Remember when you were younger, and you would wait around watching the bottom of the screen to see if school was magically cancelled, so you could go back to bed and sleep in?

I remember praying for snow days when I was a kid. When I became a teacher, I prayed again for snow days because I could then get the much needed rest I wanted.

Then the internet arrived and the idea of virtual teaching gave too many people ideas.

We had snow here in my little corner of South Carolina. Usually snow shuts things down. Not school. Not anymore. Now we have E-Learning days. I have an 8 a.m. class (just like a normal school day). Instead of telling students to sit down, I’m having to mute mics or turn off cameras because someone decided it was okay to join the meeting in their underwear. I just want to teach my drama lesson. It’s difficult to do that while virtual. Not because I couldn’t do it, but most of the students are sleeping in and not joining the virtual class meetings.

As if virtual teaching from home isn’t enough, our district makes us fill out a form to account for every single hour and minute of our day and what we did during that time.

8:00-8:27, virtual meeting.

8:28-8:30 reply to email.

8:31-8:50 grade papers.

8:51-8:56 help student access assignment.

Blah, blah, blah. Because, you know, we might go back to bed and not fulfill our obligations as a teacher. Students think that we treat them like they are in a prison, but they don’t know about what kind of demands are being placed on us as teachers. I mean we even have a special lesson plan that we have to fill out for our virtual lesson plan to make sure that we get all of the necessary components in to our lesson. No wiggle room. No room for mistakes. No trust.

Here’s the kicker: You don’t have to fill that form out if you are teaching virtually from your classroom. Why? Because they know where you are. They know you are in bed sleeping, or shopping at Walmart. They know right where you are. And then we wonder why so many teachers are leaving the profession. It’s this nitpicking and micromanaging that is causing teachers to leave. With everything else that we are juggling, is this even necessary?

So, Goodbye, Snow Days. I will miss you. I will miss cuddling up on the couch with my cat and hot cocoa while staring out the window watching the snow fall. I will miss sleeping in until 9 a.m. and making breakfast. It has all been replaced by logging into a meeting by 8 a.m. and grabbing my coffee off the Keurig as soon as it finishes brewing in time to listen to students complain that they wanted to stay in bed. Me, too. Me. Too.

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Have you seen a recent Covid surge at your school since returning from Winter break? When we returned, there were only a few students that were currently quarantined due to Covid; however, as the week progressed more and more students were sent home.

The flu hit us hard right before Christmas break, and now, Covid is taking over. I was out of work on Monday, not feeling well due to what I suspected was asthma flare up from our recent move and touching dusty items. What I discovered was that there were many teachers out on Monday, as well, and some that went home after they were at school.

I received a call to come in early the next day to get a Covid test. If negative, I could stay. If positive, I was going home. Our entire middle school was placed on E-learning (virtual). Teachers who were well, had to come to school to teach virtually. Those who were sick had to teach from home. Oh my! We were not the only middle school in the district to be shut down. In fact both middle schools and two elementary schools were as well due to the large number of staff and children with Covid. Somehow, I think that each time we find a good groove, we run into these issues. More than that, I believe this new Covid strain is worse than what we started with in the beginning. Those that are vaccinated, those that recently had it, all of these are catching it again. One student has it for the 3rd time this school year. A friend of mine, this is her 2nd time having it in less than a month. This new strain is contagious. Not as much in the way of lung involvement, but definitely upper respiratory (nose, throat, and ears).

We are supposed to be back in person on Tuesday, although I don’t know how many students we will have in class. Plus, our school district has decided to enforce a mask mandate starting Tuesday. I can’t wait to hear the fall out from all of that. I guess some will go and complain to the governor about it stating that it violates their rights. Even with Covid being a threat, I’ve seen so many students at school sick. They were sick with the flu prior to Christmas, but at school because their Covid test was negative.

I don’t know about you, but I’m still longing for the day when we have normal.

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