Yesterday, as I finished my last math class of the 2020-2021 school year I did just that. I exhaled. I suddenly felt a wave of emotion similar to that day in January that I stood in the Marin Covid Vaccine clinic. Something was changing. Something was on the horizon. Something felt different. I had tears in my eyes.
To be honest, I need the break. I know that it may take weeks before my mind truly can shut off but I deserve the break and I will take it. This was quite a year. A year like no other. A year that started from my home office (which also happens to be my children’s playroom) teaching teenagers who were likely not showered and were wearing pajama bottoms. To be honest, I was too. It was a year that changed in November when I was required to return to campus. This was before I emotionally felt ready to do so. It was a year that kept me officially quarantined in my home for a total of 43 days thanks to a cohort case in December and then my own family's covid breakout in February. This also meant I learned that teaching from home, with students in the classroom, and with my own children in the house was far from easy. But I did it. I did it all. Remote. Hybrid. In-person. Combinations. Asynchronous. Synchronous. WOW.
And while I need the break, I am going to miss these guys I spent this crazy year with. It’s a class I surely will never forget. It was a year that required brain breaks and walking 13-year-old boys to the bathroom. A shift in the mentality of working in “my classroom” vs “their space” as they remained in one location all day and I traveled about. A year where I needed to bring the FUN into my classroom more regularly. Let’s be honest though, I love a good worm off on Zoom. And while I will continue to reflect on this year’s challenges, I will also reflect on all that was gained. As I have written before, we have relaxed a bit on some things, we’ve prioritized people and we have grown together. We have been resilient. We have had grit. We've thought about how to work smarter not harder, how to manage emotions, what assessment can look like (specifically reassessment), and how to get creative on a large set of stairs with a couple of kickballs.
And… it’s almost over.
Let’s enjoy summer.