Let me set the stage, the same stage under the feet of teachers worldwide as we attempt to play our part in a script we could not have imagined a year ago. Each morning as I enter stage right, I make sure I am in full teacher garb at least from the waist up. Instead of opening my classroom door and turning on the lights, I open Zoom after turning on my computer. Instead of hearing the cacophony of voices coming through the hallways I hear a monotonous chimed warning that someone is in the "waiting room", followed by the predictable 'ding dong' of their entrance into my fantasy classroom. They don't run through my door saying hello, racing to their favorite desk, needing to be redirected from peer conversation. No. They enter with muted voices. They speak to me only if spoken to. They pretty much ignore each other. Sheesh...as I write this it's Monday morning, no school today, and yet the description of this reality feels so intense. It's the same sounds, the same empty feeling, the same lacking atmosphere entered each day of the school week. Believe me, I am making it as fun as possible, causing laughter and making my students feel loved. I know that I am doing all I can to make it more fun, more interactive, more acceptable....but it falls incredibly short of the desired teaching reality each and every time.
But here is last week's story that might help to bring smiles to our tired teaching faces...or not. With the stage set as usual, my students and I were ready to watch the pre-recorded announcements, led by our principal and co-hosted by our librarian and two students. Let me say it again...PRE-RECORDED. In my mind this shared watching is a bonding time...a time when, as the school enjoys the announcements within the same class period, we can remember that we are all together in this world of detached teaching. As I'm sure you can imagine, I thoroughly enjoy sharing this special time.
OK, so now it's confession time...Some would say, I 'get into it'. When those announcements come on, I feel connected and like I am still a part of something bigger than me, not just the main actor in my own, one-man Zoom Room. And so, at the end of the recorded announcements this week, as my principal and her co-hosts waved goodbye, (recorded, remember!) I found myself waving to them. I waved for quite a while before realizing I was waving to a recording...enthusiastically...in front of my class. I had mistaken the recording for reality because my reality has become so bastardized that it has taken on the identity of something that used to so clearly not be real-time.
Confused? hell yes. This story of mistaken reality is confusing because this whole world right now is upside down. But in the end, here's the great part...my students were cracking up, my children were rolling at dinner when they heard the story, and hopefully, just maybe, you got a little chuckle.
