Sight unseen, COVID-19 shuttered our nation’s schools, emptying classrooms and making homeschooling of sorts a matter of fact for all, harnessing teachers and students alike to screens. And, depending on a district’s choice of e-learning platform, often sight unseen.

  • Synchronous platforms, such as Zoom and Google Meet, provide students with in-person lessons, feedback and answered questions.
  • Asynchronous platforms, such as Google Classroom, allow teachers behind the scenes to present coursework via email, message boards, blogs, etc., with students completing coursework at their own pace.

Either way, it’s not just a matter of designing and delivering a lesson and then a bell rings, class dismissed. Not even close. Lessons must be uploaded and delivered one way or another. Add to that, grading papers, responding daily to parents and kids, attending staff meetings and on-gong training sessions–all online, too, and after the fact.

As art teacher Becky Dukes put it: “It’s been extremely stressful.”

Meanwhile, like countless kids, about 4% of teachers, mostly in rural areas, are themselves without high-speed wireless at home, forcing them to leave their families and conduct classes in parking lots and empty school buildings.

And now comes this headline: “Nearly 300,000 Teacher Jobs at Risk If Feds Don’t Step Up, Big Districts Warn.”

And so it goes during COVID’s version of Teacher Appreciation Week, May 4-8.

With thanks, Carol