How did it get to be April?
A year ago, we were one month into a lockdown that would upend that school year’s final quarter and create a summer of questions and plans — and revised plans — for the 2020-21 school year.
The weather the first few days of spring were less than pleasant but other signs brought home the fact that we are returning to some normalcy.
Vaccine clinics have taken place for most educators in the county and those 16 and older also are now eligible. More students have returned to in-person classes and schools are releasing plans for traditional spring events.
An article in Greater Good Magazine this week addressed positive and negative outcomes from the pandemic.
Personally, I think enjoying the little things will be appreciated more after not having them for a year. As a consummate baseball fan, I can’t wait to get back to a stadium and watch my beloved Cincinnati Reds take the field.
The article identified social connectedness as having the greatest positive outcome and political conflict as the most negative post-COVID result.
The Greater Good Science Center, part of the University of California, Berkley, used the predictions to found the World after COVID project, “a multimedia collection of expert visions for the post-pandemic world, including scientists’ hopes, worries and recommendations.”
A series in Education Week asked 28 educators, “what is the most important teaching advice that you have either received or given?”
While I was not among those queried, it did make me think about the tenets that I believe are valuable to anyone in education:
- Be compassionate
- Be empathetic
- Be patient
- Be a good listener
- Be a motivator
- Develop rapport
- Meet students at their level of knowledge
- Raise expectations
- Assess your teaching as well as student learning
I have the privilege in my job of getting to work with and know Pickaway County educators and administrators and I believe that these qualities are embodied by so many in our schools. This has been especially necessary as we navigate a vastly different — and at times, trying — year.
See the fourth part of the series at
https://tinyurl.com/ustpp634 (with links to the previous installments) and ask yourself: What is the most important teaching advice that you have either received or given? And how have you adapted how you do your job during COVID?