Goodbye Bubbles
The anticlimactic "____has left the Meet".
This was the second year in a row where I had the experience of the last day goodbyes barely being an acknowledgement of a year of conversation, laughs, analysis, skills work, Peardecks, Flipgrids, presentations, read alouds, and troubleshooting gone by. We only had asynchronous work on Fridays so class was actually as normal and organized as it had been in the previous decade and some.
I had one student say, "see you tomorrow" when I reminded him that no, today is the last day of classes he said, "so there's not like a thing? Like, the teachers aren't sending out an end of year celebration link?" I reminded him we had one on the 11th (what would have really been the usual last day of classes). He responded, "Wow, so this is it? So anticlimactic. Teachers used to want to say goodbye to us and have relationships!" I said, "yes, and we still do but it's not that easy when everyone is but a bubble with a letter!" This particular student who always participated and was absolutely my top 5 favorite bubbles, never once turned his camera on and has moved out of state so I'll never get the chance to see his face aside from the blurry Skedula photo of him from 6th grade.
Being now vaccinated and especially my parents being vaccinated makes me not fear going back into the building, but I think I'd be OK working in a virtual district. I think it is because before retuning to the public sector, for three years I was teaching upper class kids who had everything, including 2 doting parents and nannies, making sure they met their academic responsibilities, though they had little idea what the real world was Iike. They had no need nor want to build relationships with their teachers and it was weird at first, but also helped work stay work, not something to consume my life with worry. Public school teachers, especially in poor districts like the ones I've worked in know the worry I am talking about for instance if they weren't doing homework, was it because they had jobs or were taking care of family members amd had no time? For those 3 years, never had to wonder if ny students had enough to eat or if there was someone or some thing (after-school activity) keeping them out of trouble after they left the school building.
It isn't satisfying saying goodbye to bubbles, it doesn't honor the hours of planning, self-teaching, trying to build engaging sessions, giving actionable feedback, calling parents, making Loom videos, updating a website, keeping data, etc. that go into synchronous virtual classes. Nonetheless, I'd do it again because I know I did it to the best of my ability and the kids that showed, participated and tried, they learned (I have the data 😉🤓)!
This was the second year in a row where I had the experience of the last day goodbyes barely being an acknowledgement of a year of conversation, laughs, analysis, skills work, Peardecks, Flipgrids, presentations, read alouds, and troubleshooting gone by. We only had asynchronous work on Fridays so class was actually as normal and organized as it had been in the previous decade and some.
I had one student say, "see you tomorrow" when I reminded him that no, today is the last day of classes he said, "so there's not like a thing? Like, the teachers aren't sending out an end of year celebration link?" I reminded him we had one on the 11th (what would have really been the usual last day of classes). He responded, "Wow, so this is it? So anticlimactic. Teachers used to want to say goodbye to us and have relationships!" I said, "yes, and we still do but it's not that easy when everyone is but a bubble with a letter!" This particular student who always participated and was absolutely my top 5 favorite bubbles, never once turned his camera on and has moved out of state so I'll never get the chance to see his face aside from the blurry Skedula photo of him from 6th grade.
Being now vaccinated and especially my parents being vaccinated makes me not fear going back into the building, but I think I'd be OK working in a virtual district. I think it is because before retuning to the public sector, for three years I was teaching upper class kids who had everything, including 2 doting parents and nannies, making sure they met their academic responsibilities, though they had little idea what the real world was Iike. They had no need nor want to build relationships with their teachers and it was weird at first, but also helped work stay work, not something to consume my life with worry. Public school teachers, especially in poor districts like the ones I've worked in know the worry I am talking about for instance if they weren't doing homework, was it because they had jobs or were taking care of family members amd had no time? For those 3 years, never had to wonder if ny students had enough to eat or if there was someone or some thing (after-school activity) keeping them out of trouble after they left the school building.
It isn't satisfying saying goodbye to bubbles, it doesn't honor the hours of planning, self-teaching, trying to build engaging sessions, giving actionable feedback, calling parents, making Loom videos, updating a website, keeping data, etc. that go into synchronous virtual classes. Nonetheless, I'd do it again because I know I did it to the best of my ability and the kids that showed, participated and tried, they learned (I have the data 😉🤓)!
Comments
Post a Comment