Rather than a new teacher trying to form a relationship with twenty or so new students over Zoom, a teacher with an established repertoire will be reinforcing relationships built over the past year., Principal Jeff Gilbert reinforced that idea and said, “Even if it’s distance learning they’ll be able to get into a space where they are very comfortable with each other and they can talk.”
There are some drawbacks. Namely, it’s already August. Some parts of the country are going back to school within a few weeks. The rest of the country will follow not long after. Learning, drawing up, and preparing to teach an entirely new curriculum is challenging and time intensive–and teachers are already working hours of unpaid overtime. It’s more than a matter of snagging a lesson plan from the teacher before you.
At the end of this past school year, my daughter’s fourth grade teacher announced that she was potentially moving up to fifth grade with the class. My daughter has been anxiously awaiting confirmation of this news since that rumor hit her ears. And I have been, too. I don’t know what the school year will look like. I don’t know how distance learning or a hybrid model of school will look. But I know it’ll be smoother if when my daughter logs onto her first Zoom, she sees a familiar face. I know it’ll be easier to begin that first assignment if she knows exactly what the teacher expects. I know it’ll take some of the uncertainty and unpredictably of a new school year away, during a time when we could all use a little more certainty and stability.