January 25th, 2021

Focus on Progress over Perfection 
By Apryl Thompson

I want to take us back to mid to late August. If you remember there were a lot of unknowns, needs and a great opportunity to rally for our kids and our community. One opportunity came my way in a sudden and unpredictable way. Sure, there were rumors of teachers on special assignments being reassigned due to a lack of teachers available to start the 20-21 school year but never in my wildest dreams did I think that would come to fruition or impact me personally. However, two work days before the start of school I found this was MY reality. I was filled with many emotions but, I knew there was a need and a great opportunity to serve and grow. 

And just like that I was off to teach first grade! 

As we all started to settle into the unknown I found myself also trying to figure out where to start and what was most important. I found a real struggle trying to balance Covid safety protocols, getting to know the students and my new colleagues, and knowing what and how to teach. It all felt so overwhelming to be teaching in these unprecedented times. After taking a moment to breath and realizing this was not going to be perfect, I leaned into the importance of relationships and trust building, having a mindset focused on maximizing learning time and having high expectations that will grow learners to the best of my ability. 

Build relationships with families, students and the school community
After the initial shock that this was really going to happen, I realized how hard it might have been on the other side of things. There was a school, in fact many schools, sitting with a class full of students without a teacher and unsure how to make learning really work in light of the pandemic. There were students who had yet to meet and greet their teacher for this school year. There were families who had a wide spectrum of emotions and perspectives filled with so many unanswered questions including who will be teaching MY child this year. Who am I trusting to keep safe and educate my most precious possession? So I set a personal goal and priority to connect with the families, students and the community, get to know them, build a relationship and trust that we will do our very best to make this a positive experience for all. As a mom myself, I knew you have to trust the person you are sharing your child with, trust they will keep your little person safe and educate them, and that is exactly what I kept at the forefront of every interaction I had with families, students and the greater community I got to join. 

A mindset of maximizing learning time
As I got up to date on what the current reality was of in person learning, I quickly knew that there were going to be so many more interruptions in teaching and learning due to extra hand washing protocols and mask breaks that I needed to ensure I maximize student learning time. I also quickly discovered that all the ways I once knew of engaging students was going to be challenging due to social distancing rules and recommendations. It was easy to have an “I can't”  attitude but I met that with but I CAN DO this. I chose to become crystal clear with what students needed to know and  be able to do. I leaned into proficiency scales and made connections between content and units of study.   I worked with my amazing colleagues at the school and my fellow TOSAs to ensure I had teacher clarity. I shared with students all that they can do and what is next for their learning. We used outside spaces, made the best use of our handwashing times for extra practice and met them right where they were. 

Having High Expectations for Growth
I also recognized that there were unknown learning losses or learning opportunities as I called them.  I needed to set high expectations and have a dose of reality simultaneously. There was nothing wrong with what happened last spring. In fact I believe that many good things are coming from all of this for the education field, but that is for another day in another post. I remember lying awake at night trying to refine and be innovative as I knew I had a great task before me. I struggled to have learning tasks that students could access. I struggled with the data that was coming in at the beginning of the year. I struggled and was overwhelmed. Maybe others can relate.  Then one day while we were engaging in math my current reality hit me and will forever stay with me about what it was like to be teaching in the era of a pandemic. 

We were working on addition in math. The answer was 5, my students were all 6 years old, so I just knew we’d be successful with writing a 5 in the answer space. In all honesty, even though we were adding, I just wanted the student to write the number 5 on their paper. It had been one of those lessons that I knew very little was successful and I was striving for something positive to come from the lesson so we could end and not feel totally defeated! As I walked the room some were getting the 5 on the paper, but not all, and as I circled one sweet young lady said to me, as she was looking up to me from her lonely social distanced desk, “I know the answer is 5 Mrs. Thompson, but it has been a REALLY long time since I held a pencil and I forgot how to write a 5.” And from this moment on I knew we have a different kind of challenge before us. And this gave me the perspective that having high expectations is all about growing kiddos from right where they are at in a very intentional and passionate way. And right there and then I taught her how to write a 5 because that is exactly what this child needed in that exact moment in time. 

Walkways 
As I reflect on my experiences, I could not have asked for a better experience, if I was going to have one. The students were so wonderful and excited to be in school learning. Families were so appreciative of all the work that was being done to support the safety and learning in our schools. There are so many amazing educators and administrators out there working hard every day and finding the best ways to educate children. One thing I shared with my students, their families and kept reminding myself was to focus on progress over perfection. None of us have done this before so we should not expect to be perfect. Learning and growing is messy, but  if we show up each day and  try our best we will make progress. 

And lastly, believe in them- the students, their families and the other amazing educator teams surrounding you!  We are all in this together and we are all growing together!