Moving From 2 Days to 4 Days: Teaching in a Pandemic

Our school is in the middle of considering moving from two in-person days, to four in-person-days. At first, I gave a resounding yee haw at the prospect of it. For starters, I would love to give all the kids the SAME information at the SAME time and actually make some progress in the math curriculum, rather than moving a sloth- like pace. Imagine how much learnin’ I could get in, if I could have them for four days a week and not feel like I was failing the universe at the end of every Friday, because I only read them three books and planned for 56 scenarios only to carry out 13 of those scenarios. Not to mention if a child is quarantining, I have to no control over what they are doing in their off time and if it will be two weeks before I see them again.

But despite all those possibilities, shifting is rather daunting. If you are not ready for me to get real whiney, then probably stop reading now. I’m going to dial this back a smidge because we are not having coffee together, although I would love too and I also don’t want to come off like a complete ass hat. When I caught wind of this 2 to 4 shift (now it sounds like some kind of Dolly Parton song), I saw teachers moving furniture out of their classrooms. “Time to make room for the desks,” everyone said. The desks? I live in a fantasy world five days a week, so I forgot that the extra student bodies when combined together, would need a place to sit in my classroom. Suddenly I had visions of the eight spaced out desks, being replaced by 16 planks of wood and me walking the plank. I had visions of my reading table being pushed out the window and into the parking lot. Homeless people sheltering in place underneath it, with one of the legs broken off. Things got real dark, real quick.

The thing that a lot of people don’t realize is that every shift that education has had to make in the last several months is . so. much freakin. work. You could argue this about any work place, I am sure. Covid has just changed the way we have to get grocery carts and do our oil changes and walk our dogs, but the hard part is that I feel like Covid has completely robbed me of my professionalism this year.

I don’t feel like a professional person 90 percent of the time and that is just the ultimate pits.

I know what is best practice for kids and what is best practice for my room and try as I might, I can’t completely ever set that in motion this year. First, we got rid of our alternative seating and our tables, our libraries, and our cozy nooks. Now we must get rid of more, but ask kids to learn exactly the same way and at a heightened pace than the way they used too, when they could lay on their bellies, or sit at my germy rocking chair, nestled up with a good book. I loathe the fact that my choice, my decision making is gone, but that it’s also gone for them too. I used to say to them, “you know how best to take care of your body right now. If you need the space take it.” This is not something I can routinely spew out anymore.

And still I am determined. I have never been a teacher to the masses, to the crowd. I have always been a sifter of feelings, before paper and furniture stacking and so I ultimately sucked it up and moved some more furniture out of my room. I bitched and moaned to our custodians. I Moira Rosed a little, not a full out tantrum, but a little one, because I miss when I had the choice to say, “this is my space for them. I set the rules.” Going forward, I want this to give me more confidence and not less. I am all in my head lately, like do I even know how to teach to sixteen kids anymore? Where did my degrees come from? Where am I? What am I doing?

I need to stop that negative chatter and put on the leggings that still fit, after all of the chocolate that I have consumed and say you are one bad ass teacher, Taryn Grant. You could teach at the top of Winter Hill, with 35 kids at the bottom of it and still see success. Empathy, human connection, and good books are going to push through all of these protocols and furniture and these kids are still going to have one heck of a year.

With that being said, do I have readers who have seen positives switching from hybrid to full learning weeks? Give me what you got. Lift me up. Tell me I got this in the bag, because I’ve been telling myself that, but sometimes I get a little bit quiet…