As if teaching wasn’t hard enough, 2020 had to throw us a curveball with Zoom meetings, technology woes, and countless screams of “Mute yourself”! Unsurprisingly, we badass teachers made it through and we came out stronger on the other side. However, the uncertainty of fall looms before us, reminding us all that this has been one doozy of a year. Here is teaching in 2020 has been like as told by the hysterical Netflix TV show, Schitt’s Creek.
1. When you tried to have a positive attitude the first day of remote learning:
2. When it’s Friday and you reflect on what a chaotic week it was…
3. When someone asks how you are coping with teaching online…
4. When you hear that your school is now going to switch to a hybrid model…
5. When you wake up in the morning, chug your coffee, and look in the mirror before turning on your computer to start another day of remote teaching…
6. When a student has a meltdown onscreen, your Wi-Fi keeps kicking you out of Google Classroom, and your own kids are behaving like hooligans…
7. When they announced you’d be teaching in-person while live streaming at the same time.
8. When admin is telling you their plan for keeping everyone safe…
9. …versus what you actually feel like screaming in that same meeting…
10. When you receive an assignment that has clearly been done by a child’s parent and everything is still incorrect…
11. When admin tells you they’re adding another 3 students to your class but there’s no room for more desks in your room…
12. When someone asks how you’re holding up
13. When students submit their assignments online, but they’re all blank.
14. When your own children are bouncing off the walls while you’re trying to teach online…
15. When the district’s plan for keeping schools safe hinges on students practicing proper hygiene at all times…
16. When admin tells parents that teachers will still be differentiating in class despite being required to remain 6 feet away from each other and 6 feet away from you…
17. When your students tell you you’re a great teacher but you can’t hug them…
18. When it’s Friday and you have your last staff meeting of the week…
19. When you start to think about how the rest of the year is going to be…
20. When admin asks for feedback about your online teaching experience…
21. When one of your colleagues forgets their camera is on while yelling at her own kids during a Zoom meeting…
22. Every time you make it through another week of online teaching…
23. When your students are playing games on their phone while pretending to pay attention to your Zoom class…
24. What parents thought about teachers when schools first closed down…
25. What parents think about the teaching profession now…
26. When parents tell you that you have been the best teacher for stepping up to the plate and knocking it out of the park…
Regardless of everything this year threw at us, we did it! Here’s to celebrating all of the amazing teachers who pivoted on a moment’s notice. Y’all made it through teaching in 2020, y’all are true heroes!