2020 has forever changed the way society goes about their daily lives including how to administer education to students who are unable to attend school due to COVID-19. In the Spring of 2020, as Business Shutdowns and Stay-at-Home orders were being implemented, teachers began to face the new reality of Distance Learning, and how to redesign those amazing lesson plans that were meant to be completed in class, as a group, under the supervision and guidance of the teacher.
As the school year came to a close, there was a sense of hope that things could get better over the Summer, and school would start as it normally would, but that hope began to fade and the realization eventually came that schools would not be able to begin the new school year with the rush of students sharing summer stories, figuring out schedules, and meeting new and old friends in familiar surroundings. 2020 has forced all educators to reassess and reevaluate how instruction can be delivered to all students while maintaining a safe distance and meeting academic standards.
As the new school year began to approach, students, parents, teachers, administrators, and all support staff and personnel waited in uncertainty as the State, Counties, Health Departments, and School Districts debated if schools were to be fully reopened, gradually or partially opened to some students at a time, or to implement complete distance learning. Each school began to make preparations for all the possible scenarios that they could face to start the school year, and the staff began to make preparations accordingly.
Now that the school year has begun there will no doubt be new challenges that will have to be addressed as they arise in this education reset of 2020. Issues like: access to technology, cyber-bulling, managing a classroom through a computer screen, privacy in the form of remote video recording and capturing screenshots, live parent involvement during instruction. and many more that have yet to manifest themselves.
This will be one of the most challenging years in education but there is no doubt that if we rely on our dedication to education and our passion of advocating for students and their learning as a strength, while relying on each other for moral and emotional support, we will succeed.
Manuel R. CortezRodas - Educator
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