A love letter to all teacher candidates of U.S. in COVID era.
By: Dr. Zeynep Isik-Ercan
Tags: Covid 19, Teacher Training, Teachers, University, Professor

I know this was not a typical semester for any of you. You found yourself confused, upset, and overwhelmed with an ever changing situation in schools. I know you dreamed that you were going to continue in your classroom you got to know in Spring semester and be ready for a full time experience for your last semester in the college before you receive your shiny teaching certificate. You would be ready for the challenge of receiving your fresh batch of excited students in the Fall, along with lots of hugs, smiles, new names to be memorized, fresh scent of stationary items we are all addicted to, and bright faces of your students. It was going to be an amazing semester.

Instead, you faced with a situation where some of you could not even negotiate your entry into schools initially because it was all virtual, and you did not have technology access. Another week, you learned the schools went hybrid, but you cannot go into the classroom. Yet another week, it went virtual again. Some dedicated cooperating teachers tested positive for COVID and you could not accompany them. Some of your roommates, and even some of you got sick in the most important semester of your career. You were overwhelmed with multiple challenges. How were you going to do your performance exam, edTPA when you could not see your children? How were you effectively teach your ideal project-based unit, how were you going to record your students working together?

In our early seminar weeks, most of you were on the brink of crying. As I was trying to explain the possible ways we need to be working on, some of you were shaking your heads no, and just trying to survive amidst chaos that we call education in the height of a global pandemic.

It took all of us some sleepless nights, additional meetings, assurance from family, friends, classmates, cooperating teachers, even your children to believe in your ability to develop strength, resilience, and a belief that you will persevere in the face of difficulties.

And here we are now at the end, as you have successfully submitted your edTPA portfolios, and completed all of your requirements. As you do that, we became kinder to each other and to ourselves. Still, a lot of your emails were filled with apologies, assurance that this was not typical of you to submit things late. I tried to make you feel better. I tried to be kind and flexible. I wanted you to know your health, your well-being matters and they are central. And none of us were in their best, I was behind in grading this semester, too. For us perfectionist people in our U.S. culture, this could be one of the worst feelings. But like many of my colleagues, we practiced to remain human first, professor next.

But tonight I am filled with the sense of pride that you have all been so amazing in that you took professional responsibility for the good work of the teacher in you, still believed in your best work ethic, held yourself to the high standards you were used to, and persevered in the face of difficulty. You developed important technology skills. You even prepared so well for the mock interviews with district leaders to help you prepare for your careers in the midst of all due dates.

This semester was surely so exceptional but for one more reason, we are gifting to education world some amazing people who remained professional, positive, and persistent to support their students in the face of great hardship. You did it, yes! And may I say, it was still an amazing semester because of you. With every hardship, there will come a relief. So honored to be your professor in this time. I believe you are the future and are now even more skilled to tackle important educational issues of our country. Go and conquer it!