{"id":19539,"date":"2021-03-18T19:34:01","date_gmt":"2021-03-18T19:34:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipschools.org\/?p=19539"},"modified":"2021-04-22T22:15:14","modified_gmt":"2021-04-22T22:15:14","slug":"so-were-transitioning-back-into-the-classroom-heres-how-the-first-two-weeks-went-teacherpd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipschools.org\/en\/latest-news\/blog\/so-were-transitioning-back-into-the-classroom-heres-how-the-first-two-weeks-went-teacherpd\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Schools in Nashville Transitioned Back into the Classroom. Here’s How the First Two Weeks Went."},"content":{"rendered":"

My ground-floor one-bedroom apartment was never meant to be the home of an elementary school classroom. My 600 square foot apartment doesn\u2019t even have a desk or a table to teach from. When we first went virtual, I bought a matte black patio chair that best aligned to my mid-century modern living room aesthetic and used the back of my couch as a surface to set my computer on. This wasn\u2019t ideal, but I quickly learned that a classroom, however, doesn\u2019t ascribe to a binary, a classroom exists on a spectrum.<\/p>\n

Virtual teaching was stressful, new, frustrating, beautiful, and a burden that will plague us for years to come. My students learned though. Contrary to popular belief, learning didn\u2019t stop. In fact, we learned resilience and grit and unapologetically proved that virtual learning is simply learning.<\/p>\n

With that said, when I was allowed to reunite with my students in the building, I immediately jumped at the opportunity. Truthfully, I had reached a point in November where I started to accept that those empty desks and unread books back in our barren school building would simply continue to collect dust. Flash forward to March, as we are fast approaching the first anniversary since my school closed to keep us all safe during the onset of the 2020 global pandemic, and we are back in the building.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d like to share with you my experience over the first two weeks back. My school is still learning and so am I. We aren\u2019t perfect, but we are safe.<\/h4>\n

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New safety guidelines dictate a good chunk of our normal classroom autonomy.<\/strong>
\nThe huge area rug with the colored squares where we would read books and share in robust conversations with each other is gone. Our desks that were once zip-tied into table groups to promote group learning and community are now individually spaced out and a bright red square made from tape reminds us where their solitary home is. The walls that served as a testament to our learning and a museum of our greatest accomplishments now look similar to the walls of our now bare.<\/p>\n

I quickly accepted that my classroom wasn\u2019t going to be featured in a magazine this year (it never has, but call me a dreamer). Instead, I decided to focus on what my students immediately needed and now I can add to it when needed. This is the year that less certainly is more. While our classroom aesthetic might be a little less Pinterest perfect this year, love, joy, and learning transcend the missing rug and grouped tables.<\/p>\n

Having an organized system helped me and my students’ families adjust to the new hybrid schedules.<\/strong>
\nThe new school schedule is far from ideal. For our school, some students come on Monday and Tuesday, some are in-person on Wednesday and Thursday, some are still 100% virtual, some stay for tutoring after the school day. We\u2019re all still trying to make sense of the new schedules. My role, as an educator, is to help my students and families make sense of this constantly evolving situation. I didn\u2019t want to rely on school-wide calls and the hope that my students\u2019 families would see the school\u2019s social media post. I decided to own the responsibility of keeping my student\u2019s families informed.<\/p>\n

I fully embraced my role as a potential telemarketer and I relabeled each family contact in my phone with either an \u201ca\u201d or a \u201cb\u201d to keep track of their in-person schedule, or a \u201cv\u201d if they were staying virtual. Now, I am still able to provide the communication that families need to know, but I can swiftly target who needs what. I\u2019m responsible for 62 students and being intentional about how I communicate with families has made this transition back extremely efficient. I know this sounds simple, but it has been vital to returning in-person.<\/p>\n

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We started with a schedule of essentials students missed and needed.<\/strong>
\nTeachers are master planners. We routinely take a set of standards and end-of-year goals and miraculously construct a yearly plan that integrates everything our students need to know. It\u2019s never easy, but it starts to become routine. I wanted to equivalate the opportunity to teach in-person again with what I\u2019ve always done. I wanted to prepare a read-aloud, a writing block, close reading, guided reading, centers, and a language block for when I returned. The routine of teaching in-person sounded very comfortable, but it wasn\u2019t what my students needed.<\/p>\n

I chose to start slow. Here\u2019s how my days go so far:<\/em><\/p>\n