| Originally Published on June 1st, 2023 The first time I ever taught professionally, I was sitting in my bedroom, wearing pajama pants. It was a warm August morning in 2020, and I simply opened my laptop immediately after waking up. I felt very sleepy, but I was determined to make it to work on time. My fan was on. I drank from the water bottle that I left on my desk the night before. It was surreal. At 8:30, I awaited my students’ faces on my Zoom screen, only to be greeted by a few dozen black squares. Barely anyone had their cameras on, and they were muted. This was not what I expected when I decided to go into teaching. Nevertheless, I introduced myself to the children, hoping that they were as excited to learn as I was to teach. It was quiet. Too quiet. My students never spoke much since they were in front of their computers; I was just some virtual instructor to them. I could tell they didn’t take me–or anything they were supposed to be learning–that seriously. For months, this was the norm. The pandemic had begun, taking away many of the privileges citizens used to take for granted. It didn’t feel like I was in a classroom, but rather I was completing some sort of computer program. My meetings were digital and so was my grading. I met with parents through my computer, I was observed through someone else’s screen. It was not until the following April that I began to teach in person, however, only a few students were physically in the classroom at a time. The three or four students in each class that found their way there made my job seem more real, but the remaining dozen remained simple names that popped up. It was surreal. As I was teaching, I noticed the true consequences of virtual learning. Students were not getting the material, and I was not there in front of them to point out their mistakes or guide them in the right direction. They only relied on my notes rather than my direct indications. I did not move from my chair much, so they did not see or feel the enthusiasm I had for the subjects I was teaching. They were uninterested, not paying attention, placing me in the background of whatever else they decided to do. Often they would turn to their televisions and watch shows, or play online games in a different tab. (I know because they, and their parents, told me.) No one was there to keep them focused, and their grades suffered. It was reported that there was a decrease in overall success when it came to student learning in the United States due to the limitations of the pandemic. Test scores diminished, literacy did not improve among students, and teachers were not suitably compensated for their efforts in and out of the classroom. Many of my peers and students dealt with stress of being sick–or the fear of it. During the first year, I was a witness to this decline. Students were not happy that they were confined in their houses, and decided to find other things to occupy their attention. Some of my students lamented to me that they were not able to participate in certain clubs and sports. They were upset that they were not able to enjoy the subjects they liked so much in previous years. I, myself, was discouraged when performing my duties literal inches from the place I slept. Today, we still see the effects of the pandemic on students, myself included. Not many were prepared for what it would take away from us. There is much work to be done when it comes to improving test scores and literacy. Now that students and teachers are back in the classrooms, perhaps these numbers will change. |
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