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I normally write a reflection at the end of the school year. However, given everything that has happened in 2020, I wanted to take a moment to breathe, reflect, and appreciate the incredible resilience our students have shown this past semester.
Below are just a few of the experiences I’ve had since August 2020…I’m sure many of my colleagues have similar stories to tell:
- Students continued to work in retail, restaurants, and grocery stores–despite the health risks—to support their families and save for college.
- While I was trying to simultaneously teach in-person and virtual students, I would occasionally forget to admit students who were knocking on the virtual door of my classroom in a Zoom waiting room. Instead of giving up and emailing me that they tried but couldn’t join our Zoom session, students in the waiting room would keep texting their classmates to tell me to admit them so they wouldn’t miss class.
- Students used the Zoom app on their phones while they were in the backseat of a car on their way to a doctor’s appointment because they wanted to participate in a class debate.
- A student who tested positive for COVID, who could have simply asked to be excused from a research assignment, instead asked if she could just find 2 fewer articles because she had a headache but wanted to write a strong essay.
- Students logging into Zoom late into the night while they were with family in Lebanon or quarantining in a hotel in China to be sure they wouldn’t miss any class discussions.
A big thank you to students everywhere for your understanding and perseverance as we helped one another continue our learning during a global pandemic. I look forward to making the second semester even better than the first!