Teacher Appreciation-Teaching During a Pandemic
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Teacher Appreciation
There’s a lot of well-deserved appreciation for those in the health care system and first responders and there should be! I have several family members who work in health care and I know they are working hard to take care of each and every patient; and they are doing at the risk of their own well being. I’ve seen flashing lights in hospital parking lots and standing ovations in hospital corridors and every “Thank you” they receive is well earned.
Teaching During a Pandemic
Another group of professionals who are working through changes are teachers. Due to Covid-19 within a very, very short time they went from the classroom to communicating with their students via a computer or paper packets. Here in rural Kentucky (and in other rural areas) not every student has access to a computer or the Internet so their are students with paper packets and students doing online work.
Cecilee Ennis is a speech language pathologist who works with children from preschool through grade nine. She lives right down the road from me and she and her husband, Travis, have three adorable little girls. The youngest is 1 year old, the next is 3 and a half and the oldest is 6.
I asked Cecilee to describe teaching during the pandemic.
“It’s way harder than working at school. I fee like because I am home I should be able to get the dishes and laundry done between teaching tasks but it’s very tough. It’s an emotional struggle every day. Imagine having a Zoom ARC (annual review committee) meeting with 6 other people and all three of my kids are running around asking for something to eat, or for help in the bathroom, or just a sleepy-fussy baby. Then someone can’t get in the meeting, so you’re sitting there with one person on FaceTime (on your own personal phone) and a laptop with the rest of the group and everyone is trying to communicate effectively like that. Yikes! By the end of the very day you’re just ready for a good cry or to scream into a pillow to relieve the stress.”
And then there’s the paperwork.
“Also, they’re expecting us to keep everything up to date as far as paperwork. Our paperwork is mountainous on a regular basis. The difficulty of trying to sit down and complete all of it is a daily struggle. The government won’t give us a waiver for our timelines. Clearly people who have never done this kind of work are the ones running things. They just don’t understand what we are living through every single day.”
Another teacher from a different school who has two children says, “The first two weeks were overwhelming. Having to get curriculum ready for weeks at a time for different classes was hard. Some of my classes (she teaches science) can’t just be done through reading so I had to video my lessons and load them to YouTube for the students to watch. Of course not all students have Internet access so those who don’t, have paper packets. Sometimes they turn in as many as 5 packets at a time that all need to be graded as fast as possible so I can get feed back to them. Then being at home, I suffer from “Mom guilt.” I have to make sure my kids get their work done and while they are working is when I can do my work for my students. Truthfully, I know I make mine do more than they are really required to do because I need to keep them busy so I can work. We got Disney Plus and I let them work an hour and then have some television time. Then go back and work again. The last few weeks have been better and school is over in a couple of weeks, but I’m already worried about the fall. Is it going to be like this then? “
No Answers
I don’t own a crystal ball and if I did I wouldn’t trust it to tell me what the future holds, but as I told one of the teachers I interviewed, I hope we learn from this. I hope that if this happens again (God forbid) that the next time we have a better plan in place, a plan that takes into consideration that teachers have families too.
Life is Short
I know one thing this pandemic has brought home to us loud and clear and that is that life is short and fragile. From the person who delivers your packages, to the person who is teaching your child….they are all under a stress they have never experienced before. We all need to be kind, be patient and remember to say “please” and “Thank you.”
There are many ways to say “thank you.”
If there’s a teacher in your child’s life that deserves a “Thank You.” There are lots of creative ways to let them know they are appreciated. First, there are always personal hand-written notes to convey your gratitude but there are other ideas as well.
If you are a DIY person check out my Pinterest boards, (this board is specifically for teacher appreciation) follow me and look around. There are tons of ideas like these….
I also saw where someone printed out the phrase below and then had pencil erasers glued to it! So cute.
Another idea I saw was a container of Simply Lemonade with a card that said, “You are SIMPLY the best.” I love Simply Lemonade and their orange juice and thought this was a great idea.
If you aren’t crafty (and I’m not) you can simply find out your child’s teacher’s address and let Amazon send them a little treat. I put some recommendations for you on NanaHood’s Amazon page. There are some under recommendations and some under Teacher Appreciation. (I had some technical difficulties).
Tell a teacher (or nurse, or delivery person, etc.) thank you! They will remember and appreciate it!
Disclaimer: I’m an Amazon affiliate and any purchase made via my Amazon page results in a small payment.
