It can be easy to fall in to a trap of negativity in 2020 – to dwell on the number of students who are not attending video calls or completing asynchronous work, internet connectivity challenges, continuously changing health regulations. These are real struggles in education. And it is vital to continuously seek to find ways to remove the barriers in our midst. We need not ignore the challenges of 2020, but we must guard ourselves from allowing these difficulties to take over our mind and cloud our thinking, inhibiting our view of small glimpses of success.
A Matter of Perspective
We live within our own personal context 23/7. Our world is colored by our experiences, our observations, our internal dialogue and emotions. This sometimes prevents us from seeing the light within dark moments.
I modeled a few lessons for virtual classrooms last week. From my perspective, they were near failures. Students struggled to navigate apps on their chromebooks, I was asked the same questions multiple times – it took far longer than I had anticipated for students to begin our learning activity in the first place. A couple of students did not participate in the lesson. The entire time, I exuded positivity on the outside, encouraging students and the teacher, praising learners for their perseverance. Before the class time concluded, I remarked to the students, “This was fantastic! All of you were able to to minimize their screen, even if you were not yet able to begin the activity.” While these were my words, internally I felt defeated.
An email from a coach who had observed the lessons was in my inbox later that day. My heart dropped and I became anxious, wondering how she had reacted to what I perceived to be a day full of frustration and void of productivity.
As I read the email I gained perspective. “Thank you for your time in our classrooms,” she remarked, “We are further along today than we were yesterday! My teachers are inspired to continue moving forward even when challenges arise.”
The email was not dripping with toxic positivity, it did not deny the truth of a lesson with bumps in the road. However, it reminded me that small wins lead to more small wins. Moving forward is the goal, racing to the finishing line is not. Learning is a process. As teachers, we are all learning in 2020. New situations may cause discomfort, unfamiliarity, unexpected difficulties. But these are the times we grow. If you are a teacher that struggles with distance learning, this does NOT mean you are an ineffective teacher. It means you are adapting as best you know how, constantly experimenting in a new environment to determine what might work best for your students. We are in this together. And you are making a difference.