6 Of The Most Important Ways To Survive The Pandemic

A year has passed since the first time we went into lockdown as a nation. During the past year I learned how to survive being a teacher in a high school and this article is what I have learned to be the best ways to survive this pandemic.

Number 1 LET THE LITTLE THINGS GO:

Way too many teachers have a sense of power that goes to their head. During the pandemic I learned that some of the things we as teachers see as major issues during a normal school year, are really trivial and meaningless to worry about. What is the point of getting upset over students being social in class? Why give a student a hard time over hats and other things that they wear. Honestly, if they are not breaking the law, why are we so hard on them about these things. In a workplace, they would be given a lot more freedoms depending on where they work. If they are working hard, they will focus regardless of what is going on around them. School is the same. It is a workplace, where students come to learn about life, and subjects.

Number 2 LATEWORK:

What is the point of harassing students if they turn their work in at different intervals? Especially when this pandemic has affected everyone socially and emotionally in very different ways. Students needed to learn on the fly how to be more self-driven, which is a life skill that many people learn at different paces. Some students are still not up to speed with everyone else on this matter. Speaking of learning at different paces, student understanding is all on different levels and not every child understands material at the same rate. So if they take a little longer to complete an assignment, perhaps it is because they took more time to comprehend the material.

Number 3 GRADING:

In the reality of the world, grading is something that is designed to be a reward for student work and achievement, but many teachers use it as a weapon. Teachers have a tendency to scream out, you get a zero whenever students do not do the exact thing that they wanted them to do. Grading really should be given based upon whether students do or do not do their work or student understanding. Going back to student achievement, it is a well known fact that people learn at different paces. So why not give students time to develop their skills and try again when they hone their skills when giving an assessment. Real growth occurs when students have a reason to hone their skills. Too many students fail a test and then give up for future ones because they feel bad about themselves and do not have an opportunity to improve. Student grades should also never be based upon behavior, unless you are teaching a subject that literally has behavior in the curriculum, such as a business class where you teach kids how to act in a specific work setting.

Don’t take work home! Figure out ways to do all of your grading at work and take the evenings to do something for yourself.

Number 4 LESSON PLANS:

So many teachers and admins worry too much about making their lessons perfect. Yes it is important to know what you are teaching and have direction on how to do it, but everyone who is a teacher knows that no lesson goes as planned. It just doesn’t. All it takes is one variable to change the whole flow of how the lesson will go. The most important thing is student learning. So if your lesson goes sideways and the student still learns, who cares which way you got there. Take time for yourself, this pandemic has been stressful enough for us to try to be perfect. Relax a little.

Number 5 EMBRACE TECHNOLOGY:

Teachers were literally crying because they are so set in their ways, they did not ever attempt to learn any new technology, until they had to. This is just poor teacher development. By the time the pandemic shut down the country, some teachers panicked simply because they did not know how to use anything but packets and worksheets to have students fill out. With all of the technology available, even prior to the pandemic, there was no reason for this. Heck I have my classes set up in such a way that even the computer grades for me. I set it up and the computer takes care of the rest. Also it gives more time to actually look over student work for errors. Speaking of technology, cellphones are a tool, not a distraction if used correctly. In fact, I tell my students how to use their phone to do activities. Everyone has a cellphone pretty much in the world, and most people use them for various aspects of work. So why yell at a kid for using theirs?

Number 6 COMMUNICATION:

Communication with students, parents, and guidance is essential, but it does not mean that students should be put down if they do not talk. Get them to communicate in other ways, such as giving them surveys to fill out and express their thoughts and feelings. Maybe a student is quiet, but on paper they are stellar. If a student does not feel comfortable talking over the internet, why force them to? Use technology to display their answers for everyone to see to learn from each other.

Parents should always be kept in the loop. I send a weekly progress report to all 130 of my student’s parents. How do I do this? The power of Google. Message me about it and I will help you out! That same report goes to all of their guidance counselors and has a breakdown of each of their assignments. After all it takes a village to raise a child. And to teach them.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

I have been writing for a lot of years. I have several stories in the works, and lots of poems. I found Vocal Media in March 2021 and since then have been revising, editing, and creating more poems and stories. I absolutely love writing anything from poems and short stories to history. If you want to reach out to me and learn more you can find me @theodore_dembowski on social media.

Want to read more of my work Click Here. I only profit off this website through reads, tips, and challenge wins. So read on! Feel free to tip and give a heart to any of your favorites ;)

Thank You For Reading!

~Theodore