Today was perhaps the strangest day of my 30 year career as a teacher. There have been years where we lost a member of our school community: both students and staff. I’ve taught while preparing for hurricanes, floods, polar vortexes, and blizzards. In 2001, I was teaching when the Twin Towers were hit. And I was teaching in the months after that when we saw military vehicles on bridges and overpasses on our way to school. I taught through the anthrax scare when we were terrified of the mail and the deadly disease that it could have transmitted.
Today was stranger than all of that. In the past we knew the threat and knew that, while painful and scary, the threat would eventually end. This is different. We don’t know what will happen next. And that is the scary part.
We do know that the rest of the year may be altered. We do know that we are going to have to adjust to learning in ways we never thought we would have to. We do know that our seniors are mourning their last quarter of high school that will not look anything like they expected.
I am sad too if this is the end of our time gathered together in room 2-101. Digital learning is fine, but it will never take the place of sharing a space with people and learning from one another. I will miss you all and hope that we will find our way back together. Until then, take care of yourselves. And know that I am thinking of you all.
ekmanspartans 