Three Ways I’m Keeping my Teaching-Drive Alive During a Pandemic: Rethinking Expectations, Success, and Connections
by Angela Froemming, EL Advocacy Change Agent
In early March of 2020, I felt like I was at the top of my teaching game. I was in my 10th year of being an elementary ESL teacher in the Twin Cities. My EL students and I were wrapping up two weeks of annual ACCESS testing. We were all eager to get back to normal and resume our regularly scheduled instruction. Little did we know, we wouldn’t be returning to normal anytime soon.
My district was on spring break in the second week of March. As I said goodbye to students, wishing them well on their break, it didn’t cross my mind that this would be the last time I would send them off with a hug or high-five for seven months and counting. One student lingered in my room before saying goodbye. “Coronavirus is in Wisconsin,” he whispered. Our school nurse had shared information about how to respond to students’ worries. I was grateful for the guidance on the language to use with children. “There are lots of people working to keep us all safe. It’s not your job to worry.” My student didn’t seem convinced, but he hugged me and headed down the hallway back to his classroom.
Spring break, typically a time of rest and rejuvenation, was anything but that. At home, I kept the television on, listening to the breaking news interrupt every few hours. The headlines were alarming. Hospitals were at risk of being overrun. Markets were tumbling. Disney World and Disneyland closed indefinitely. The world, it seemed, was shutting down.
Attention quickly turned towards schools. Colleges and universities began moving their courses online. Then, states started announcing school closures. On March 15, Governor Tim Walz ordered that all K-12 schools across the state of Minnesota would close by March 18 and stay closed through March 27 to slow the spread of the virus. In retrospect, March 27 was exceedingly optimistic. Like many schools across the country, Minnesota schools remained closed for the remainder of the school year.
It is the end of October now as I am writing this. We are eight weeks into the 2020-21 school year, and I am still teaching entirely remotely. Distance learning is going better than last spring, but I am still far from feeling anywhere close to being on top of my game like I was before spring break. Some days I feel like I am back in my first year of teaching, only this time there are no mentors or veteran teachers to look to for the answers. We are all new at this.
What it looks like to be a teacher today is dramatically different from how it looked a year ago. This shift, along with the lack of pandemic teaching training and resources, contributes to unsustainable levels of stress, creating ripe conditions for teacher burnout. Last spring, a public health official said, “Unfortunately, there is going to be a gap between the ideal and what is realistic or possible right now.” She was speaking about healthcare, but I would argue the same applies to education.
“Unfortunately, there is going to be a gap between the ideal and what is realistic or possible right now.”
I am by no means an expert in pandemic teaching. However, there are three ideas I have picked up in the past few months that are helping me navigate this uncomfortable space between what is ideal and what is realistic. I am learning that I have to adjust my expectations, redefine success, and stay connected to others.
1. // Adjusting Expectations
Making it through a pandemic is a marathon, not a sprint. To better ensure we all make it to the finish line, we have to adjust our expectations. Adjusting does not mean lowering our expectations, but instead reprioritizing our work and focusing on what matters most. Shifting priorities will ultimately set everybody up for better success in the long run.
Some ways I have adjusted my expectations:
If this were a typical year, I would be wrapping up my first writing unit on personal narratives and getting ready to transition to information reports. This year though, I have barely scratched the surface of personal narratives. Teaching online during a pandemic goes much slower. I have had to adjust my mental timelines.
A year ago, I would have expected my students to pay attention to a 10-15 minute mini-lesson. Teaching remotely, I find attention spans to be about half (at most) of what they were in person.
Last year, I would have expected that my students would demonstrate their engagement through active participation and lots of language production. This year, I am happy if they are signing into Zoom at the right time. I love seeing my students’ faces when they turn on their cameras and hearing their voices when they unmute themselves. They don’t all do this every day, though. I have had to accept that engagement will look different this year.
2. // Refining Success
We need to redefine success this year, both for students and teachers. If we don’t, we risk feeling like failures indefinitely. A prolonged sense of failure is detrimental to one’s mental health. Once we get through this pandemic -- and we will -- we want students to still see themselves as scholars. Likewise, we want teachers to still feel a sense of efficacy.
One valuable exercise the elementary ESL teachers in my district did earlier this year was to outline our focus during the first six weeks of school. Along with this, we defined what success would look like during these weeks, both for ourselves and our students. For example, our primary focus during the first few weeks was relationship building, getting to know our students and their families. We knew we would be successful when we had communicated with all of our students and their families. We had been trained in using DialogOne, an interpreting app, which enabled teachers to easily communicate with families in their home language.
To me, redefining success means taking my adjusted expectations into consideration and building on the positives. It can also mean celebrating the small wins more than I would have done in the past.
What success looks like to me these days:
Having a schedule in place, even if I know it could change in a few weeks.
My students joining their Zoom meeting, even if they don’t say anything that day.
Finding new ways to collaborate with my co-teachers, such as using breakout rooms in Zoom to do station teaching.
Seeing a student smile.
3. // Connecting with Others
As an introvert, connecting with others during stressful times is generally not my first reaction. With that being said, these past several months have made me realize how important human connection is.
Some meaningful ways to connect
Compliment others on their successes as you see them. When you see a student or colleague do something great, such as getting an interpreter into a Zoom meeting for a student’s conference, call them out on their success!
Take time at the beginning of meetings to do something that makes people feel socially and emotionally connected. For example, at my last EL meeting, we did a Jamboard activity highlighting what we appreciated about each other. During stressful and busy times, I know I don’t always stop to reflect on everything I am doing. Having my colleagues point it out to me felt genuinely uplifting.
Dedicate some time each week to social and emotional learning for students. I co-teach with a team of 2nd-grade teachers on Zoom. Fridays are our social and emotional learning (SEL) days. On these days, we do a short lesson on a topic related to SEL, such as self-management. Sometimes we invite our school’s behavior coach to the Zoom meeting to lead us in whole-group yoga. Other times, we play games in breakout rooms or have a dance party. Times are hard right now; it’s still important to have fun with students.
The good news is that the hardships we are facing today are temporary. I look forward to the day when I can greet my students with high-fives or hugs again. Adjusting my expectations, redefining success, and connecting with others is helping me keep my teaching drive alive right now. On that note, I want to hear from you! Have you found yourself adjusting your expectations, redefining success, or connecting more intentionally with others? What keeps you going? Please share your comments below!
