The longest day in the longest year

 On the longest day of the year, I'm counting the days of the longest school year in history. I have written about how well my students have done this year, and it's true - they have. They have been amazingly resilient, they've grown, they've learned, they've adapted, and they've kept me going. At the same time, I know we are all reaching our limits. The monotony and chaos of teaching remotely and navigating an in person group and a remote group are starting to get to me; the students are definitely getting antsy as well.

Teaching this year has confirmed a lot of things I already knew about teaching. For example, a daily routine is just as important online as it is in person. A daily warm-up helps settle the students in and gives my student teacher and me a chance to gauge how the students are that day, and get ourselves ready for the  lesson. Using Google classroom where you can see kids while they work on an assignment is really helpful, and I think it helped students improve their writing maybe even more than in the physical classroom. And, a good game of Kahoot or something else is always a good way to break up class and let the kids have some fun.

And, teaching remotely through a pandemic has taught me a lot as well. I've learned that I can adapt a lot of things for online learning, but not all. I learned that putting kids into breakout rooms without an adult present doesn't usually go that well, at least not for middle schoolers. Not having a physical globe or map, we had to devise different ways to teach geography, and that wasn't always easy. I learned that, not being able to move around as much as in the classroom, we all needed a stretch break every day. And most importantly, I learned that you can make warm, strong connections with students even in a virtual format.

However....I'm ready for it to end. Ready for summer, for time away from computers, sitting in the sun, without a schedule. I'm ready for a mental break. I'm ready to ease back into "normal" post-COVID life, slowly. Finally, I'm ready to reset at the end of the summer, and start the year fresh - in person, in my classroom, maybe still masked, but there, to share the daily ups and downs of teaching with my colleagues, and to create community with my new students.