Podcast Episode 10: More Encouragement for Teachers
Here are the transcripts for episode 10 of the WhatCherithinks Podcast:
Welcome back to the WhatCherithinks Podcast. The podcast where we talk all things education. I am your host, Cherith Fluker. If you are new to the podcast, welcome. If you are returning to the podcast, welcome back. This is episode 10 and I am excited to be here today.
It has been almost 3 months since I published my most-downloaded episode of the podcast. I am referring to one of the bonus episodes titled, “Back to School Encouragement for Teachers.” If you didn’t get a chance to listen to it, make sure to check it out.
So today, I’m back with more encouragement because this school year is unlike any other and because teachers are my peeps! And, if anybody needs encouragement right now, it’s teachers. They are rocking it right now, and they need to know it.
So right after this sponsored segment, I’ll be back to encourage teachers! Stay tuned.
Imagine working a job that you absolutely love for years. Or maybe just a couple of years. You’ve spent countless hours planning lessons, gathering resources, and making materials to facilitate lessons that are worthy to be sold on Teachers Pay Teachers. Beautiful lessons. Ones that produce the highest level of student discourse and ones that other teachers want to replicate because they want that same magic to appear in their classrooms.
Then, out of nowhere, Boom! All of the magic (or at least most of it) is put on hold because of the most complicated of circumstances. Circumstances that vary in magnitude and seem to have no end in sight. Now, the beautiful lessons that you’ve planned are tainted by the sudden implementation of digital learning platforms that you’ve never heard of and never knew existed. That’s the case for a large number of teachers.
Let me stop right here and add a disclaimer. I am by no means pointing fingers at anybody or anything–well, nobody other than COVID-19. Though I’m not in the classroom anymore, I work hard to NEVER forget what being in the classroom is like. And, while I don’t know firsthand what teachers are feeling right now, I can take a pretty good guess:
- Conflicted
- Confused
- Isolated
- Overworked
- Overwhelmed
- Inadequate
- Attacked
- defeated
Any teacher in the COVID-19 pandemic classroom has probably felt one or more of these adjectives at some point since returning to school this year.
Classrooms are known for providing structure. And, if we’re being completely honest, it has been a daunting task for teachers to consistently deliver structure this year.
Now, this is by no fault of teachers, nor is it the administrators’ fault. There is simply so much uncertainty surrounding this pandemic that it’s hard to plan more than a few days (or possibly weeks) in advance.
But (and this is where we get to the good part), teachers are rocking it! Teachers are hanging in there being their flexible selves. They are showing up each day working through the fluctuating class sizes, device shortages, internet connectivity issues, fatigue, personal issues, demanding administrators, unsatisfied parents, and internet/social media bullies.
Teachers, let me say this: you’re doing an amazing job. You have days when you feel like giving up, but instead, you keep showing up. You have so much on your plates, but you are balancing it all. You are doing the best you can with what you have and it has not gone unnoticed.
You can listen to the full episode here.
