Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/1337485
I P U R C H A S E D plastic dividers for students, and I purchased one for myself that goes around my desk. I'm 6 feet away from students, and stu- dents are 6 feet away from each other. We are color-coded with dots on chairs so that all the students in Period 2 sit on the same pink dots and all the students in Period 4 sit on the same orange dots each time, and so on. Some were excited to come back; others came back grudgingly and weren't ready to do school because it had been so long. We spent a lot of time building relationships. I share my computer screen with my Zoom stu- dents so they can see what I'm teaching. They can see each other, but they can't see students who are in the actual classroom. They see me as a little square talking to them. I let students know I'm on their side, and that I understand that it's difficult and challenging and a mess, but that I want them all to do high-quality work and think about what they are going to accomplish, so everything they are going through will be worth it. It makes me uncomfortable when I hear others saying 2020 is a "wash year." It's not a wash year to me because my students deserve a quality education, even during a pandemic. "My students deserve a quality education, even during a pandemic." Surviving Simultaneous Instruction Tips from the educators in our story: • Make safety your first priority. • Don't be too hard on yourself. • Consider students' social-emotional needs. • Accept that things will take longer and it's OK to let some things go. • Make videos of yourself teaching so students can watch them repeatedly. • Focus more on topics that are not going to be covered at the next grade level, and less on those that are. • Be prepared to switch tactics if necessary. • Make slides that can be viewed by both groups of students. • Reach out to other teachers for support or to collaborate. • Set boundaries regarding how much you work and your accessibility to students and parents. This is not a "wash year" KRYSTAL MONTALVO is an English teacher at Spring Valley High School and a member of the Grossmont Education Association, which negotiated a reopening that has flexible block scheduling. She teaches students in person and online simultaneously and has up to four students physically in the classroom at one time. 31 F E B R U A R Y / M A R C H 2 0 21 Krystal Montalvo