 5th episode in a row of binging Dexter! Some days I knock out everything on my list while other days I don’t fill out one checkbox. I’ve learned that is absolutely OK! I found myself stressing out about how much others were accomplishing. Remember you are you and not them, and you need to focus on what you need. If you need to relax and watch Netflix then go for it!
- Prep To-Do List for Online Teaching is Nothing Compared to Regular Prep.
I will never take for granted nor complain about how tedious prep was before the whole online teaching. Everything I create or prep to prepare for the week takes double or triple the time. I don’t mind, because at the end of the day my kiddos are learning and interacting with me still in a new format. In my mind, everything is quicker with technology. This whole experience has shown me a different perspective.
- The Creativity of Passing Time
We have all gotten down to business to defeat the boredom and the prevention of seeing those we love and going to places that bring us joy. I’ve had more virtual movie nights with my friends than we ever had in person. In a couple nights, we will be trying out virtual card games. The creativity that I see on social media for entertaining and educating kids all day demonstrates all of our capabilities of making the best out of the situation.
- Putting Our Patience is a Virtue to the Test
We are practicing this while we wait for all of this to come to an end. We are being patient with ourselves as we learn this new way of working from home, meeting our families’ needs, and our own needs. We have been and will continue to encounter new methods that we want to implement to better our students’ experiences. Be patient. Take your time. Practice what we tell our kids as they become frustrated or disheartened when it takes them a bit while learning something new.
- We Are Not Alone
I think the most important thing I have learned throughout this whole experience is that we are not alone. We are connected to each other through us banding together to still provide for our students. We are connected as we strive to create normalcy. We are connected by our determination to see this through until the end when we can be united with our loved ones and our students in celebration!
You are doing amazing things from your new set-up at each of your homes. Be open to the unfamiliarity. Be willing to become students again in order to help our students. Be kind to yourselves as each of us progress at our own paces.
