There is absolutely no doubt that March 2020 threw teachers (as well as every other aspect of our society) into a tailspin of pandemic pandemonium. In the realm of public education specifically, the first few days weeks of the pandemic could only be described as utter chaos. Educators and school and district leaders everywhere were scrambling to figure out how to continue to provide education to students without having many systems of support in place to do so. But here’s the thing… WE DID IT! We pooled resources and expertise, got devices and Internet access into the hands of our students, increased our knowledge and skills to meet the new demands that were in front of us, and we accomplished much more this year than we ever could have imagined possible.
Our district recently surveyed our lead teachers to find out what their takeaways were from a year of online and hybrid teaching and learning in the midst of the global pandemic. Although the COVID-19 pandemic was absolutely awful in every sense of the word, our teachers found ways to persevere and they have such a promising outlook on the future and continuing to provide a high-quality public education experience to our students.
I filled the image of the Coronavirus below with words that teachers used to describe their takeaways from the 2020-2021 school year.
Below I have summarized some of our teachers' takeaways from a year of implementing both fully online and hybrid learning models:
Their biggest celebration was that they saw a massive increase in the technology skills of both themselves and their students. Teachers and students rose to the challenges of online and hybrid learning and saw growth and increased comfort levels with using technology.
Google Classroom (Learning Management System) was the number one tech tool that teachers said they would continue to utilize post-pandemic in grades 3 - 12, along with the Seesaw LMS in grades K-2.
Other valuable digital tools that teachers learned how to use and said that they would continue using post-pandemic were:
Screencastify (for teacher-created asynchronous video tutorials)
Google Slides (not just for presenting material, but for living agendas and collaborative activities)
GoGuardian (for monitoring students while they’re using their devices)
Google Meet (not just for virtual teaching, but for offering parents a “virtual” conference option)
Teachers noted that they will definitely be reducing the amount of “paper and packets” they use in the future, and that they will be doing less lecturing and passive learning activities, less whole group instruction, and providing more collaboration opportunities for students because of the new tools they’ve learned to utilize!
Another major takeaway from teachers was the critical need to prioritize essential learning for students. Teachers were left with no choice this year but to “cut” what wasn't absolutely essential from their curriculum and intentionally focus on the most important concepts and skills that students needed. They really began to distinguish between the “neat to know” versus the “need to know” material. This has led to a more intentional focus on content scope and sequence development across our district with identifying essential standards and the curricular vehicles that teachers will be utilizing to drive home essential learning.
Many of our teachers also began to recognize this year, more so than ever, the need for Social Emotional Learning (SEL) support for our students. Because of the virtual environment this year, teachers in some cases were literally able to “see” into the lives of their students and became more acutely aware of the difficult circumstances and challenges that some of our students face. One teacher put it this way… “...knowing their challenges at home explains a lot of the challenges we see in the classroom.” Even through the screen, teachers recognize the importance of connection and building relationships with students.
Teachers noted the value of collaborating in strong teams. During the isolation of the pandemic, they virtually collaborated to share resources and strategies, create lessons and activities, and develop common formative and summative assessments more so than ever, and they found that “We truly function better in collaboration rather than in isolation!”
Teachers also recognized that we’re overdue in rethinking our homework and grading practices. We must prioritize providing feedback to students, and really think about how we can align our grading practices systemically to equitably reflect student learning and mastery of standards.
Lead teacher advice from the survey:
Embrace flexibility and adaptability.
Keep a “life-long learner” attitude.
Focus on literacy and essential learning in all content areas.
Utilize technology and blended learning strategies to engage students in learning and provide students agency in their learning.
In summary, I’ll leave you with the words of resiliency from some of our teachers:
