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Teaching during a pandemic: six lessons I’ve learned and how they'll make me better this year.

There is no denying that for a lot of us, the last academic year was tough, possibly the toughest of many of our careers. But now we’re on the cusp of a new start, it’s worth reflecting on the lessons learned from the challenges the pandemic brought and how they can prove useful going forward.


The Coronavirus pandemic has meant teachers have been running all over school sites hopping from classroom to classroom, dragging all our resources around with us, frantically logging into computers, confining our teaching to 2m distanced boxes at the front, juggling the needs of the audiences in front of us as well as the remote ones while still formatively assessing, ensuring pupil progress and keeping top of marking. And on top of all that, there was avoiding staff rooms due to limited numbers, lack of face to face contact with our teams and the horror that was TAGS.


However, while much (no, most) of it was awful, through difficulty we build strength; here are my six positive takeaways from corona-adapted teaching.


1. Technology:

I genuinely don’t think there is a teacher out there whose tech skills haven’t improved during this pandemic! Lockdown lessons meant presenting, providing resources, responding to questions, finding ways to assess using a variety of apps, devices and programs to emulate our very interactive jobs, simultaneously. Add in the bubbles bursting when schools did reopen and having to teach to a live classroom and a screen at the same time, while making sure everyone was on the right worksheet, messages in the chat window were being responded to as well as those in front of us and everyone was learning. Hybrid teaching is enough to make anyone dizzy and requires multitasking at its finest but now previous technological issues I may have struggled with are a walk in the park!


2. Hyper-organisation:

I wasn't too terribly organised before the pandemic, but not having the luxury of being in my own classroom where I can throw next lesson's worksheets in a drawer/cupboard/crevice or put that pile of marking somewhere in one of my bags knowing it'll be there when I need it, has meant my organisational skills have had to step up. I'm now so much better at photocopying in advance because last year, there was no quick dash to the copier when you had to run a 5k just to get to your next lesson; my coloured folders for each different class with each different lesson's sheets and marking are here to stay!


3. Cutting back to the basics:

On the flip side, I've found that nomadic teaching has forced me out of my reliance on resources in my classroom. From having table mats for support and challenge, posters with key terminology and my heart's content worth of stationery in my classroom to teaching in all the different subject buildings of my school, I've realised that I actually don't need all the extra frills and neither do my students. Just good, well-planned lessons and high expectations. Habits I have built over the years in my teaching have been broken and the crutches I used to need are now unnecessary.


4. Teaching from the front:

My inability to sit still in combination with the teacher guilt of 'doing nothing' while students were working meant teaching from the front was hard for me to adapt to. And while I did miss seeing what students were working on and supporting them while working, I really did underestimate the value in stepping back and letting them get on with the task at hand. Also with everyone in plain sight, interesting observations can be made of students and how they approach problems or where they may need longer to process. Stepping back has made me aware of how much of a distraction/barrier to independence I can potentially be and I will purposefully spend more time at my desk in September.


5. The value in modelling:

While I've always thought modelling was important, it has been the most useful teaching tool over this year. Modelling is troubleshooting backwards. It can answer questions, gauge understanding through questioning, support, challenge and even make you question and adapt your own teaching methods. It has been valuable in face-to-face teaching, remote and hybrid teaching. Time taken to model effectively is time well-used and its impact should not be underestimated!


6. Taking care of your mental health:

Teaching has always been a stressful job but most in the industry have a “get-on-with-it” attitude, and that's exactly what they do. I know my career is a lot of work and while I do love to have a moan about it, it is something I find challenging, stimulating and important. But only since the pandemic has exacerbated every difficulty in this job as well as the pressures it has put on my life outside of it, have I stopped and taken my mental health into check. I can openly acknowledge that I have struggled this year; all the plates we needed to keep spinning have been a lot and I now know when I need to step back. It has taken me to near breaking point to look after myself and to talk about it but the lesson will stay with me and self-care and self-regulation will be a part of my life now. 


Last year was hard and while I'm so angry about so much of it (don't you get me started on those TAGs) and I don't for a second believe we're remotely out of the woods yet, I will do what I've seen so many amazing teachers do: adapt to the difficulties and use them to keep on improving!


Teachers, you are legends! Good luck for 2021-22!

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