Hi Friends!
It's been a while! This teacher has been busy busy busy-- enjoying walks with my little family, creating Boom Cards (check out my most recent decks by clicking here), cleaning up and updating products on my Teachers Pay Teachers store (exciting face-lifts have happened to my product thumbnails... Check them out by clicking here) and wow, really realizing that some days, there simply just aren't enough hours in the day.
I wanted to write a post about all the bittersweetness that is coming with the end of the school year this year. Yesterday, a public school nearby had all of their teachers and staff do a drive-by parade. All of their cars were decorated- balloons, streamers, and posters. Teachers honked their horns as they drove by students' houses and apartment buildings. Watching from my own apartment windows, I couldn't be more proud to say that this profession I am going into is one that truly is a calling and comes straight from the heart. Not only were the teachers and staff putting on a parade to celebrate the learning that happened this school year and to send off their students (in an untraditional way, nonetheless) off to the next grade level, but the driveby wasn't done at 10 in the morning, or 2 in the afternoon, hours where teachers are typically teaching and staff present in the school, instead, the driveby happened at 6 in the evening. Not only are teachers usually at home with their own families cooking dinner like I was at the time, but they also likely weren't being paid extra during that time either. Instead, it was a time that it was most convenient for parents and students, so that's when the parade happened.
The end of the school year this year, though, isn't all excitement and we cannot neglect to shine a light on the adjustments that we will have to make, as educators, this coming fall, when school resumes. This impact from COVID-19 will affect students mentally, socially, and emotionally and we have to know how to see the signs and understand how we can respond to those signs with the best intention for the student in mind. Teachers will likely feel anxious about the gap, which will be greater, between students and how do we properly differentiate our lessons and to what degree do we differentiate? How do we accommodate those high flyers and those who need a little more attention (or maybe a lot more attention)?
These are just some of the ways that the end of the school year has been both exciting and refreshing (hello! Summer is here... Warm weather to be enjoyed!) yet filled with so many unknowns and heightened anxiety. All of these things that you're feeling-- as a parent, teacher, student, guardian-- are normal and to be expected. We are in this together.
Xoxo,
Miss Johnson
It's been a while! This teacher has been busy busy busy-- enjoying walks with my little family, creating Boom Cards (check out my most recent decks by clicking here), cleaning up and updating products on my Teachers Pay Teachers store (exciting face-lifts have happened to my product thumbnails... Check them out by clicking here) and wow, really realizing that some days, there simply just aren't enough hours in the day.
I wanted to write a post about all the bittersweetness that is coming with the end of the school year this year. Yesterday, a public school nearby had all of their teachers and staff do a drive-by parade. All of their cars were decorated- balloons, streamers, and posters. Teachers honked their horns as they drove by students' houses and apartment buildings. Watching from my own apartment windows, I couldn't be more proud to say that this profession I am going into is one that truly is a calling and comes straight from the heart. Not only were the teachers and staff putting on a parade to celebrate the learning that happened this school year and to send off their students (in an untraditional way, nonetheless) off to the next grade level, but the driveby wasn't done at 10 in the morning, or 2 in the afternoon, hours where teachers are typically teaching and staff present in the school, instead, the driveby happened at 6 in the evening. Not only are teachers usually at home with their own families cooking dinner like I was at the time, but they also likely weren't being paid extra during that time either. Instead, it was a time that it was most convenient for parents and students, so that's when the parade happened.
The end of the school year this year, though, isn't all excitement and we cannot neglect to shine a light on the adjustments that we will have to make, as educators, this coming fall, when school resumes. This impact from COVID-19 will affect students mentally, socially, and emotionally and we have to know how to see the signs and understand how we can respond to those signs with the best intention for the student in mind. Teachers will likely feel anxious about the gap, which will be greater, between students and how do we properly differentiate our lessons and to what degree do we differentiate? How do we accommodate those high flyers and those who need a little more attention (or maybe a lot more attention)?
These are just some of the ways that the end of the school year has been both exciting and refreshing (hello! Summer is here... Warm weather to be enjoyed!) yet filled with so many unknowns and heightened anxiety. All of these things that you're feeling-- as a parent, teacher, student, guardian-- are normal and to be expected. We are in this together.
Xoxo,
Miss Johnson
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