March 13th, 2020 we walked out of our building, thinking we would be back in a few weeks, a few months tops. We never went back. The Independent Study Center site closed during COVID. Litte did I know as we packed up our personal things last spring that would be the last time I was in that space. We made the decision as a site over the summer to close off that space and integrate the program back into our main campus. A year later everyone has been on some form of independent study of sorts. We all have been creating our own unique learning paths in this distance learning format.
The pandemic is no longer raging, at least not here in San Diego. The lockdowns are loosening, more people are getting vaccinated, and slowly but surely there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I am one of the fortunate teachers that works at a site that believes in both Health and Science. We have a well-crafted re-entry plan. Thirteen months after we left our campus, a team of teachers and the first cohort of students have returned to campus. We spent a week teaching asynchronously in the new space, figuring out entry points and protocols. We have six assigned entries to campus, we have separate hallways, cohorts of teachers on floors, temperature checks and COVID tests. It is safer on my campus than at the grocery store. We were welcomed back to campus with this goodie bag of supplies.
This first week back has been a joy. We have several options on campus at the moment. We have three teachers piloting simultaneous teaching, with students in the room and at home during instruction. Fisher and Frey have coined the phrase “roomies and zoomies” as we start this interim instructional phase between fully coming back to campus and this hybrid model. My room is unique. It is run similarly to ISP, as students attend class virtually from our room, getting the extra support from me and a colleague completing tasks and catching up on work they missed last quarter. I am working with a whole new team of students, and although things look a little different as you can see below, I hope you can also see the joy in my eyes returning to campus.
So what have I learned this past week coming back with students?
- Masks can’t hide the joy we feel being back together.
- I feel completely safe being on campus with students and I can’t wait until we expand the model and bring more team members and student back to our site.
- It is tough to get back into that early morning routine that I lived for decades. More often than not this week I left something at home. I also realize less is more, the most critical elements of teaching are people, not things.
- Wearing a mask all day is not easy, but once you find ones that work, you grow accustomed to it.
- Connecting with kids comes from the heart, and even remaining socially distant, we are able to connect, which is the most important element of teaching of all.