Teaching and Learning During a Global Pandemic: Not a Single Stakeholder Spared

The craziness of a global pandemic has not spared our world's schools. Teaching, learning, and parenting have been altered to significant degrees in this 2020-2021 school year compared to any year prior. Make no mistake, not a single stakeholder has been spared.  If we keep our eyes on the big picture and commit to perseverance, we might come out of this stronger than ever. To achieve growth, we must maintain humility, empathy for all other stakeholders, and a commitment to a growth mindset. 

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 Teachers have it Tough in 2020. They are performing a juggling act like never before. Students are live in person like years prior but some are participating in classes from home online simultaneously. Others have chosen to attend school in their District's virtual academies.  Class rosters are fluid as Districts work to accommodate all students and families by allowing for flexible movement between schooling options, resulting in new students joining teachers’ classrooms from week to week with many joining classrooms weeks or months behind in the curriculum. The challenge of mastering the often talked about but seldom modeled practice of differentiated instruction has become even more daunting. Teachers have to work harder than ever to strategically plan lessons to make all of the puzzle pieces fit together from day to day. As schools’ enrollments fluctuate, administrations have been forced to move teachers’ class assignments and sometimes physical classrooms. Many teachers have been left to feel unsupported and some have even left the profession during the school year’s first quarter due to the stress caused by the unstable school environments or because of fear of what Covid-19 could do to them and their families. Teachers are Growing in terms of their technological skillset and ability to differentiate instruction. Without an option, teachers have had to master the implementation of technological platforms like Google Classroom, Google Meets, Zoom, and numerous educational online learning sites to facilitate the multiple needs compelled by students. Teachers are providing multiple lessons and small-group instructional approaches to different sets of students without pause and servicing face-to-face student populations swell as online students at the same time all day every day. It’s nothing short of amazing to observe when done well. 

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Students have it Tough in 2020. Students who are attending schools face-to-face have had to learn all new protocols. Children as young as kindergarten age have had to adjust to wearing face coverings, perfecting personal hygiene, and adapting to a whole new set of school rules. Students zooming into classrooms have had to learn a new level of personal responsibility by keeping to their class schedules on their own, often times unsupervised because their parents are at work. Students have to master content without as much support from teachers and peers and have to improve organizational skills and find a different level of internal motivation than ever before, a level that often belies their age and stage of cognitive development. Students are Growing in terms of maturity, independence, ownership over learning, and civic responsibility. As students are forced to self-advocate and communicate with teachers in multiple ways including face-to-face, over email, on the phone, and using online systems, they’re developing social skills and a deeper level of responsibility. Students also are put in positions to support peers’ learning in small group work, paired work, and remaining on task while collaborating even when their teacher might not able to focus completely on them. 

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Custodians have it Tough in 2020. Custodial staffs have always had a tough task: parents can appreciate cleaning up after hundreds of kids compared to only their own. Now, with Covid-19 protocols, custodians take on the responsibility of cleanliness but also public health. They are pressed for time as they have to clean and disinfect with the disinfecting piece taking priority over general cleaning. Yet in most cases, custodial staffs haven’t been expanded or work days extended. Custodians are Growing in terms of time management and teamwork. To complete their routine work on top of Covid-19 preventing cleaning, custodial departments have had to learn to work harder and smarter. 

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Student Services and Office Staff have it Tough in 2020. Guidance counselors are supporting students who are experiencing anxiety and sometimes depression rooted in the stresses brought forth by the global pandemic and by the online student population that is struggling mightily with academic achievement. Office staffs are managing data changes as students choose to switch from online options to face-to-face options on a daily basis, and other office staff members are responsible for representing the face of our schools with welcoming attitudes in the midst of a pandemic-caused chaos. Student Services and Office Staff are Growing in terms of adaptability and resolve. Every day brings new challenges and stresses and students and families who need support to overcome their own challenges. Schools’ office staffs are finding the ultimate resolve when it comes to servant leadership and hospitality. 

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Food services Staff have it Tough in 2020. Staff members responsible for feeding students and nourishing their growing bodies now have to do it in a way that mitigates risk of the spread of germs on a new level. The food preparation meshed with extra cleaning detail is nonstop. The job has become exhausting. Food services staff are growing by becoming more collaborative with all school

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Parents and Families have it Tough in 2020. As schools have changed dramatically this fall, so have our families’ households. Many students are home and having to take responsibility for their own learning because parents still have to go to work and earn a living. In multi-generational households or homes with family members who have underlying health conditions, students are learning to take extra precautions to keep family members safe. In doing so, students have had to sacrifice social experiences, athletic experiences, and in many cases what is in their best interest with regard to their education. Parents and guardians have had to become para-educators, tutors, and co-teachers all while working to support the household. Parents and Families are Growing in terms of awareness of school’s educational practices, curriculum, and becoming partners in students’ education. 

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Administrators have it Tough in 2020. We want to be and should be instructional leaders, not building managers. We know that our schools suffer when we manage the campus rather than guide professional learning systems, build leadership capacity in staff, and coach classroom instruction. Yet we are very often forced to spend time investigating possible Covid-19 exposures and focusing on new and evolving safety protocols while working to serve all other stakeholders in obtaining their expanded sets of needs dictated by 2020. Administrators are Growing in terms of patience, empathy for all others stakeholders, and setting the tone for a positive, growth mindset. We experience moments of feeling overwhelmed like everyone else, but as leaders we have to challenge ourselves to maintain calm, confidence, and positivity. Even when we watch students and staff being quarantined on a weekly basis, have to explain to staff why we have to adjust their assignment during the school year, or counsel and support staff, students, and families in their darkest moments. 

 

We can Become Stronger than Ever if we all take a step back, inhale, and breathe. We need to pause to recognize that EVERY stakeholder group is experiencing challenges like never before. Everyone associated in a school community is confronting deep levels of stress and pressure as well work to fulfill our vision of serving all students and preparing all students for success in college and/or career and life. Empathy is what’s needed in addition to a healthy dose of reflection so that we don’t lose sight of the ways in which every stakeholder group is growing. That growth, once we make it through the toughest times, could propel us all to produce better schools for students everywhere. Let’s help one another find the strength to exercise humility, empathy, and a growth mindset so that in the end our school communities become stronger than ever before.