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Thread for anyone who wants it: So I could be snarky to the teachers who are/will be entering their buildings for the first time since last March like a few teachers have but there& #39;s no point in that. What I CAN do however, is give you perspective and a few practical tips 1/
Bear in mind I know this is my survival bias/privilege speaking & I know it was serendipity/the Grace of God that I can tweet this, but I hope it helps. The most practical advice that I can give is- drink a lot of water. The amount of projection you will do speaking through 2/
Masks is a lot and your throat will get more irritated than you realize. Grab a bottle where you can sip between class breaks and drink what you can on planning and lunch. Warm tea once a week is good too. 3/
2. You may hate the parents of the "reopen schools" debate as intensely as UGA Fans hate Tim Tebow/Tua Tagovailoa/Jalen Hurts/Nick Saban and the fire of 1000 Statesboro Summer Suns, don& #39;t transfer that to their children in your classrooms. They didn& #39;t ask to be pawns in this 4/
Anymore than you did, don& #39;t give them that smoke. It& #39;s not fair. Speaking of the kids, full disclosure, initially, they will HATE being back in the building because it won& #39;t feel like "school" and it& #39;s really not. It& #39;s "zoom in the building" but in time, you find what works 5/
And what doesn& #39;t. The main thing is to make sure as much as you can the virtual students feel included. And if this year, you build a lot of relationships and content ended up being secondary. It& #39;s ok. Also, you& #39;re going to have to remind them about masks.......A LOT 6/
So know if you& #39;re in a school where student/administrator relationships can be tense bc of racial microaggressions/lowkey STPP, this could exacerbate those bc now this is LITERALLY a matter of life and death. Remind them of the importance, a smile & pointing at your nose 7/
Seems to work best for me, (and I tell them if I& #39;m gonna write a referral, I want it to be worth the paper and ink, & #39;refusal to wear mask& #39; is not that reason). I also want to say I know this is scary and it sucks. Every morning I wokeup with the ability to still taste my 8/
Toothpaste was met with a silent prayer of Thanksgiving. When the HRT came to ask for the name of a student, bc they were a close contact, my heart sank & raced & I hoped it was a precaution. When that happens, you still have the same response. And speaking of the kids again 9/
It ABSOLUTELY SUCKS and is Frustrating that there are some that haven& #39;t come to a single session since January, or F2F Kids that sit there. But try not to take that personally. Everyone is going through real time PTSD & responds different ways. We& #39;re grown adults with bills & 10/
Student loan payments & are over all this, how can we expect teenagers to act different. Being on TikTok all day may be their outlet because "they did it last year in school" so it makes things feel more like they were before, even "laziness" when you get to the root of it 11/
Usually is something else (& even if it ain& #39;t, failing a student in the middle of a global pandemic is the ghetto, 1 Star, DO NOT RECOMMEND, avoid at all costs please. The other things are more common sense, wear your mask all the time, make your classroom safe and equitable 12/
For all your students, don& #39;t work over breaks or weekends, don& #39;t read your local community Facebook newspaper comments, not everything has to be graded. You& #39;re doing a great job. It& #39;s ok to cry in the car/bathroom during class change/classroom on planning. 13/
Hold your elected officials accountable, but don& #39;t give the kiddos smoke, keep washing your hands, get the vaccine when you can, if you want out, polish up that resume. But overall, know you got a teacher in Loganville GA rooting for you. /thread
