2020 has been an extremely hard year for many people across the world. While many hoped to begin the new decade on the right foot, starting over fresh and clean, the coronavirus pandemic came crashing down on all of us and changing our plans. It’s been a few months of uncertainty and fear for many people all across the world.
While health and safety is on everyone’s priority list, people have had to change their lives to ensure we stop the spread of the virus.
Many people have been forced to self-isolate and quarantine in their homes, causing almost everyone to telecommute to work. Among the many who are, teachers have worked day and night to maintain a sense of “normalcy” for their students.
No matter what grade you teach, every teacher knows that it’s been a terribly hard year.
Leaving students without actually getting to say goodbye this year has been hard on everyone. It’s especially hard on those who teach seniors — not getting the change to really say goodbye for good before they graduate.
It’s hard for many of us educators to put the feelings into words.
As an 8th grade ELA teacher, I can tell you that my feelings are unexplainable. Not being able to finish the year off in the classroom, not getting to say goodbye to my graduates, not getting to watch them celebrate prom and graduation — it’s sad.
Recently, mom and teacher Ally Seago shared some words on Facebook about the feelings that arise when you go to clean out your classroom for the year and it really hits home.
Seago took some photos of herself on a timer while cleaning up her classroom and one of them truly hit home. She shared the photo on her Facebook page in a post .
“A teacher somewhere is packing up their classroom right now, mourning the class they never got to see to the end.”
“The class they won’t get to see graduate. The class they won’t get to enjoy the beautiful spring weather with. The class who will no longer be able to sit and feel the suspense of a mystery read aloud. The class who won’t be able to sign yearbooks and make summer plans with friends. The class they never got to say goodbye to. The students they won’t get to hug anymore.”
She explained how the sudden shift has been hard on students.
“The students they can no longer check in on every day due to technology deficits or little parental support. The students that shy away from face-to-face videoconferencing because they don’t understand why their world has been turned upside down and routines thrown out the window. The students whose only positive interactions and care were inside these four walls,” she wrote in her post.
She added that it hasn’t been easy.
“Lives have been immeasurably disrupted. Teachers have had to switch gears and create a classroom online and implement lessons in ways they’ve never had to before. Oftentimes spending more hours than they would in a normal workday. Heightened sadness, staggering stress, disenfranchised grief.”
Being back in the classroom, she said, is like a time capsule.
“Stepping into these classrooms is overwhelming. It’s as if it was frozen in time. Weeks and months gone unchanged. Calendars still set on March, preparing for Spring Break. Projects left unfinished on the counters, crayons and glue sticks half-used, novels bookmarked halfway through, forgotten lunchboxes and coffee mugs; a time capsule.”
It’s hard on any teacher.
“As difficult as this is for you, know that teachers are grieving. They chose this profession because they love education and they love children. They’re dealing with a lot of adjustment and stress themselves. Packing up a classroom before the year is complete, feels alien. It is sad, it is frustrating, and it is hard.”
If you can do one thing today, thank a teacher.
We’ve worked around the clock, through stress and anxiety in these confusing times, to ensure that all students continue to get their education. And, we miss our kids so much.
