Imagine holding class as normal throughout the day, hearing of other districts closing down but not knowing what your is doing? This was the reality on March 13, 2020. It was a minimum day. I think LA Unified has already decided to close and maybe San Diego so we wondered our own fate? We had already been instructed to get students set up on Google Classroom so we had discussed the idea of seeing students online the next week. I remember thinking that maybe I should send students home with the workbooks that go with our text. I did not unfortunately. About 10 minutes before the end of school we got the official word that we would close for three weeks. At the time we did not know if it would be a regular class the following week. So I said goodbye to my 6th period class of seniors, but not in a final goodbye manner.
That afternoon I volunteered in my daughter's 1st grade class and am so thankful I had that opportunity. Part of the time was spent making sure students had logins for Google Classroom and other programs. I wish I had known that it was the end. I would have had my daughter hug her teacher a little harder. I would have taken a few photos of them together.
We were told to be available the following week and after a brief staff meeting were told that it would be an extra week of Spring Break. We already had 2 so April 6th would be the first day back. I remember the day that it was extended to April 30th and the frustrations over losing the opportunity to have staff from the Reagan Library pilot a simulation with my students, the sadness over my daughter losing her field trip and Back to School Night that had been scheduled for March 19th and concerns about preparing my students for the AP US History exam. And then the day came when it was announced we would not return to school for the rest of the year. It was a heartbreaking day, knowing I would never again see my students all together, knowing there was no goodbye to seniors I had taught for both US History and Government. I mourned for the loss of my daughter's experience with a fantastic teacher who she adored.
Online learning started April 6th, but there was a major curve ball thrown at teachers - we had to hold students harmless in their grades. This meant that whatever grade a student had earned based on work before March 13th, they could not go lower even if they never showed up for class again. And there were students, even in my Advanced Placement class, that I never heard from again. There were still 10 weeks left of the semester, an entire 1/4 of the year practically. When people slam educators for the disaster (their words) of distance learning, I wish they knew that what we did was crisis learning. We were thrown into an online environment where students did not have to attend. We went from 5 hours a week in class where we could talk with students and encourage those who were missing work to 3 hours max a week, relying on emails and messages, calls to parents (which exposed our home contact info), Google Meets and help from counselors. DO NOT blame the teachers for the failures of this crisis learning. Students did not show up. Parents did not make them show up. Counselors told students to worry about only those classes they were failing. The system set us up to fail. Most of us still tried to reach and teach our students. AP teachers all over the country successfully helped students prepare for a 45 minute online one question high stakes exam.
Many people including national leaders say we just gave up. But that is not true. I worked harder than ever trying to convert my engaging collaborative lessons into something that could be done online. I had to shrink the content of three different classes to fit the new time constraints of 3 hours per week. I sent emails to students and parents to let them know about changes to the AP exam and praying that they received them because few responses were received. I begged parents of students who were failing to get their child to start showing up and turning in assignments. I worked well past my contractual hours, often times answering emails until 9:00 at night. Therefore, distance learning was not the utter failure that some would like you to believe. There were successes. We were heroes for a brief moment when parents realized how hard it was to teach their kids. And how quickly they have forgotten now that we are being blamed. It is a sad state of affairs.
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