Week 262: We Made It

I took some time off from entering into my blog for a few reasons. The biggest reason was the presidential election and its subsequent fallout. I am ever so grateful that I am not teaching American government and politics or any sort of American history/civics classes this year. Really, that's all I have to say about that. Well, except one more thing. I am very happy that I do not have to censor my teaching. That is all. 

We Made It! I have titled this entry "We Made It" because we arrived at Thanksgiving break without any major glitches. Indian Land High School has progressed through nearly three grading periods without any major or significant pitfalls. Yes, there have been some students that have tested positive for coronavirus. There have also been some teachers. However, so far, we are still four days a week, maintaining the smaller class sizes. I think this is noteworthy, considering we thought we would be home by mid-September. 

Setbacks. Our district, on the other hand, has had some setbacks. Lancaster High School was shut down for some time. This was due to a shortage of bus drivers and adults to keep the school day functioning properly. Despite this, the district is moving forward with bringing elementary students back to school for four days a week. 

A Long Break. Beginning the school year in early August and not having any notably long breaks until Thanksgiving, we are normally gasping for breath once November arrives. It is a long time in coming during an ordinary school year. We started the school year two weeks later than normal in 2020, so this eliminated some of the mid-semester exhaustion. Having an extra day to plan, in my experience, has also helped to stave off the fatigue that only a teacher near break knows. Thanksgiving is a time to catch up with friends and family, sleep, and rest.  

Happy to be Back! I arrived back at school full of gratitude and resolve to make the most of the remaining semester. The units that we have left to cover in my class are student favorites, and we have a lot to look forward to. I was pleased to be back to my small and silent classes, and students were a bit more open to sharing than they were in the early days. We've come a long way. For the first two days, it has felt a little bit like the old times; I found myself laughing, joking, and having a good time. My students spoke! We worked together! We learned!

Opportunities for Growth. My take-aways for this week are that not everything about this school year is awful, and we are doing our best to highlight those. I pointed out to students that never in their lives again would they have a three-to-one student to teacher ratio (and that we ought to be taking advantage of that)! I mentioned that they have a job to do as a student, and that is to show up prepared and ready to go. We are all being challenged, and it is our own personal reaction that dictates whether this challenge is awful or wonderful. As we enter our unit on motivation, emotion, and stress, we have a unique and novel stressor to evaluate and approach. 

A Vaccine? A coronavirus vaccine has been developed since my last entry. This allows me to think of a return to normalcy, but it is not on my terms or timeline. While my gratitude is a reflection of what is, I have to stay in the now, the present and appreciate what we have learned about humanity from this experience, and not look too far into the future. 

After all, it's infinitely more important that NFL players get a vaccine and proper testing, contact-tracing, and prevention than students and teachers. 

That's what I have learned - how often are NFL players being tested? I have not been tested. Not once. And well, that's just how it is.