Teachers are Being Rock Stars Right Now

To every exhausted teacher working like mad to deliver online learning: You. Are. Rock Stars.

I’m going to speak for all parents right now and tell you that we see you. (Literally.) Not only do you have to navigate online learning, many of you have to do it while we watch you. My youngest is in grade one and can’t do everything on her own. So we’re often there, in the camera frame, watching her teacher with the patience of a million saints deliver a new way of learning to a bunch of kids who keep unmuting themselves to announce that it’s their mom’s birthday, or that they’re done their work, or they don’t know what to do.

This is new for all of us, and there’s no denying that a lot of kids aren’t loving it. And yet, the teachers are getting up every day and finding new ways to deliver physical education, music, art, drama, reading. It’s… a lot. But they’re doing it. And whether kids are thriving or not, or loving it or not, the teachers are showing up every day online with new resources and ideas.

They’ve figured out jamboards and pdfs and video editing and storyboarding. And they’ve figured it out fast. They’re managing families with no printers and families without tech. They’re teaching 6-year-olds how to type and drag and drop and they’re keeping tweens engaged.

When kids everywhere were told to wear masks, they did it. When they were asked to stop hugging their friends, they did. When they were told that they can’t do their beloved sports or go to their friends’ houses or have a birthday party or even, for many, go to school to socialize, the kids have taken it all in and rolled with it. But now, everyone is dealing with Covid fatigue, and in my area, where we have no idea when the kids are heading back to school, what strikes me the most is that my kids seem sort of okay because of their teachers.

Each day, my kids hop online for attendance and their teacher’s face reminds them that they’re not completely removed from ‘The Before Times’. The sound of their voices connects my kids to a sense of normalcy and gives them a gentle reminder that their worlds haven’t turned upside down completely.

Their teachers ground them when I can’t.

You never know the impact you are having on people in the best of times as a teacher. Invisible online teaching is so draining – but all that energy, positivity and care will be profoundly impacting young people. It will be making them think, making them feel, making them smile.

— Jamie Thom (@teachgratitude1) January 22, 2021

My students are AMAZING! It’s been a trying day but they come back online, do their best and continue to get better! 6-4, my heart is full!

— Cameron Steltman (@MrSteltman) January 5, 2021

I’m a teacher connecting through Google Meet and an online course management system called Moodle. As difficult as it has been, I found this article on remote learning in 1937 during the polio outbreak. Teachers taught over the radio. https://t.co/7Ae9uDHY5U pic.twitter.com/aDOt1GfAgj

— Dr. CSWaters🐾😷 (@ConnieH20s75) January 26, 2021

None of this is easy on anyone. But my goodness, they’re trying.