Teachers at the Heart of Education Recovery

Teachers at the heart of education recovery. What does this mean? Why did UNESCO come up with this theme to celebrate Teachers’ Day?

Heart of Education Recovery? I will have to look back decades ago to start my special blog for today to honor all teachers worldwide.

Teriz Gedoria

For this blog, we will discover what makes teachers the heart of education recovery.  Do you remember the time you queued to hand in token of appreciation to your teachers? I do. I can vividly recall what exactly were the things I gave to my teachers. We even gave them kisses on their cheeks. Back in the Philippines, Teachers’ Day celebration is a massive event. It is one of the most awaited events at school and being in the Education sector for fifteen years, I clearly understand how relevant this day is. I strongly believe that this event wherever we may be should be given the highest priority as well.

What are the changes that teachers have been facing since Covid19 started?

After numbers of interviews and surveys, here is the list to answer the question,m. This list will also give you an idea a out the unseen things teachers have been doing since the Covid19 pandemic hit the world. Let’s hop into it.

1. The 24/7 availability- Since online learning started, parents expect teachers to respond to all their questions anytime of the day, any day a week. Some are understanding about teachers’ working hours, although some parents are not. Some teachers can follow the end of working hours, but some can’t. Many of us still will respond or send important messages to parents that are not bound within our working hours. We do this if we have something extremely important to say that is helpful for a certain student.
2. Learning different platforms to accommodate all students on their personal time- Nobody was prepared about teaching online, that is a fact. Everyone started not knowing about how exactly things are done during online teaching. However, since teachers are committed to facilitate teaching and learning online, we do spend our own time learning how to maneuver such programs or apps. We don’t learn in front of our students. We get ourselves ready for online class by spending our weekends and free times discovering something useful for our class. We do our own trial and error to make sure everything will run smoothly during our online class.
3. Remedial classes for free- Teachers give extra hours of their day or of their weekend to give remedial classes. Out of 25 teachers I have asked, 18 of us mentioned that we do this. Why? I guess because we feel the need to do so. Not all students can follow and benefit from a big group online teaching, and so giving some students who are having difficulties time to focus on a lesson can lead to a better learning. So, if we can; why not?
4. Admin work- Teachers right now are into organizing students’ files and school related documents online. Teachers’ ultimate responsibility before was to come up with lesson plans, deliver the lessons and assess hard copies of students’ works. Since Covid19, after coming up with lesson plans, teachers are expected to file all other online resources that are being used. We also keep track of all students’s submitted tasks and grade those online. Imagine you have 25 students, then you give a task. Teachers know that not everyone will be submitting tasks accordingly. Some submit their tasks by sending photos of their work. Some via google drive, classdojo, personal zoom chat inbox message, and same as hang outs. We keep track of those and that varies all the time. Can you imagine if teachers give 5 tasks a day? How many varieties of work submissions teachers need to find? check?, assess?, give feedback to? or repeat?. A lot! Tons and these are inevitable. Some teachers are even expected to file all students’ works on their respective folders, like a portfolio kind. This used to be a piece of cake before with papers on your hand to sort; but now, this sometimes is considered unbearable, but teachers coped and adapted. We do everything we can to help the children.
5. Communication barrier – For everyone’s safety which we all understand, online meetings are just not as effective as personal meetings, obviously. Some information can be received wrongly and can lead to colleagues’ misunderstandings. As a teacher, being misunderstood is the least we want to happen during this difficult times. However, some mishaps can arise, and that can cause a teacher’s burnout or unresolved emotional matter. I actually read one beautiful write up about how important it is for us all to mind how we communicate during these times. It is worth reading.

The five points mentioned are only some of the many things teachers have been doing these days.  These have made teachers the heart of education recovery.  I knew and have met many teachers who take all these with positive attitude. That includes myself. I believe most teachers have become:

1. Empathetic- Teachers understand the difficulties of some children during online learning, and so we offer our extra hours and effort to provide them learning during these challenging times. We do extend everything we can
2. More patient and understanding- As many teachers choose to avoid misunderstanding among parents and school administrators, we are the ones who will take the step backwards. We most of the times consider the fact that school administrators and parents got more other things to think of. And so, we tend to let go of things that may lead to a commotion. That means letting go of our own wants, desires or beliefs to such things.
3. Resourceful – For teachers to provide effective online teaching resources, we normally research tons of websites to come up with an appropriate lessons online. These however are not enough sometimes. Students may normally express their inability to do such planned lessons, and when that happens teachers would instantly find another alternative that can work for certain students.
4. Extremely polite – Talking to parents and everyone else online make teachers think deeply before sending any messages. Teachers believe that we are the role models that by doing so, we all expect to receive the same respect. It does happen yet not always.
5. Extremely compassionate- All aforementioned points can be summarized into one. Teachers have become extremely compassionate. If we are not, all those can’t be done. Teachers are able to feel the difficulties of everyone around the education sector that’s why we choose to show kindness and compassion. Without this, nothing is possible.

If you give yourself a time to think deeply, teachers are not different from all other careers that are functioning right now. Teachers have been discovering effective methods to deliver effective teaching during Covid19 for the good of all the students.

Teachers have become more resilient , more competent, and more effective. The personal and professional growth is optimum.

Teriz Gedoria

Other careers can be put into halt during these times but not teachers. We are the heart of the education recovery, and therefore deserved to be celebrated.

Happy Teachers’ Day to all teachers worldwide.  We are at the heart of education recovery.  Celebrate!

I am personally extending my heartfelt thank you to everyone who has been showing much respect and appreciation to all teachers worldwide. I would like to thank my school, and it’s management, my colleagues, and my class who expressed their appreciation during this special day.

Photos you are seeing on this blog are some of significant people all through out my teaching career. There are so many of them actually and they know who they are. I also have received tons of beautiful messages from my students and all those mean so much to me. I am also happy to realize that I am still connected to some students whom I have worked with like a decade ago. Right now they are grown ups and I am glad to still be able to chat with their parents. They also know who they are and I can’t thank them enough for acknowledging how much I have been a part of their children’s lives. I guess this is what it means when you hear the cliche:

“ Teachers don’t impact for a year, instead a lifetime”.

Teriz of Journey4Us

Do you want to share Teachers’ Day story?

You are most welcome to share your teachers’ day story here. You can submit your story, or if you have a teacher who is dear to you, why not give that teacher something he or she can be happy about. Give your teachers a shout out here. Just fill the form up and you’ll see that story here.