A Open Letter From 1 Teacher to Others In These Challenging Times

Kiersten Jester is a teacher at the Ellsworth Elementary-Middle School. She wrote this and gave me permission to share it. It's something all teachers, both the certified ones and parents who are teaching at home in these challenging times need to read!

To my fellow teacher peeps in this whole new world. My teacher team and I have completed one+ week of Zoom school and I thought I would pass along some thoughts and reflections.

1.  Be gentle with yourself and take things off your plate cause you just got a huge tray of unwanted goodies served to you.
2. Things are not going to work as you thought they would, and that's ok. You'll adapt. You manage a room full of smiles, snot, and possibly teenage hormones. Never forget that. I had set my living room up like it was my classroom and guess what? It didn't work. Who would have thought I would be spending the next several weeks in a 3x4 space in my dining room with my laptop on top of my turtle tank so the kids can see my "board". Who the hell knew??? NO BODY, that's who, and yet here we are doing it.
3.  It's okay if you are not doing what someone else is doing. You're doing what you can and that is all that matters.
4. Parents appreciate the time and effort you are putting in and they are struggling with the new "normal" as well. Remember to be kind when reaching out. We don't know what is going on behind their closed doors.
5. Care that the kids are showing up and let the "work" work itself out. I'll be honest that right now I am just so thrilled that my kids are coming to zoom school each morning and I get to see their faces and know that they are safe, that I could give a rat's a$$ about whether they get the work done. Just keep showing up and they will too. They will remember this time, not the work you assigned them.
6.  If you have a tight teacher team, hold them so very close. They will be the ones who get you through this. Trust me on this one
7. Reach out if you need to and cry when you need to, because this is messy, very messy, and it will come over you in odd and strange ways. BUT, so worth it. And know that there will come a time when we say, "Do you remember when???"