A New Game

Many first year teachers have experienced the anxiety of entering a profession that brings equal parts high demands, responsibility, and satisfaction. A first year teacher is full of excitement and anticipation for meeting their new students. A first year teacher has been spending weeks planning and decorating the classroom. A first year teacher has just spent years preparing for this moment, but now the game has changed. No one expected or could have prepared for the changes to our profession that came virtually overnight. This is a whole new game!

Were the hours planning for small group instruction, learning new strategies for intervention, and mastering classroom management techniques for the classroom a complete waste? No! Just like any good coach has a play for many situations, a teacher has many tools in their toolbox. The students haven’t changed, but their needs may have. The instructional strategies haven’t changed, but the medium of delivery may have. Classroom management strategies haven’t changed, but they may look different. The tools that you have as an educator will continue to serve you well in the traditional or virtual classroom.

As professional educators we have learned that flexibility is an important skill to have and this has never been truer than in the time that we find ourselves in right now. So, what are some of the ways we can adapt our practice to these new challenges? The old cliché, “think outside the box” seems a little inadequate when I am faced with the daunting task of adapting everything to a virtual or hybrid classroom. My primary goal as an educator is to facilitate the learning in my classroom, and that doesn’t change when the classroom is no longer four walls with a roof over our heads. The classroom is the students. My kids are my focus, and my job is to provide the bridge between them and the learning objectives. This is still my job I just need to find tools to build that bridge in a new environment.