By: Dr. Guy Ilagan, Associate Professor of Counselor Education at the Citadel
It has been about 40 days since Ms. West learned that her workplace closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ms. West is an experienced school counselor in a middle school. She is married and has three young children. She is known and respected as a humble, helpful, effective school counselor. She is active in her state organization for school counselors and is beloved by her peers and the graduate students she has mentored along the way. She loves her students and her school and reports that she has an effective relationship with the school principal.
I asked Ms. West to reflect on her experiences since the school closures and specifically about the most difficult aspects. She said her biggest concerns were for her student’s unmet needs, e.g., “availability of food, abuse, neglect, and witnessing domestic violence.” She paused and added, “when we return, we’ll be dealing with their concerns and trauma. Right now I have no control, no real way to help them.” As she spoke these words she paused and added, “and there will be no decrease in workload when we return, and see the results of these concerns.”
Ms. West also cited concerns about the suicide risk assessment (SRA) process. Ms. West and her peers have noticed that when conducting risk assessments via teleconference, caregivers are not always willing to permit the students to have privacy (by leaving the room) for parts of the risk assessment. Thus, they have little control over the assessments, especially where privacy is concerned. Also, some schools require a second counselor or staff member to be present during the SRA, which adds a time consuming logistical layer. Whereas, at the school they can promptly find a second staff member and ask caregivers to step outside for a moment. Also, district administrators currently send messages over weekends and after hours that a student needs a “check-in.” Check-ins are prompted by keywords in search or communication functions of their school-provided tablets.
Ms. West is connected to other school counselors via peer groups. She is in a peer group with peers from across the US. She also connects with local school counselor colleagues throughout the week. Some of her peers found support groups on social media or initiated informal local groups. In her peer group she noticed one school counselor in another state was told not to talk to students or do anything else. Otherwise, Ms. West’s US peers are all working harder now. Some of them are micromanaged. Many are required to call each student who is not completing their academic work.
Office hours for Ms. West are set from 8:00AM to 4:00PM. She emailed each household about office hours and contact information. She was also required to provide social emotional curriculum to students and continue to conduct Individual Graduation Plans (IGPs). Throughout the closure, Ms. West stated other school counselors she had spoken with described their current roles as “vague, having received minimal direction” and an “open-ended hot mess.” Many of her peers feel “pretty lost,” especially with connecting and collaborating with peers.
“If this continues into the Fall semester, I cannot mentally sustain,” she confessed with a laugh. She told me about her usual process of figuring out who will watch the kids when she and her spouse have conference calls at the same time. She knows she is deep into compassion fatigue. Compassion fatigue is a secondary traumatization that affects our mood, health, and regard for our students and work. Providing empathy and understanding to students in crisis can lead to compassion fatigue. “There is just not enough time in the day,” she said. “I’m not on my A game, more like a C game.” Without hesitation she said that due to her workload she has been unable to assist her own children in completing their school work.
When asked what has sustained her in her work thus far, she paused and referred to her support group with peers. She also said “finding breaks from the kids (her own).” In one of our video chats, I noticed a very human and touching moment when one of her children came into view. The child did not want to be apart from her mother at that moment. Finally, she said with a look of accomplishment that working out and eating healthy has helped her keep her mood up. She seemed pleased that she was using the time at home to boost her wellness and restart a few good habits.
Ms. West was relieved to have her real name excluded so that she could feel more freedom to discuss her experiences.
About the Author
Guy teaches graduate students in The Citadel’s Counselor Education Programs. He earned a PHD from Clemson University, Master’s Degree from The Citadel, and Undergraduate Degree from College of Charleston. Guy has been a counselor in a variety of educational and community settings and has published studies on counselor effectiveness, suicide prevention, and the mental health effects of wilderness backpacking on college women. Guy, his wife Jill, and their dog Dottie reside in Charleston, SC and enjoy riding bikes, going to the beach, watching TV, and camping.
By: Elinor Lister, Glenview Middle School English Teacher
Teacher-parent life or parent-teacher life?
Being a mom and a teacher has always made life interesting. There are many perks. Being off on holidays and breaks when your children are also off is probably the biggest perk. A teacher also understands the system and has an advantage, usually, when helping with school work and participating in teacher meetings and things.
One negative that is ever-present, though, is the inability to participate in your child’s school day as easily as other parents often can. It’s not always possible to walk your child into school on the first day because it’s also your first day of school. You need to be in your own classroom greeting your new and nervous students. You aren’t able to attend all of the parties that take place throughout elementary school. To take off, create plans for your students, and figure out how to leave your classroom to attend your child’s party is often more difficult than the thirty minute party is worth. And don’t even think about joining the PTO or other committees because most take place during the school day. You have to worry about all of your extra children, so oftentimes your own child takes a back seat.
Now, there may be supermom teachers out there who disagree with me. They may take off to be present at all of their child’s events. If you can, that’s amazing. I salute you. In my experience of teaching for twenty years and being a mom for fifteen, I have found it to be very difficult. I adore teaching; it is my passion. I adore my children; they are my whole heart. However, there are instances every year where I have to make choices between my personal children and my classroom children. I imagine most mom teachers feel the same at some point.
Then, COVID-19 hits…
This changes the entire Mom Teacher, Teacher Mom experience and daily life. I’m still worried about my own children, but now that worry takes on an entirely different format. I have three children around me all day, trying to complete school work. At the same time, I am preparing lessons and working with my students only through my computer. The separation of my two lives is now gone. The two lives that I live have now merged into one – literally.
The two lives that I live have now merged into one – literally.
Initially, this brought about a few days of complete craziness. Every child of mine needed help with work, while I was creating lessons for students and answering emails for what felt like the entire day. This insanity was not sustainable. As have most homes across our state and country, I needed a solution and a schedule.
My district set my office hours from nine to twelve every day. During this time, it has worked out very well for my children to complete any school work alone that they can do without help. After twelve, we get lunch, and then I help each one of them complete their work. It’s a long process, but it has been working for us.
Teacher-Parent, Parent-Teacher Tips
Throughout this process I have learned a few things that have been very valuable:
Embrace the fact that my children can complete their lessons at any point in the day. One positive of learning at home is that it’s flexible. If we want to stay up late watching a movie as a family or doing something else fun, why not. They can sleep in. They can do some work and take a break to go play or get a snack. (Although in truth we’re all snacking a bit too much at my house.) This truth allows less stress for both them and me. If I’m busy with something for school or something for the house, they can do other things until I’m free to help them.
Embrace the fact that my students also have very different schedules right now. Even though my office hours are from 9-12, many of my students are not working then or maybe aren’t even awake then. I get emails from students in the afternoons and evenings when they’re actually working. I have decided to check my email once in the afternoon and once in the evening and answer whatever has come through. I also know that there will be late work turned in. In the midst of what’s going on, there are students who just don’t want to do work on some days. There are also students who are watching siblings and handling other household responsibilities. Many homes don’t look like mine, and I need to allow for that flexibility with my students. As teachers, we can’t say, “Well normally they would have to complete this homework at home,” or “Normally they would only have two days.” There is nothing normal about this time and this way of learning.
Teachers often want more freedom, and now … we have it.
Embrace that this lack of normal should mean my lessons aren’t normal. Students are not sitting in class, able to focus on me or an activity like they typically would. And let’s face it, even sitting in class, that focus is sometimes sketchy. At home, they have siblings, food, phones, pets, televisions, video games, any number of things that to them beat out school work. Many of them also have working parents who may not even be home during the day. Their entire schedule is upside down. As a teacher, why would I offer something that I would struggle to get them to do or focus on if they were sitting in my classroom? State testing has been lifted!!! This is the time to engage our students. Allow them to explore and research, to be creative, to actually enjoy learning something about a subject. We should use interactive websites, create hyperdocs, give creative projects, find interesting articles and stories to read, and let them write expressively. Teachers often want more freedom, and now a positive in all of this is that we have it.
Embrace that I truly can be Mom Teacher and Teacher Mom right now. Not every teacher is a mother or still has children at home, but this lesson can apply to all of us. Yes, being stuck at home stinks. Yes, we miss our students terribly. Yes, we really wish we could go back to normal life. BUT, when we have no control over the situation, we need to focus on what we can control and focus on what is good about the situation. I have been able to spend more time with my children in the last four weeks than I have in a long time. Yes, I live with them, but we have been able to stop and breathe and enjoy each other’s company. I am still teaching, and they are still learning, but we are able to also just be. We have done art projects, had baking contests, put together puzzles, watched movies, read books, and played outside. We are normally going a hundred miles an hour from one thing to the next – soccer, guard, volleyball, church, homework, dinner, etc. But right now, I get to be a little more mom than teacher. I am still a teacher; I am still preparing engaging lessons and helping my students. For once, though, I’m not having to choose between the two.
Teachers are often the worst about taking care of themselves. We worry about everyone else first. During this time when things are not normal, how about we work on self-care, enjoying some downtime, and making memories. Our normal school lives will be back before we know it. For now, let’s make sure we are okay, our children are okay, and our students are okay.
About the Author
@elinorlister on Twitter
Elinor Lister has taught high school and middle school English for twenty years and currently teaches eighth grade English in Anderson, South Carolina, at Glenview Middle School. She was the District Teacher of the Year for Anderson Five for the 2018-2019 school year. Elinor holds a Bachelor’s in English from Erskine College, a Master’s in Educational Technology from Lesley University, and a Master’s in Administration from Gardner Webb University.
An English teacher friend of mine who plans to retire at the end of the year with 40 years texted me: “School closed. My career might end like this !”
Wait! End like what? What just happened? Suddenly, nothing is normal, and there is no assurance that it will ever be again.
So I emailed my graduate students, “What’s going on?”
About 15 years ago, I left the high school classroom to teach in the ivory towers of higher education. A few years ago, my wife and I joined the University of South Carolina where I reside in the virtual ivory tower of on-line learning. I’ve been practicing “social distancing” living vicariously through my graduate students who are all teachers and administrators in real classrooms… at least they were until a few days ago. So… let me share what they’ve been telling me and you can think about how their stories compare to your situation.
From a teacher up in Maryland: “So far, absolutely nothing is occurring in my school district… along with what I assume is the rest of the state. We have been given explicit directions not to communicate with classes, issue assignments, or post grades. We may have one-on-one communication with students via Canvas, but classroom instruction in any manner cannot occur because the school district is afraid of violating FAPE. Our schools are closed until 4/24.”
This was a recurring theme. Teachers told me they’ve been instructed to focus on remedial learning rather than introducing new material. This is to buy districts and states time to bring the new learning situations into compliance with the laws regarding the rights of students with exceptionalities.
One South Carolina special education teacher expressed her passionate concern: “We place a greater emphasis on the accountability than we do on the lessons that life provides.” She was not the only respondent to say how much she missed her students. I’m sure they miss her too.
Literacy is not a stand-alone skill; it is a practice that is always situated in a context, and this time, the context changed literally overnight.
There has always been a disconnect between what the public thinks teachers do and what they actually do: Teachers spend all their after-school time on Facebook, sharing brownie recipes (with pictures). One parent scornfully asked on Facebook: “Are teachers still getting paid?”
We can forgive parents in their time of frustration, but the responses I have received these last few days tell the true story: Both administrators and teachers are… well… overwhelmed. It merely went from “barely bearable” to “impossible.” More than one teacher used the word “triage.”
An administrator in Florence, SC acknowledged this when she reported: “I work at our central office and we have been working tirelessly to support teachers who are working 10 or more hours each day preparing, grading, and holding a minimum of four office hours to answer students’ questions. Those were the guidelines for week one. In week two, add teacher created videos at least once per week. It is definitely harder this week, not just for teachers creating and executing these magnificent virtual lessons but also for our students who are definitely missing their teachers and friends.”
From Pennsylvania comes this teacher lament: “Ineed a break from education things. With the distance teaching, I feel I’m on call 24/7 and [constantly] feel obligated to check on my students.”
Another teacher wrote: “You know, when I first got your email I felt a little bit like ‘one more thing.’ However, when I started [writing], I couldn’t stop. It was an outlet I didn’t realize I needed. It was a lot like writing in a diary and very cathartic.”
She went on to talk about how her district (as of March 30) “… has been assigning Chromebooks to students (yesterday and today) and Comcast is offering 2 months of free WiFi. Now, the teachers have been told by our association that we must have Chromebooks in case we are ever subpoenaed for something relating to Special Education. There aren’t enough Chromebooks! I don’t even know about the WiFi. Some teachers, like myself, don’t want to go out to the school and risk getting sick to get a Chromebook. In this case, I wish someone would have just promised some sort of protection. … I’m in charge of making sure my department of 16 understands protocols for reporting child abuse and adhering to legislation concerning special needs students. The last text I sent them was at 10 pm last night and the first was at 6:30 am. Our central office updates us as much as they can but they are doing triage as well.”
In the last couple weeks, literacy practices have gone way beyond the technology of pen and paper, and may never return. How does a parent go about contacting Comcast or AT&T Mobile or Spectrum? What are the restrictions? What are their rights? Obviously, for such dramatic concern, people are recognizing that on-line learning is not quite the same as its cinder block counterpart.
Teachers are discovering there is a whole new set of literacy skills that needs to be learned to make this work, and that takes time and more than a bit of self-confidence. By now, all of us have had to confront the reality that there’s more to moving on-line than merely having the equipment.
An Orlando science teacher makes the following observations:
1) A common concern of teachers has been “how do we stop the students from just Googling answers?!?” My thought has often been “why are we asking students questions that have answers that can be found on Google?”
2) Another common barrier teachers have found is “How will students learn without a face to face lesson and me explaining the information to them?”
3) My personal greatest barrier transitioning online is how to generate effective, authentic, and meaningful dialogue in an asynchronous online course. How can we get students to engage, debate, revise their own understanding of content, and push the knowledge base of the collective whole forward in an online course?2) Another common barrier teachers have found is “How will students learn without a face to face lesson and me explaining the information to them?”
An upstate South Carolina STEM teacher talked via video about the “pressure teachers are now putting on themselves to mimic their synchronous, daily lessons and pedagogy in an asynchronous, virtual space.” He states that what he intends is not to be the “content giver,” but rather his plan is to provide his students with activities, including those provided by web applications such as, The Physics Aviary, during which he can “go in and comment multiple times, giving feedback [during the process].” Scott prefers “open world” simulations that are not as linear as other platforms that are more prescribed and restrictive.
He talked about his future plans of investigating the multimodal options that digital literacy offers. This is an important literacy topic that deserves its own blog, hopefully in the near future on this site. If this caught your attention and you want to know more, check out this article.
What Scott and several of the other teachers have in common is that they are in the first generation of “digital natives” who are now of an age in which they are no longer novice teachers. Digital natives, those born into the digital age, never had to learn the required technical skills that are now so much in demand as we are forced headlong into cyberspace. Digital natives merely acquired this form of 21st Century literacy by living it. We older folks have had to learn it, much like having to learn a new language. Learning is a whole lot harder and more time-consuming than acquiring, but it can work just as well in the end.
So what might this look like in practice? Teachers are incredible problem-solvers; there are no limits to what you can create when presented an impossible situation.
Here are a few more things teachers couldn’t wait to tell me about:
A middle-school ELA teacher is using The Diary of Anne Frank as model for their own diary/journal/memoir, much like a pastiche. “For my seventh grade ELA classes, I modified an idea from Kelly Gallagher. Students are reading Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl as a text and using Google Slides to write daily journal entries to record this historical event from their perspective. Their creativity has been endless. They are writing poetry, posting links to news stories and videos, sharing acts of kindness, creating videos, and inserting pictures, selfies, and memes to the entries. I am hoping they find therapy in this opportunity for self-expression.”
This teacher clearly recognizes and encourages her students’ expanded repertoire of literacy practices that transcend the traditional definition of literacy:
As we go into more social isolation, you might write reviews of movies, television shows, podcasts, video games to share with your classmates.
Post pictures that you find in the media and/or your personal photos that share your experience.
Respond to any seed about the crisis you find interesting. A “seed” can be an article, a broadcast, a Ted Talk, a tweet, a photograph, a podcast, a film, an Instagram (or another online) post, a TikTok video, a political cartoon, a photograph—anything that spurs some thinking about the crisis.
An urban social studies teacher offered a litany of apps she had to master over a weekend: “Students are expected to use email, the school website, Canvas, and Google Classroom to submit assignments and [for teachers to] deliver instruction. We use various apps such as Remind, Flipgrid, Zoom, Loom, Screencastify, etc. that allow teachers and students to interact in real-time. I’ve had to learn to use flipgrid, commonlit, zoom, Edpuzzle, Newslea and make sure I understand how to do audio/video via Schoology.”
A South Carolina administrator wrote: “My daughter is writing short plays for theater class and selecting musical pieces for band based on the scores. She is learning to read difficult pieces of music and is looking forward to a Google hangout practice session next week. I find it ironic that most of her writing takes place in theater and hardly any in her English and social studies classes at the moment.”
Hmmmm….
Several teachers wrote about the boredom their own children are enduring. From the Atlanta suburbs, a middle schooler amused herself (and now us) with her own artistic creation.
Teachers seem to love tapping into students’ creative energies. A North Carolina high school art teacher joyfully exclaimed, “I’m LOVING this!” She went on to gush about her students “…experimenting with abstract forms of art production to produce compositions of still life items at home. [One class is creating ‘altered books’ [as an example of an] interesting approach to literacy… which requires students to use visual literacy as well as your normal reading and writing. This project also requires sequencing which is yet another form of literacy. They turn their third story in tomorrow through a video platform and the entire finished project in two weeks. I can add you to my digital class so you can see their work if you’d like…”
Yes, I think we’d all like that…
She then alluded to the elephant in the room: What about THOSE kids: “We have been required to provide 8 weeks of online and ‘pencil and paper’ packets of instruction in 2-week blocks [for students without Internet access]. The packets should be as similar as possible to the electronic lessons and allow for the same learning goals to be achieved… Students with no internet pick up packets at a drive-through at the school and every two weeks come to school to pick up more work and drop off what they have completed in a dropbox. Paperwork must be quarantined for 2 days before teachers can [touch] it…”
A high school social studies teacher added: “The district had to set up a plan to distribute food (breakfast and lunch) in grab-n-go methods…”
As responses keep trickling in, it’s clear that there’s been more than one elephant sheltering in place in our classrooms. Students who refuse to comply have been set free. They’re out there some place, and they might not come back: “I have had 3 of 90 students submit/complete any assignments on a daily basis. No more than ten of the 90 have yet logged into the system.”
I suspect it’s more about Herb Kohl’s “I Won’t Learn from You” than Shakespeare’s “… whining school-boy, with his satchel and shining morning face, creeping like snailunwillingly to school.” It’s a critical literacy issue that we (including you) will need to take up on this page sometime soon. We can’t end like this.
About the Author
Todd Lilly has over 40 years of teaching experience, the majority of which was invested in middle and high school ELA and theater classes in and around Rochester, NY. Over the past 10 years he has served on undergraduate and graduate faculties in Wisconsin and currently at the University of South Carolina. He earned his Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research interests include out-of-school literacy practices and the stories of marginalized, disenfranchised students. He is married to Dr. Catherine Compton-Lilly who holds the John C. Hungerpiller chair in the College of Education, University of South Carolina.
For educators and families across the nation, life as we knew it changed in the blink of an eye. Schools closed and immediate actions were taken to make sure learning continued in the midst of a crisis. Educators responded by developing distance learning plans, packets, tool-kits, and virtual class schedules for families to use at home. Then, parents began facilitating learning from home.
Judging by the response in the media, this remote learning thing was a little more difficult than expected. On day one, parents were posting elaborate schedules for students to follow and some teachers committed to virtual office hours, while others began teaching the entire school day. A few days later, the enthusiasm was gone! We began to see posts like these:
Been homeschooling a 6-year old and 8-year old for one hour and 11 minutes. Teachers deserve to make a billion dollars a year. Or a week.
Almost at the end of week 3 of isolation and I can confidently say there has not been a single minute I have been bored or have had any free time. #tiredteacher
Teachers have always been awesome, but now the nation can see just how much patience, love, care, and hard work goes into teaching.
In the midst of all that is going on, I wanted to check on District Teacher Leaders. So, I set up a web meeting with the South Carolina State Teacher Forum. In an effort to capture the feelings of each teacher we asked, “How are you feeling in this moment?” We created a Word Cloud to capture responses. As we watched the screen, the first word to appear was overwhelmed. That word grew larger and larger, indicating that many teachers had also typed overwhelmed. Then, all of a sudden, words like hopeful, blessed, and optimistic started showing up. In the end, the largest word that formed in the middle of the cloud was grateful.
By simply giving ourselves a moment to share how we were feeling, it reaffirmed that we are not alone in this. Processing our emotions together resulted in a rejuvenating meeting. It is my desire that this Word Cloud created by teachers can serve as a symbol of hope and positivity for educators and families across our state and nation. A reminder that in this challenging time, we all need to take a breath, and use gratitude to center our lives.
Why Gratitude?
According to Harvard Health Publishing, “In positive psychology research, gratitude is strongly and consistently associated with greater happiness. Gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, reduce stress, relish good experiences, improve their health, and deal with adversity.” As we continue teaching during COVID-19, let’s make gratitude part of our daily routine!
Here are a few tips to incorporate gratitude into your day:
1. Write or record messages of gratitude. Thank those who are working daily to ensure children are fed, such as bus drivers and cafeteria workers. Thank people on the frontlines during this pandemic, such as healthcare workers, first responders, and essential workers. Last but not least, thank teachers, students, family members, and friends. Try leaving notes or sending messages once or twice a week.
2. Make a wall of gratitude. Use notecards, post-it notes, colored paper, or any paper that you have around the house to display what you are grateful for. Make it a family activity or part of your virtual class agenda.
3. Practice gratitude while washing your hands. During this crisis, it is recommended that we wash our hands frequently. So while washing your hands, begin to mentally express gratitude for people who have done something nice for you, your loved ones, or those helping others in need.
4. Practice mindfulness or pray with gratitude. During your quiet time, whether it is at the start of your day or end of the day reflection, make time to include what you are thankful for. My mom calls this counting your blessings.
5. Make gratitude part of your daily lessons with your family and students. During COVID-19, many companies have offered free resources for educators and families. Take a moment to check out the suggested resources and activities below to start your journey.
What we do all day– Family Gratitude Activities (includes many activities for families)
Mercy House Global– Free Gratitude Bundle (includes 24 global lessons for families)
Happy Humble Homes-Thankful All Year Resources (includes articles and resources)
As we navigate these uncertain times instead of being overwhelmed by stress, anxiety, fear, worry, or doubt, choose to be overwhelmed with gratitude. I am grateful for all of the amazing teachers, parents, and guardians who are continuing to educate students each day. Hang in there, we are all in this together!
About the Author
Chanda Jefferson is the 2020 South Carolina Teacher of the Year and a Secondary Science teacher in Fairfield County School District.
