In the post-covid world of education we are finding that teachers have gone from being locked out to burned out, and now many are afraid of being punched out. Our students and our teachers have been through incredible stresses at home personally, financially, and relationally. We have seen first hand that more students are acting out behaviorally, and teachers feel increasingly vulnerable in both the classroom and the staffroom. In the state of Wyoming, where I am currently teaching, a recent state-wide poll revealed that an alarming 65% of the state’s teachers would leave teaching if they could. I have the honor of working with some of the very best educators I have known in my nearly three decades in education, but many of them would now be counted in that statistic. Schools across the country are understaffed and struggling to fill teaching positions with certified teachers. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, in March of 2022, nearly half of public schools reported full or part-time teaching vacancies. We already know that 44% of teachers leave the profession in the first five years, but recent statistics show larger numbers of teachers leaving the profession due to burnout, low
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The C-Word
Technology is just a tool, not a teaching method. Just as in building a house, the tools alone won’t build a sound structure. The blue-prints, well-laid plans, forethought and skill are necessary to achieve the end goal. The same resourcefulness and expertise that made great teachers before Covid-19 remain essential.
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Picturing the Pandemic
During this unprecedented time in our history of school closures and stay-at-home orders, students have the opportunity to create their very own primary source documents. Photo journaling integrates technology into our writing standards while encouraging creativity and critical thinking. Students must determine what photographs would capture the essence of this historical event and then incorporate their narrative or expository writing skills to incorporate appropriate captions and tell the rest of the story that the photographs leave out. “Photo journaling integrates technology into our writing standards while encouraging creativity and critical thinking.” We are teaching a range of students right now. Issues of equity are at the forefront of many of our minds. We aim to meet the academic needs of our students equitably, but many of our students and parents are looking for more. This idea can easily be incorporated into our digital classrooms as an optional enrichment activity or as an engaging alternative to traditional writing assignments. Using one of the many online journal apps or digital scrapbooks, Office365 apps, or Google apps, your students can creatively engage their minds while noting the significance of this moment in their lives. Read more to see the lesson plan.
