Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Teaching During COVID

The lack of professional respect started long before Covid, but the current situation will prove that the teacher-as-hero myth is a reality.

Homer wrote of the mythical sea monsters Scylla and Charybdis situated on opposite sides of the Straits of Messina. In the Odyssey, to navigate this dangerous path, our hero Odysseus must choose which monster would do the least amount of damage. In the end, some sailors lost their lives to Scylla, but Odysseus saved the ship.

Like Odysseus, teachers today are between “a rock and a hard place.” Required to teach online, navigating the dangerous waters between administrative requirements and students’ needs is indeed a difficult journey for many. Either choice brings consequences.

This lack of professional respect started long before Covid, but the current situation will prove that the teacher-as-hero myth is a reality.

Most teachers know what good teaching is. And most teachers, even if they are unfamiliar with how to teach online, know when students are engaged and learning. In short, they are professionals. But what occurs when their district requires them to act in a manner that counters good teaching, leading students to tune out, turn off, and disengage?

Lately, in the news, there has been a slew of reports detailing the consequences of online learning mandates (failing to turn on one’s camera, failing to log in at specific times every day, etc.)

Parents have responded with righteous exasperation. But where has this anger landed? On the teachers.

Let’s be clear. States and districts created these rules. Teachers are then required to implement them, thereby putting them in a difficult position. Teachers are desperate to continue and build connections with students during online learning.

Indeed, students’ engagement is dependent upon such relationships. But when districts demand teachers act as Zoom police, that relationship is poisoned.

The Double Time Approach

Now let’s turn to the notion of learning loss during the Covid pandemic. It seems you can’t turn on the news without cries proclaiming students falling behind academically due to interruptions in traditional schooling this past year. The solution many districts have adopted is the “double-time approach.”

That is, instead of teaching a semester’s worth of curriculum in a semester, a teacher now should be teaching two semester’s worth in one semester. More is better, so carry on, teacher!

Whether or not there is actual learning loss that will irrevocably impact students for years to come (I’ll deal with this in another article), the consequence is added pressure on teachers. Once again, we force teachers to choose between compliance or what is best for their students.

Teachers know how many students are struggling online. Even those students who would excel in a typical year are struggling to keep up. Sometimes, to have a student show up to a group chat is an accomplishment. What would adding more content, more assessments, and more graded assignments do to motivate these students?

Currently, we have more teachers than ever teaching online due to the coronavirus pandemic. It’s challenging to teach under these circumstances. Educators are under an extreme amount of stress, with this stress boiling over into the news media.

And what is their district’s response? Hang in there, and by the way, cover 50% more curriculum in half the time and penalize students who don’t abide by district approved attendance measures.

Difficult Choices

Like Odysseus, they must make difficult choices while navigating the waters of online learning, do what is best for students, but risk a poor evaluation and administrative discipline, or ignore one’s professional and ethical beliefs.

This lack of professional respect started long before Covid, but the current situation will prove that the teacher-as-hero myth is a reality.