While I have continued to work with my elementary education majors in the two sections of my online course in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic closures in Illinois, I have not worked with my current, and final, group of third graders in a few weeks.
I am completing my eleventh year as an elementary teacher and will transition to my new role as a full time professor, working primarily with preservice elementary teaching candidates, as well as graduate students, in August. In Illinois, our governor closed schools the week after my wife delivered our second child and has since declared a shelter-in-place through at least April 7th.
Suffice to say, I wasn't going to be teaching my third graders at this time anyways, as I planned to be home with our new child; however, there isn't a guarantee of when (or if) I will work with them in the classroom again.
Assuming the worst case scenario, let's say we don't return to our classrooms for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year, much like my current and upcoming higher education workplaces have already declared.
Did I teach them everything they needed to know and be able to do?
And when I ask myself this question, I don't fret about the remaining units of study we may or may not be able to complete. For how much standards-based grading has been adopted by districts in our country, these content area descriptors cannot possibly encapsulate the social and personal dispositions and types of experiences I believe are most essential in my work with children.
Here's what I value most as an educator and feel my students needed to know and be able to do:
1. Respect others and yourself. Accept nothing less from either party.
2. Give nothing less than your absolute best. This is an extension of Item #1.
3. Recognize what is equitable, authentic, and effective. Be prepared to solve problems accordingly. This is an extension of Item #2.
4. Follow your passions and find joy in your pursuits. This is an extension of Item #3.
Students' safety is what is most important right now. We can catch them up and meet them where they are 'at' when they return to school.
May the downtime during this pandemic remind all educators what is most important in our work with learners of all ages and how we can most meaningfully impact them when we eventually return to our classrooms.