Sure, I’ve thought about what kind of teacher I’d be. It’s one of those professions I’ve wondered if I’d be any good at – standing in front of a room of students tasked with the job of molding their young minds.
But I never really gave it any serious thought. Never took an education class in college or spent any time considering it as a career path. I had some great teachers along the way and received a lot of valuable lessons that could be used both inside and outside the classroom, and for that I give teachers a lot of credit. It’s not an easy job, but one of the most important out there.
Then on the morning of Saturday, March 14, it became clear that whether or not I ever wanted to be a teacher, I was about to become one – to my oldest daughter.
The closure of my daughter’s school district through at the time was going to be March 27, (it changed the next day to April 3 and then again to May 4) with the implementation of remote learning to begin on March 23. It was clear now, I was set to be a one on one kindergarten teacher.
All kinds of things pop into your head when the world around you is so rapidly changing – childcare, working, dealing with a pandemic – but pretty quickly it switched to the most important question of all: how would we make sure our daughter continued to learn?
This was a big year, she was a kindergartner, something she talked about for a long time. She loved her teacher, had made lots of little friends and was enjoying the after school program. So not only did we now have to devise a plan for how to fit in remote learning into an already busy house schedule, but also explain to her that she couldn’t go to school right now. Not the easiest of topics to explain to a 5-year-old.
As parents, it was now up to us to help create that all-important learning environment. Of course, we’d have help – and lots of it – through instructions from her teachers, but this was going to be a learn as we go process. For all of us.
So that first weekend before we were set to take on this unknown new challenge, I sat down with my wife and devised a plan. We scheduled it all out to maximize both Sophie’s learning and our abilities to work. Since my job has some flexibility, it made more sense for me to take on the bulk of the teaching. I’d do the majority of it during the typical school day hours, while working on whatever was left in the evening before dinner. We are also very fortunate to be receiving some help from a wonderful woman named Miss Alice, who has been part of Sophie’s life since she was three months old.
And what did I learn on day one? My entire plan was not going to work. I had this notion of doing a couple hours of instruction to start the day, get most of her work out of the way so I could write, layout pages and make phone calls. But then after about 45 minutes on that Monday morning, I realized she’s in kindergarten; she can’t sit here for hours on end. There was no way all that information would sink in.
To be perfectly honest, I also had no idea what this whole remote learning thing would look like. We got emails in the week leading up to its launch on March 23, but until I actually saw the work with my own eyes, I could only speculate what my second job would entail. In hindsight I never should have come up with a preconceived notion of how it would play out.
The first week went well, as we adjusted on the fly to make sure she was getting the right mix of instruction and free time; she is a kid after all who wants to play with her toys when she’s at home.
For kindergarten, she gets a choice board with five categories – literacy, math, science, helpful and active – and five assignments in each. The idea is to pick one assignment from each category, each day and by the end of the week it would be complete. I tried to let her do the choosing, but quickly realized that meant going over every choice each time we sat down – sometimes more than once.
So I mapped it all out for the week and by its end, we finished it all. She also gets a Bingo Board from her specials teachers – library, art, Spanish, music and physical education – where she has to complete two Bingos over the course of two weeks.
Week two was much smoother. We both knew what to expect and I had a better handle of how to set up each day. We start at 8 a.m. and do about 45 minutes to an hour before the first break. She usually does an art project, has a snack and plays. We get back together around 11 and tackle another two assignments, go out for recess and eat lunch.
She gets some rest/free time to start the afternoon before we get back together for an hour and a half around 2:30 for another assignment or two, talk about the next day and cross off a Bingo square.
At the end of each day, I send a detailed email with all that we did for that day. I include all her little Sophieisms for her teacher to enjoy and discuss what went well, what I noticed needs to be worked on, lots of pictures and usually a couple questions. What I’ve found is that it’s important to ask questions because it helps me understand things better in the short term and moving forward, and will only benefit my daughter as we continue down this remote learning journey.
It’s incredible to think how much things have changed in the last month. I wasn’t prepared to be a teacher, and those who were had little knowledge about what the remote learning model would look like. But it’s a team effort and so far our team is starting to hit its stride.
Early on, I had hopes that Sophie would be able to return to school, see her friends and finish out her first year of school. But now I’m preparing to be a teacher for the rest of the school year. And to be perfectly honest I’m looking forward to it. While circumstances around her learning at home are tough to navigate, getting this time with her is one of the truly special moments that are coming out of this world-wide crisis.
My wife’s grandmother thinks I’d make a great teacher. Looks like I have a six week trial run – at the very least – to see if she’s right.