Dear 2020, Thank you for Making me a Better Teacher
By: Melissa Kozlowski Fredericks
Tags: Covid-19, Education, Teaching And Learning

Dear 2020, Thank you for Making me a Better Teacher

Dear 2020,

My name is Melissa Fredericks and I have been teaching for over 20 years. I wanted to take a moment to write you this letter and thank you. You threw a lot at teachers (and at the world) this year. Maybe you thought you could defeat us. Little did you know how resilient, resourceful and dedicated we are. In your effort to bring me down, you actually did the opposite. Thank you 2020, for making me a better teacher. Let me explain…

2020, you strengthened my connections with students and families.

Over the past nine months, I have done more home visits and communicated with families by text or phone more than I think had during the 22 years I taught prior to the shutdown.

I’ve answered texts at weird times of the day to calm assignment anxiety. I’ve acted as a no contact Amazon driver, dropping off work packets and picking up completed ones from porches.

I’ve sat with a few families and students at their kitchen tables, masked, walking them through technology and getting to know them.

Families have invited me into their lives as classes zoomed into their homes. I’ve met my students’ pets, annoying little brothers and abuelas.

Over the past nine months, teaching and learning has became a family affair. In addition to families reaching out to me in new ways, I did the same. I needed them on my side so that they could support their children at home and help them keep learning. Families, students and teachers have been forced to unite.

Understanding my students’ home lives has helped me have a better grasp on how to teach them effectively. In turn, I believe that for families, having a strong connection with me as the teacher has broken down some of the barriers that have historically stood between families and school.

As we transition back to in-person, traditional school one day, I hope that I can continue to create those strong connections with my future students’ families.

2. 2020, you forced me to rethink old assignments and lessons

When the school doors closed in March, educators had to reinvent what it meant to teach overnight. We did just that.

Since March, my understanding of using technology as a teaching tool has grown exponentially. Out of necessity, I’ve learned to use zoom, google classroom, and a variety of websites and applications to enhance learning.

I’ve been forced to hone in on the skills and learning targets in my lessons and make sure that assignments are efficient in delivering what was intended to students. An unclear lesson on zoom is twice as confusing as it would be in the classroom where students are more apt to ask questions, or go to a peer or adult for help.

2020, you thought that I wouldn’t be able to pull off a research project with my students who have intellectual disabilities over zoom. You were wrong. I took that project and tweaked it; adding a lot of scaffolding, checks for understanding and breakout groups. Guess what? My students produced amazing slide shows of jobs they were interested. You couldn’t stop me from teaching and you couldn’t stop my students from learning.

When we someday return to in-person learning, I hope to utilize what I have learned about technology to restructure my teaching in order to differentiate, and provide opportunities for students.

I know that I will take what I have learned about creating clear assignments with proper scaffolding as I go forward as a teacher.

I believe that by using a combination of hands on activities, in-person teaching and computer based assignments when we return to “normal” school, I will be able to design learning programs that are more comprehensive than what I was doing pre-covid.

3. 2020, you cemented for me the power of building and sustaining a sense of community in the classroom.

Building a classroom community has always been important to me. I believe and research indicates that students thrive when they feel like they belong.

A classroom in which students feel as comfortable making mistakes as they do when they succeed, is a place where learning can occur without fear of humiliation or shame.

A classroom where students and teachers celebrate each other through praise, dance and high fives is a place that folks feel good about being for 7 hours a day. Happy people are more productive.

A classroom where people lift each other up when someone is down is a place where students know that their classmates and teachers have their backs. Everyone needs to know that they are looked after and cared for.

Without classroom community, the humanness of school disappears.

2020, in March when you pulled that nasty trick, I had already developed a strong community with my students. Through zoom, google classroom and group emails, I was able to keep it going. Goodness knows that we all need to feel connected more than ever during that awful time.

In August, when I found out that my district would be starting the year fully remote, I worried about so much including how I would build a sense of classroom community through little boxes on a zoom screen.

Here’s what you didn’t realize, 2020. To develop classroom community, you have to show students that you care about them, develop expectations about being courageous and kind learners and set the tone for a place where learning is serious, but also fun. I found out this year, that I don’t need to be in the same room as my students to accomplish any of those tasks.

I’ve had my heart melt when a student asks a peer over zoom if they are ok when they hear that the peers’ grandfather has Covid.

I’ve been so proud when a student asks if they can share their screen to explain something to a peer.

I’ve enjoyed every morning check in with students as we identify which emoji we feel like that day and support each other as needed.

So 2020, in closing

Although you forced school doors to close on March 13, you couldn’t stop teachers from doing what they do. Sure, it stinks that I haven’t been able to have a live discussion with students, engage kids in hands on projects, and hug, high five or dance with students. But here’s what you didn’t know 2020.

Good teaching extends far beyond the walls of a classroom and teachers will stop at nothing to reach their students.

We are resilient.

We are resourceful.

We are dedicated.

Thank you 2020. You’ve made me a better teacher.

Sincerely,

Melissa Fredericks

Author of Finding the Joy in Teaching; From the Toilet to the Scaled Universe