It has been said that teaching is a labor of love. I like to say that teaching is a work of heart. We don’t do it for the money, and the ones that do it for the “summers off” sure don’t last long in this profession. Balancing work and home life is a daily struggle that we as parents face daily, and now those two worlds have collided in a BIG way.
I wrote this with the hope that parents will understand the struggle teachers are facing. I spent my day reaching out to parents and reassuring them that I am working hard to adjust to this new way of learning. After all the calls were made and the emails sent, I realized there was much more I wanted them to know. These are a few of those thoughts.
I want you to know that you are not alone. We are confused and stressed about so many things during this time as well. We are humans, too.
I want you to know that many of us are not technology gurus and are spending much of our day’s fast-track learning new technologies to help our students remotely.
I want you to know that remote teaching is just as hard as homeschooling. Sure, we love teaching from our sofas in our pajamas. Why do you think we have so many pajama days?! Trying to teach while one of our children is hopping on the couch and the other two are screaming over the last bags of Doritos is NOT the dream scenario.
I want you to know that there are resources available. So many companies have free learning resources available to you. LMB is even working on a list of these! Many districts are busy gathering these for you. Many districts are offering free food to students (check out our Free School Meals in Lubbock & Surrounding Communities blog post here).
I want you to know that we care, and we worry about them. We fear that their needs are not met. We fear that we have lost our relationship with them. We worry about their futures.
Lastly, I want you to know that the pressure is OFF, and you can do this! Don’t worry if you “don’t know how to teach that subject.” You are not being observed and graded on the performance of your teaching abilities. Get creative! Teach what you DO know! Take this time to connect with your children on a deeper level. Figure out how their minds work.
There are so many things that we can all learn from these trying times, and I hope that this will change our educational system for the better. More importantly, I hope that this changes the way many teachers are perceived. I hope that these times help build a more reliable connection between parents and teachers.
