Virginia Journal of Education: November 2020

VIRGINIA JOURNAL of

EDUCATI N The magazine of the Virginia Education Association November 2020

Your Union Has Been There For You During COVID

Editor Tom Allen VEA President Dr. James J. Fedderman VEA Executive Director Dr. Brenda Pike Communications Director John O’Neil Graphic Designer Lisa Sale Editorial Assistant/Advertising Representative Yolanda Morris Contributors Gordon Jones Kathy Sydnor Herb Wilburn Courtney Cutright

COVER STORY

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Vol. 114, No. 2

CONTENTS

40 Ways VEA’s Been There for You

Copyright © 2020 by the Virginia Education Association

UPFRONT

The Virginia Journal of Education (ISSN 0270-837X) is published six times a year (October, November, December, February, April and June) by the Virginia Education Association, 116 South Third Street, Richmond, VA 23219.

4-7 This month: Protecting the arts, behind the mask, and Touching Base with Portsmouth’s Gordon Jones.

Non-member annual subscription rate: $10 ($15 outside the U.S. and Canada). Rights to reproduce any article or portion thereof may be granted upon request to the editor. Periodicals postage paid in Richmond, VA.

FEATURES

Postmaster: Send address changes to Virginia Journal of Education, 116 South Third Street, Richmond, VA 23219.

14 Confined? Maybe. Boxed In? Nope.

It’s not easy, but teachers are gaining new skills and honing existing ones in this year of cyber-teaching.

Article proposals, comments or questions may be sent to the editor at tallen@veanea.org or Tom Allen,116 South Third Street, Richmond, VA 23219, 800-552-9554.

18 Say What?

A retired teacher looks back on some of the comical comments made by her students.

Member: State Education Association Communicators VEA Vision: A great public school for every child in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

DEPARTMENTS 20 Membership Matters Elections matter and celebrating Association Reps.

24 Insight on Instruction Bringing the school library beyond building walls.

30 First Person The good, the bad, and the ugly.

Cover illustration by Lisa Sale.

“Wow! You are all so attentive today. What’s up?”

VEA Mission: The mission of the Virginia Education Association is to unite our members and local communities across the Commonwealth in fulfilling the promise of a high quality public education that successfully prepares every single student to realize his or her full potential. We believe this can be accomplished by advocating for students, education professionals, and support professionals.

UP FRONT

“Don’t worry. She won’t remember us with these masks on.”

“Your son got all Z’s on his report card.

He sleeps through class.”

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VIRGINIA JOURNAL OF EDUCATION | NOVEMBER 2020

In an open letter asking superintendents, principals, and school board members to protect funding for the arts in our schools, Thom Knab, president of the National Art Education Association had this to say, in part:

During this pandemic, students of all ages have found much needed solace and support through the visual arts, as their teachers provide valuable remote learning opportunities. Students learn to create, respond to, and make connections to the visual world around them and rely upon the arts for social emotional learning, expression, and support. They experience the visual arts each day through their own creativity or through objects and media they encounter (e.g. product design, digital graphics, architecture).

An education rich in the visual arts provides a means to understand ourselves and the broader world around us, to unpack history and culture, express complex ideas, formulate innovations, and generate creative solutions. These outcomes can be achieved for an entire school community simply by investing in elementary, middle, and high school visual arts teacher positions that provide regular dedicated instruction. A modest investment in visual arts education can yield powerful results, and we know that the career marketplace has an ever-increasing need for visual, digital, and creative skills that a quality visual arts education can provide.

For the next generation of young people like me, to whom the visual arts provided a lifeline—I ask you to take a stand for arts education and ensure that, even amid difficult budget decisions, a continued commitment to certified visual arts educators and sequential visual arts and design instruction remains a priority.l

The Constant Battle for Equity ”School closures have been necessary to protect health and safety, but lost class time has a disproportionate impact on Virginia’s most vulnerable and economically disadvantaged students,” [Gov. Northam] said at a recent coronavirus press briefing. “That’s why equity will remain at the forefront as we determine when and how we can safely and responsibly return to in-person learning.” ”Equity” is one of those buzzwords that few outside the educational establishment really understand. It refers to school systems’ legal obligation to make the same level of instruction available to every student, regardless of special needs or family circumstances. This is hard enough in a school setting; doing so at a distance is proving to be an even bigger challenge."l — From an editorial in the (Fredericksburg) Free Lance-Star

TOUCHING BASE WITH… GORDON JONES

PORTSMOUTH EDUCATION ASSOCIATION Kindergarten instructional assistant What’s something you like about your job?

I love working with the little ones, offering guidance and making sure they understand what’s being taught. Their enthusiasm to learn is always an energy boost for me. I love talking, working, and having fun with them every day. They keep me acting and thinking young. In addition to working with kindergartners, I’m also the Instructional Assistant Liaison in my school, enabling me to advocate for my colleagues.

How has being a Union member helped you?

Being a member of the VEA has been an incredible experience for me. It has been and continues to be exciting to be engaged in learning about the workings of a union, to serve as president of my local and my district, and as the chair of the Tidewater UniServ Cluster. The goal of making our local, our district, and our UniServ the voice for public education in our part of Virginia through information and engagement energizes me. In fact, it has given me more confidence in dealing with members’ issues and working with my board to increase membership and more school district collaboration. l

VIRGINIA JOURNAL OF EDUCATION | NOVEMBER 2020

Photo and illustration by iStock

Don’t Make the Arts a COVID Victim!

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UP FRONT

“Students often learn as much for a teacher as they learn from a teacher.” l Wisdom about teacher-student relationships quoted by Linda-Darling Hammond, president of the Learning Policy Institute

You Can’t Mask This…

One Florida mother’s predictions for what may come out of educators’ mouths when dealing with elementary school students who must wear masks in school: • Please don’t snap Billy’s mask in his face.

• You should not be using your mask as a slingshot. Please put it back on your face.

• No, you may not blow your nose in your mask.

• Why is your mask soaking wet? You just came back from the bathroom? And you put it back on your face after you dropped it?

“Math, Mrs. Killen, is not my medium.”

• I’m sorry you broke the elastic on your mask by seeing how far the band would stretch. Now you’ll have to hold the mask on your face … or use this duct tape.

• Please take the mask off your eyes and watch where you’re walking. I don’t care if you have X-ray vision.

• What do you mean you tried to eat your lunch through your mask?

Reading the signs. The staff at Gayton Elementary in Henrico County wants passers-by to know that the school’s teachers are up to the challenge of online learning.

If you see a noteworthy school sign in your part of Virginia, take a photo and send it to vea.photos@veanea.org.

• Please don’t share your mask or trade masks. I don’t care if you like Ingrid’s mask better than yours.

• We’re not comparing our masks to other kids’ masks… everyone’s mask is unique and special.

• No, you may not decorate your mask instead of doing your work.

I don’t care if you have a Sharpie.

• Try to get the gum off as much as you can.

• Please don’t use your mask to pick your nose.

• Your Mom will need to get you a new mask since you chewed a hole in that one.

• Why is there a shoe print on your mask?

• Who’s making that noise?

• I’m sorry your breath stinks in your mask, maybe we should all try to brush better.l

December 7, 2020—Assessments: Formative and Summative from a Distance. A demonstration of how some popular EdTech tools can be used for effective assessment and instruction in a virtual environment. To register: www. mobilize.us/nea/event/314701.l

“No, you cannot unsubscribe from third grade!”

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VIRGINIA JOURNAL OF EDUCATION | NOVEMBER 2020

NEA Teacher Quality has been running a series of webinars this fall designed to help educators make the most of distance learning. Check out these two remaining sessions: November 2, 2020—Social Emotional Learning in a Virtual Space. How can you create meaningful relationships with and between students in a safe virtual space? This webinar will offer strategies, exercises, and activities that put SEL at the forefront in an intentional and transparent way. To register: www.mobilize. us/nea/event/314697.

• You’re not a pirate, please take your mask off your eye.

SOURCE: ACLU

Helpful Webinars from NEA

VIRGINIA JOURNAL OF EDUCATION | NOVEMBER 2020

Photo and illustrations by iStock

Relationships Matter

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COVER STORY This unprecedented time of COVID has called for the VEA and its members to step up in perhaps bigger ways than ever before. Your Union has had to be there for members, and members for one another. Times of crisis tend to bring out the real character of an organization and its people, and what we’ve seen has been inspiring.

Here, then, are the Top 40 ways your Union has been there for you so far.

Safety is, indeed, job one.

We’ve made it clear, from the very first appearance of the coronavirus here in Virginia, that the health and safety of our students and educators was our top priority. We haven’t wavered.

called Action Network, we helped make the sharing of information and resources locally a much more streamlined process.

VEA field staff was there, 24-7.

Our UniServ staff has always been one of our organization’s greatest strengths. When COVID hit,

tors were asked to handle high-risk tasks to helping members file for leave or retirement, and pushing for personal protection equipment (PPE), mental health supports, and necessary technology, health and cleaning resources.

From the top.

VEA’s president, Dr. James J. Fedderman, made sure the “health and safety is most important” message got out loud and clear by publishing op-ed essays to that effect in both the (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot (vea.link/oped), which is the state’s largest newspaper, and in the Virginia Mercury, an online news service.

How your Union has been there for educators, students, and schools in a strange and difficult year.

By Tom Allen

We were on the move before the ink was even dry…

The same day (March 13) that Governor Northam announced that Virginia’ public schools would close for two weeks, we shared a new CDC Coronavirus Fact Sheet with local leaders for distribution to members. Next, we began revamping our website and formed a COVID-19 Response Team.

UniServ Directors immediately had a live spreadsheet going to monitor the situation across the state, while also advocating for members with school leaders and local governing bodies. UDs also kept local leaders up-to-the-minute and continue to be steady, reliable sources of support, information, and representation.

We jump-started local communication.

UD help was not just global; it was individual, too.

By training local leaders on using a communications tool

UDs helped numerous members, from intervening when educa-

Local leaders stepped up.

Members of local associations boldly spoke truth about safety and health to school and community leaders, successfully advocating for caution and a slow, well-thought-out return to school. Decisions continue to be made locality by locality, and VEA members, backed by field and headquarters staff, are speaking clearly on behalf of students and colleagues—and being heard.

COVER STORY ality, unemployment benefits, and specific COVID issues, like mask use and underlying health conditions.

We’re helping with what you’re doing today.

We gave you five big ones.

By week two of the crisis, VEA headquarters had provided a list of five crucial questions local leaders could be asking their superintendents as plans were made. The questions dealt with areas like continuity of learning, evaluations, employment decisions, and protections for non-contract employees, and were chosen because those decisions are made on the local, not state, level.

We asked you.

VEA surveyed members early in the COVID crisis, to see how you were doing and what you might need. What you told us, which is no surprise to anyone who knows educators, is that your primary concern at the moment is the welfare and learning of your students. We’ve worked to be responsive to those needs since.

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We got you answers in a time of great uncertainty.

NEA has created a website called Educating Through Crisis, chockfull of information on your rights, digital supports, meeting the needs of families and students, protecting your own health— and even some encouragement.

Find it all at educatingthroughcrisis.org.

We provided access.

VEA’s website was revamped to include a large section of COVID resources, including a comprehensive list of answers to frequently-asked questions. (veanea.org/covid19) Got more questions? We had more answers.

The COVID section of our site also includes a space for members to submit their own questions and have VEA staff seek answers. (veanea.org/contact/veacovid19) You heard from your lawyer.

Dena Rosenkrantz, VEA’s Director of Legal Services, appeared on two Facebook Live sessions and in other forums to answer members’ questions on topics including safety, health protection, keeping up with your responsibilities while caring for your own children or other family members, student confidenti-

VIRGINIA JOURNAL OF EDUCATION | NOVEMBER 2020

VEA arranged virtual meetings with Gov. Northam, Secretary of Education Atif Qarni, and Superintendent of Public Instruction James Lane, giving members the chance to offer input directly to top state decisionmakers as COVID responses were being developed.

That access was ongoing.

With Secretary Qarni, a series of eight online meetings were held, each focused on a specific school reopening topic and each featuring a different lineup of Union members.

That access remains ongoing.

VEA leaders and staff members remain in touch with Governor Northam, Secretary Qarni, Superintendent Lane, and General Assembly leaders, giving Union members an ongoing source of input and influence.

We put you in position to make a difference.

NEA was there for your students, too.

VEA members served on a number of groups formed to create school COVID policy, including the Virginia Department of Education’s School COVID-19 Recovery Task Force, the Governor’s Work Group, and other groups created by the governor focused on student well-being, academics, equity planning, school finances, and staff support, retention and recruitment.

Shortly after the COVID crisis hit, the NEA Foundation offered COVID-19 Rapid Response Grants of $1,500 to $5,000 to help educators deal with its unique challenges. Those grants will help in classrooms around the country this fall.

We flexed our muscles.

NEA also offered webinars showing members how to use emergency CARES Act funding to reduce student debt.

VEA/NEA members rose up to send thousands of messages of support to Congress, playing a key role in legislators’ passage of the CARES Act, which sent $240 million in federal aid to Virginia’s public schools.

Your national Union spoke up in numerous Washington, D.C. forums.

One example: NEA sent Ohio Education Association President Scott DiMauro to speak before the National Academy of Science, where he said, in part, “All staff who return to work in education worksites are at higher risk of COVID-19 infection and must be protected from the virus with non-pharmaceutical interventions before the vaccine is available… It is crucial for any vaccination plan to incorporate the voices of front-line workers, including educators.”

Tracey Mercier of the Bristol Virginia Education Association gets ready for face-to-face teaching.

Your Union CARES also about your debt.

We “Hustled” to check on you.

Through a texting program called Hustle, we were able to reach out to some 12,000 members early in the COVID crisis to see how you were doing.

We shouted from the rooftops.

In July, as school reopening plans were being discussed, VEA issued a public and media statement reaffirming our commitment to the health and safety of students and educators. Part of it read, “As the state releases its COVID-19 guidance for public schools, and as Virginia school divisions make

COVER STORY We proved that “Member Benefits” isn’t just a nice name.

plans for the 20-21 school year, we believe that we need to keep everyone safe—from the kindergartner who may have a little trouble keeping his hands to himself to the 62-year-old teacher with a chronic disease that has weakened her immune system.” (vea.link/checklist)

NEA Member Benefits has devoted a section of its website to how NEA MB and its partners can help members during COVID. From financial services to job layoff help to retail discounts, you can check out a virtual menu of guidance and help at neamb.com.

Then we followed up.

After the public statement, VEA/ NEA distributed a document called “Checklist for Safely and Equitably Reopening Schools and Campus Buildings” to help guide a safe and healthy process for the 20-21 school year.

After that, we delivered your message personally.

In August, VEA President James Fedderman moderated a roundtable discussion with U.S. Senator Mark Warner about COVID and our schools.

We’re going the distance.

Because we’ve all faced the challenges of online instruction, NEA has been holding a series of webinars on distance learning this fall. Topics include using Google Classroom, addressing students’ social-emotional needs, and more. The webinars run through December. Check them out here: vea.link/series We’re going even farther.

We created a page on our website called “Teaching with Technology during COVID-19: Best Practices to Take Care of Ourselves and Our Students.” It lays out some very valuable principles—check it out here:

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We won’t let COVID derail your PD.

vea.link/bestpractices.

The next article in this issue of the Virginia Journal of Education offers further insight on teaching online.

federal dollar for K-12 schools, the restoration of the nearly $500 million in new public school funding in the original 2020 session that became “unallotted” after COVID, the protection of all available state resources, emergency funds, and the full funding of rebenchmarking.

We’re shedding light.

We hit the airwaves.

VEA member-lobbyists have been building support for a transparency bill in the General Assembly’s special session—one that will protect students and educators. The bill would require school divisions to post their reopening plans on their websites, in addition to their health and safety plans.

Your Union has been producing Facebook Live programs every week since March (sometimes twice a week), offering up-to-theminute information on public education and the coronavirus.

We’ve covered a wide range of topics and had lots of special guests, including members, UniServ Directors, headquarters staff members, education officials, nonprofit leaders, and a Congressional candidate.

We’re still helping—turn the page.

Our efforts during the special session didn’t end there.

You created the agenda for many of those FB Live programs.

Many of those FB Lives were “Monday Mailbags,” in which we answered questions you’d submitted on topics including collective bargaining, SOL tests, VEA events, RIFs/job security, mental health supports, technology, making up for lost time, ensuring equity, and COVID’s impact on school budgets.

We helped you deal with your stress.

LaQueshia Jeffries, a VEA member and special educator in Fairfax County, led a webinar on self-care for our members during a time of sky-high anxiety for educators.

One focus of the webinar, which is still available on VEA’s website, was called “Five Ways to De-Stress.” (veanea.org/covid19)

VEA staff and members were your voice, fighting for every possible

VIRGINIA JOURNAL OF EDUCATION | NOVEMBER 2020

We’re delighted to introduce VEA VirtualEd, a new way for you to take control of your own professional development! You can earn micro-credentials in the subjects and skills most useful to you, and it’s free. Learn more at vea.link/VirtualEd. We didn’t pause in our PD efforts, either.

VEA held its annual Education Support Professionals Conference in October and will go ahead with the Instruction and Professional Development Conference in November. Both events are virtual, but both still feature the kind of top-notch training for which VEA has always been known.

We helped you inspire one another.

Through the Virginia Journal of Education, our website, and social media, we spotlighted the outstanding work being done by many of our members during COVID, sharing their stories of making videos for their stu-

dents, organizing car parades, and finding numerous ways to reach out to students and communities.

We made it easy to make a difference in COVID financial decisions.

Your Union set up an easy, online way for you to register your support for crucial funding calls being made in Richmond. All you had to do was click to send an email to targeted legislators.

Here’s one example: vea.link/ sales-tax.

We gave legislators an updated weather forecast.

As part of VEA’s daily fight to have the General Assembly protect school funding, we partner in the Fund Our Schools coalition, which held a virtual rally during the special session. To urge legislators to tap the state’s “Rainy Day” funds to support K-12, participants posted photos or videos in rain gear.

We made sure COVID didn’t hinder your trip to the polls.

We’ve worked very hard to spread the word that voting early by mail is safe, easy, and secure, and prevents any risk from standing in long lines or mingling in crowds on Election Day. The scoop is at veanea.org/ vea-votes.l Allen is editor of the Virginia Journal of Education.

VIRGINIA JOURNAL OF EDUCATION | NOVEMBER 2020

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STORY TheFEATURE Virginia Public Education CoalitionThe

It’s not easy, but teachers are gaining new skills and honing existing ones in this year of cyber-teaching.

SKILL: Communicate an appropriate online tone during course delivery.

Because online communications may lack the full array of visual and oral cues that help listeners interpret speakers’ messages, it is important that online teachers be sensitive to problems of misinterpretation, and that they are careful to use an appropriate online tone in course design and course delivery.

T

eachers are looking at life through a new lens these days, and not only because much of their work is being done by webcam. Education’s virtual 2020 calls for new skills, and teachers across Virginia are adapting and tackling new approaches every day.

NEA’s Guide to Teaching Online Courses spells out some of the essential skills teachers need to have in order to be effective in a distance learning environment.

Here are just a few of those skills and how some VEA members are doing with them this fall: SKILL: Communicate with students, parents, school administrators, and other teachers via a variety of online and traditional means.

Online teachers must be able to communicate with a number of other stakeholders through a variety of

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methods, some online, some not.

“I’ve communicated with building administrators, teachers, parents, and students by phone, email, and Google Meet or Zoom,” says Dr. Angelnet Stith, a Greensville Education Association member and an intervention specialist. “Prior to the first day of school, I called parents to introduce myself and explain how I’d be providing assistance and resources for attendance, behavior, and grades. I also sent students an email and invited them to a virtual check-in and chat.”

“Nothing is ‘as usual,’ whether you’re communicating with students, colleagues, or families,” says Charlotte Hayer, a Richmond Education Association member and high school economics teacher. “Typically, communicating with students would start with one-on-one conversation in class.

Now, you cannot talk to a student Charlotte Hayer with everyone else

VIRGINIA JOURNAL OF EDUCATION | NOVEMBER 2020

online listening. If you’re using platforms like Google Classroom, you can send an email but that’s only helpful if the student checks their school email account regularly and responds.”

Being in touch with parents has some challenges now, as well, according to Hayer. “Emails are fine as long as they’re read and answered,” she says.

“Phone calls are challenging because we no longer have access to the school phone, and I don’t want parents having my personal phone number. However, if you try to use other options, like Google, the phone number generated is not recognizable and probably won’t be answered. That means that teachers have to find other ways to communicate, like using Class Dojo or Remind.”

Even communicating with colleagues isn’t easy. “You used to be able to stop by other teachers’ rooms and talk about how things are going or ask for help with something,” says Hayer.

“But, no matter who we’re communicating with, the overarching issue is the amount of time it now takes, on top

“I’ve found myself talking in a much more animated voice and using my hands more than I would if I were in front of the students, partially to entertain them into listening, and partially because I can’t figure out if they understand what I’m talking about,” says Erin Merrill, a Prince William Education Association member and a middle school civics teacher. “Could their parent be hanging around while I’m teaching?

Could they be taking screenshots or turning me into TikToks? Possibly, so I’m much more aware of how I’m presenting myself.”

It can be especially tricky, Merrill notes, when you can’t see your students.

“Whether you’re Zooming, Google Meeting, or on Teams, you’re often teaching to a screen of blank squares and are unable to get the visual feedback and engagement from students that we’re used to,” she says. “Having to record yourself teaching that way, and then often having to watch your film back if you’re in a county that requires you to post the videos for student references or add closed captions, is especially awkward.”

Setting the right tone in class has been a frequent topic of conversation, says Sandra Barnstead, a Spotsylvania Education Association member and co-chair of VEA’s Instruction and Profes-

sional Development Committee. “We know tone is an issue in writing, like in email or social media posts, because it’s hard to read when you can’t also read the person’s body language,” she says.

“I go into each class knowing I need to be positive and supportive for my students. I do monitor my tone, knowing that if I sound frustrated my students will think it’s because of them and not the frustrating email or phone call I just received.”

Dr. Keila Foster is a member of the Maryland State Education Association and mentee to Greensville’s Stith through NEA’s Leaders of Color Pathways Project, and she works to keep things positive in her classroom: “I stay away from jokes and sarcasm and fully utilize words of encouragement.

Encouraging words are so crucial in an online world because communication can only be taken literally and not figuratively. The ultimate goal is to build a rapport with students that fosters student-to-student respect and student-teacher respect.”

Respect is critical, agrees Charletta Williams, an Education Association of Norfolk member and a fourth grade teacher, because it helps avoid “problems of misinterpretation.”

SKILLS: Foster student-to-student discussion; foster student-to-student collaboration.

Online teachers should foster student-to-student discussion during course design and delivery. During the design phase, online teachers should build in course discussion as a feature of student assessment. Their instructions for when, where, and how students participate in online discussions should be clearly communicated. During course delivery, online teachers should facilitate course discussions by intervening appropriately when discussions are either not occurring

or are inappropriate.

Online teachers should foster student-to-student collaboration through the use of online discussions, group projects, team activities, and instructional style. They should demonstrate skill at facilitating discussions and be reliable guides to student learning.

“I struggle with both of these skills in my classes,” says Barnstead. “It’s difficult, especially when there isn’t an efficient way of breaking students into small groups when there is only one teacher. My classes have tried brainstorming in smaller groups via Google Docs where they all have access to and can edit the same document. This is a challenge, too, because students cannot talk to one another—they only see what the other is typing. I have one group of students who always welcomes each other and says good morning. This isn’t true student-to-student communication, but I do encourage it by telling them that Sandra Barnstead I love how they say good morning and goodbye to each other via chat. I have another set of students who have offered to help each other over the phone after class.

That was really touching as well— again, not true student collaboration, but I encouraged it and let them know I noticed they’re helping each other.”

SKILL: Use technology to support course design.

Online teachers should be able to demonstrate an ability to use multimedia, as appropriate, in course materials.

“Students often have the same

VIRGINIA JOURNAL OF EDUCATION | NOVEMBER 2020

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Illustration by iStock

Confined? Maybe. Boxed In? Nope.

of preparing lessons, attending online school meetings, online professional development, and taking care of yourself and your family. It is too much.”

FEATURE STORY questions repeatedly during teaching time and I want to be able to teach with minimal interruption,” says Maryland’s Foster.

“So, to train students to be more independent in helping themselves learn, I put together a list of common questions and their answers, which I copy and paste into the chat area. This allows for swift independent utilization.”

Foster uses Google Slides for accessing daily lessons, and Nearpod, for engagement and collaboration, as her main multimedia tools. If students don’t have a camera or microphone on their computers, they can use their mobile phone for Zoom and their computer for Nearpod.

“Nearpod is cool because you can insert video and add multiple choice quizzes between video segments,” she says. “I can also use the collaboration board to further sequence lessons together afterward, and there’s a draw feature to color-code content or circle and

underline. Another amazing feature is being able to embed Google Suite into this online space.”

SKILL: Provide appropriate and timely feedback to students.

Online teachers should monitor student learning and provide students with feedback on their performance.

Teachers should be adept with the various platform features so that they can provide students the opportunity to submit their work online. They should review submitted work in a timely fashion and should provide students

with feedback.

“I’ve always been the teacher that grades quickly,” says Prince William’s Merrill. “However, I know that for many of my colleagues this is not always the case. With our virtual and hybrid teaching platforms, we can now stretch out and embrace the new tech as a way to give feedback electronically. The Canvas app or SpeedGrader, for those in school divisions that adopted Canvas, lets you see the student’s upload and both annotate directly on it or leave comments for the students

SKILL: Intervene appropriately when students misbehave online.

Online teachers should foster appropriate online student behavior, model an effective and respectful online tone, guide discussions’ tone and substance, and address problems with inappropriate online behaviors.

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VIRGINIA JOURNAL OF EDUCATION | NOVEMBER 2020

Dear Student, I hope you are doing well. During my observation in your second block class, I noticed that you have been sleeping during instruction on two separate occasions. To thrive academically, you need to have energy, the ability to focus, concentrate, retain information, and be a creative problem solver.

Here are three tips to help you get a better night’s sleep in order to thrive academically: 1. Exercise for better sleep

at the same time as you grade it.

No more carrying home piles of worksheets!”

Charletta William, (above); Christina Bohringer (top right)

seen, among other things, students sleeping during instruction and using inappropriate profile pictures on Google Meet or Zoom. In response, she’s sent students emails with strategies to correct the online behaviors and then followed up with them. She reports great success in correcting behaviors.

Here are two examples of her emails:

During virtual learning, Stith has

2.

Reserve the bed for sleep (avoid attending virtual class while in the bed or making the bed your learning space)

3.

Have a good routine. By working out what time you need to wake up, you can set a regular bedtime schedule. It is also important to try and wake up at the same time every day.

I am here if you have any additional questions or concerns regarding my email. Thank you so much for your attention to this matter and I wish you much success.

Dear Student, I am writing to ask that you update your Google profile picture, which is shown when your camera is off during class, to a more school appropriate picture. You can delete the

picture you currently have and your initial will show or you can change the picture to a more school-appropriate picture. Please make sure your Google profile picture is changed before the end of the day today. I am here if you have any additional questions or concerns regarding my email. Thank you so much for your attention to this matter. I wish you much success during this school year.

Merrill relies on building relationships to help manage student behavior. “Across social media we Erin Merrill hear the stories— Zoom bombs, screenshots, and memes,” she says.

“How do we protect ourselves from mischievous students? The greatest tools I’ve found are arming yourself with your county’s code of behavior and continuing to build that relationship with your students online. By teaching your students the county’s policy on inappropriate use of technology and cyberbullying, you let them know that you’re taking their behavior seriously and making sure they know what’s expected from them. Taking time to greet your students, asking about them, and giving them personal feedback on assignments will also make them less likely to misbehave.

In my class, students can see I’m taking discipline seriously and because they’re worried about being caught, they aren’t misbehaving virtually.”

“During Zoom classes, I greet students by name as they are admitted to the room and give them some time to ‘talk across the screen’ to tell their friends something,” says

Christina Bohringer, an Education Association of Alexandria member and a first grade teacher.

“When we return to Zoom after recess/lunch, we share questions and comments—I even have a few students that always want to know what I had for lunch and if I had a ‘good time at recess.’ When students unmute and blurt out, as they are wont to do at six years old, I gently remind them that another student was waiting and had already raised their hand in the participant window. So far, each time my students apologize, mute, and then go raise their hand. It’s also been interesting to watch how patient they are, when they see that 10 other students have their little blue hand up.”

SKILL: Communicate appropriately with students in one-onone and group settings.

Online teachers should demonstrate the appropriate use of both synchronous and asynchronous communications with students, using one-on-one communications when needed, and fostering and guiding group discussions.

“Teaching virtually has reminded me to break down my directions into smaller chunks than ever before,” says Bohringer. “When needed, I will quietly invite a student to a 1-to-1 Zoom breakout room to have a personal talk about their work or behavior. From day one, I’ve been teaching my first-graders how to use all the Zoom tools— like raising their hand, thumbs up/down, yes/no, and reaction features of clapping, heart, and cheering. These are vital pieces of having a group discussion.”l

VIRGINIA JOURNAL OF EDUCATION | NOVEMBER 2020

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FEATURE STORY

Say What?

A retired teacher looks back at some of the comical comments that came out of her students’ mouths.

By Kathy Sydnor

By Kathy Sydnor

ichelangelo painted the sixteenth chapel.” When I saw this sentence at the top of an ad in a recent issue of NEA Today, I chuckled. I also nodded because the error made me recall how my students often, too, had made comical comments, for—as the ad said, “What they hear isn’t always clear.”

Then smiling, I thought of my collection of many of those comments. For about 15 years, I’d actually written down quite a few of those fun-filled faux pas and had posted them on the door to my classroom.

Now nicely all stored in a notebook because of my retirement, those worn pages were a treasure trove of humor and memories.

Immediately, I found an example that I thought worthy of use in a follow-up ad: Edgar Allan Poe

wrote “The Sirloin Letter.” That one actually appeared in my collection more than once over the years.

Poor Poe and his short story “The Purloined Letter.”

We just had fun with words, literary terms, and literary works that we read or students were told about. Some results were too good not to share, so I decided to do just that. I stapled a sheet of notebook paper to a piece of construction paper and wrote up the first few examples, then taped the paper to my classroom door and watched reactions. Students paused as they entered the room, read, and chuckled. Eventually, even teachers started stopping to check out the latest additions and would walk away slowly—frequently shaking their heads but giggling nevertheless.

Students’ attempts to learn new words often revealed crazy connections to words of similar sound or meaning. For instance, a student once wrote of “bellicose” (vs. “varicose”) veins. Here are some other developments that occurred as we did vocabulary work: Student: “Consecrate.” Isn’t that what they do . . . in . . . a . . . marriage?

Teacher (hesitating because unsure where this was going): Well, yes, in one sense.

Second Student: I think you mean “consummate.”

Teacher: So what could be an opposite of “minimalism”? (hoping for a response such as “excess” or “luxury”) First Student: “Maximalism.”

Second Student: “Maximality.”

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VIRGINIA JOURNAL OF EDUCATION | NOVEMBER 2020

First Student: “Euthanasia” means mercy killing.

Second Student: Of “youth in Asia”?!

Teacher: “Surmise.”

First Student: A verb, “to . . .”

Second Student: Isn’t that when someone dies?

Teacher: “Demise.”

Teacher (pronouncing a word on the vocabulary list): “Demagogue.”

First Student: Isn’t that a church?

Second Student: No, that’s a “synagogue.”

Third Student (matter-of-factly but catching only part of the exchange): Jews attend demagogue on Saturdays.

Teacher: What word is often used to describe a person who withdraws from society and keeps to himself?

Student: A hobbit.

Teacher: I was looking for “hermit,” but both words do start and end the same.

First Student: An outstanding feat of skill . . . a . . .

Teacher: Tour de force.

Second Student: I thought that was a bicycle race.

First Student: What does that (previous comment) have to do with ZZ Top? Second Student: Who’s Sleazy Top? (Looking back now, I see that the speaker could have meant “Whose sleazy top?”!)

Teacher: An example of a taboo?

First Student: Isn’t that the name of the monkey in Aladdin?

Second Student: No, that’s Abu. Teacher: What would you do if someone were chastening you?

Student: Run fast!

Teacher: And what profession might involve working with a “menagerie”?

Student: A vegetarian.

Teacher: Maybe a veterinarian?

Teacher: Somone can be a paragon.

Student: I thought that was a building, the one with five sides.

Student: Those are chuckables.

Teacher, (curiously): What?

Student: Items that you can immediately throw in the trash, like junk mail and some class handouts.

Teacher (now with concern): What?

Remember that often (mis) heard saying, “Saving the best for . . . laughs”? I think that the final example fits the description.

Teacher: “Tawdry” means “showy but cheap. “ Student (in horror): Did she say “showy butt cheek”?

As always but especially in these hectic times, hold on to your “humortality”—one student’s new noun for the human sense of humor!l Sydnor, a VEA and NEA-Retired member, taught for 31 years in King George County.

VIRGINIA JOURNAL OF EDUCATION | NOVEMBER 2020

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Photo by iStock

M

“

MEMBERSHIP MATTERS

Swann Named Virginia Teacher of the Year

Two Join VEA Headquarters Staff Katie Bishop is VEA’s new Assistant Director of Organizing and Field Services. She’s a Roanoke College graduate who has served as an organizer and negotiator in Nevada and Washington State. In Washington, she coordinated the 2015 strike of the 6,000-member Seattle Education Association and later led SEA’s 32-member bargaining team. Most recently, she served as a UniServ Director and lead negotiator for the Lake Washington Education Association.

Franklin County Education Association member Anthony Swann, who teaches fifth grade at Rocky Mount Elementary School, is Virginia’s 2021 Teacher of the Year. The announcement was made at a virtual ceremony in October by Superintendent of Public Instruction James Lane, following remarks from Governor Ralph Northam and First Lady Pam Northam, and Swann will now be the state’s nominee for National Teacher of the Year.

Shane Riddle has joined the HQ staff as the new Government Relations Specialist/Policy Analyst. He has served three NEA state affiliates in a 20-year Association career, most recently the Louisiana Association of Educators, where he’s been the Legislative and Political Director since 2012. He began his career as a UniServ Director and lobbyist for the Kentucky Education Association in 2001, later moving to the Texas State Teachers Association as an Organization Development Specialist.l

Beyond his teaching duties, Swann has also created the “Guys with Ties” program to provide fifth-grade boys with mentors and life-skills coaching. The program stresses values and features guest motivational speakers throughout the year.l

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To help members prepare to capitalize on the 2021 General Assembly session for public education, VEA Government Relations and Research has been holding a series of 11 pre-legislative workshops around the state.

Each meeting includes an overview of the 2020 elections, our Union’s Legislative Agenda for the new session, and helpful information on pressing issues, key legislators, lobbying tips, and more.

All meetings will be held virtually to protect the health and safety of members.

This means we can accommodate even larger numbers than usual.

As this issue went to press, these were the remaining workshops scheduled. Contact your local UniServ office for details.l

“I plan to utilize this opportunity to give hope to those students who feel that their current trauma or economic hardship is the end of their world,” Swann says. “Teachers, together we have the ability to change one life at a time through our influence. Let’s continue to change the world, one child at a time.”

A salute to the ones on the ground. The value of the work done by building reps can’t be overstated. They are the ones who make your Union run smoothly at the grassroots level. The Prince William Education Association gave a recent shout-out to some of theirs on the PWEA Facebook page.

Your 2020 Member Benefit Profile (MBP) is now available in your myVRS account (myVRS.varetire.org). Think of your MBP as a yearly report card on your retirement savings progress, including projected benefit amounts and eligibility for other benefits.

Once you log into your myVRS account, select Annual Statements under My History in the top navigation bar. The MBP is your annual benefit statement based on information your employer reported to VRS as of June 30.

Once you know where you are, see how far you need to go. Financial experts recommend retiring with 80 percent of your work income. Your MBP shows if you’re projected to reach that and offers tips on how to increase your estimated retirement income, such as if you may be eligible to purchase service. Also consider making or increasing contributions to a defined contribution account, where you may be able to qualify for a cash-match from your employer.l

VIRGINIA JOURNAL OF EDUCATION | NOVEMBER 2020

ABINGDON

October 20

ROANOKE

October 21

STAUNTON

November 12 RICHMOND

John Duncan, who retired in 1990 in Fairfax after teaching high school English and

theater for 30 years, has this to say to active teachers thinking about retirement in the next few years: Join VEA-Retired now.

“Retirees have a vast fund of experience,” he says, “and it’s great to be able to use it to pay back. Being with others is so important.

We can accomplish so much more together than we can separately. I’m a big fan of our professional associations and have been a member since the first day I taught.”

During his teaching career, Duncan served as a FEA/VEA building representative and a delegate to both VEA and NEA conventions. He also joined forces with other members to fight for better retirement benefits at a time when the Virginia Retirement System was underfunded.

Later, he became a founding member of VEA-Retired and served on FEA-Retired’s board.l

October 19

November 9 BRUNSWICK

VEA-Retired Spotlight

Come Join Us, Says Fairfax’s Duncan

Check Your Retirement Report Card!

Studying Up for the 2021 General Assembly

Candidates in 2020 Elections Recommended

by NEA President/Vice President: Joe Biden, Kamala Harris U.S. Senator: Mark Warner U.S. House of Representatives: District 1: Qasim Rashid District 2: Elaine Luria District 3: Bobby Scott District 4: Donald McEachin District 5: Dr. Cameron Webb District 7: Abigail Spanberger District 10: Jennifer Wexton District 11: Gerry Connolly

VIRGINIA JOURNAL OF EDUCATION | NOVEMBER 2020

21

MEMBERSHIP MATTERS

2021 VEA LEGISLATIVE AGENDA VEA WILL INITIATE LEGISLATION TO:

VEA SUPPORTS LEGISLATION THAT:

• Fully implement and fund the revised Standards of Quality, as adopted by the Virginia Board of Education.

• Provides resources to ensure that school employees earn a living wage and that teacher salaries are at or above the national average.

• Require at least one registered nurse in every school building.

• Reduce the total number and type of required Standards of Learning assessments to the minimum federal requirements.

• Study the impact of COVID-19 on our public schools, students, and school employees, also measuring our public schools’ emergency preparedness for another pandemic or crisis.

We’ll Keep You Informed Keep up with all the latest legislative news affecting schools by reading VEA’s daily updates during the General Assembly session. You’ll find them at vea.link/daily-reports

• Attracts and retains high-quality teachers and school personnel and improves professional development opportunities for all school employees.

• Improves equitable access to technology and broadband for all students and school staff.

• Supports and protects the safety and mental health of our public school educators and students and provides resources to fully implement safe school reopening plans.

• Maintains designated school property as gun-free zones.

• Protects professional teaching licenses.

VEA OPPOSES LEGISLATION THAT:

• Ensures statewide implementation of an appropriate and equitable teacher evaluation model.

• Undermines the efforts of the Virginia Board of Education to meet their constitutional authority to define the standards for high-quality public education in our commonwealth.

• Increases funds directed towards Virginia’s most at-risk students.

• Supports the needs of and addresses the inequities in Virginia’s small and rural school divisions.

• Improves, implements, and funds programs, resources, and professional development for educators to support student behaviors that reduce suspensions and expulsions.

• Creates any new requirements of our public schools or public school employees without the appropriate state share of funding to implement the requirement.

• Provides public dollars to non-public schools.

• Transfers the authority for granting charter schools away from the local school board.

• Increases state support for public school construction and infrastructure.

• Undermines the health or retirement benefits of school personnel.

• Creates new revenue sources that supports public education needs across Virginia.

• Undermines our newly enacted collective bargaining rights.

KUD

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Shenandoah’s French Chosen as National ‘Emerging Leader’

Vote Safely, and Vote for Public Education!

What happens at the polls in a few weeks was already going to be hugely important, not just for the future of public education, but for our country, as well. Now, after the sad and untimely passing of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the stakes have, if possible, gotten even higher.

As I write this, there seems to be little any of us can do to stop Donald Trump and his allies from replacing Justice Ginsburg despite the fact that it’s a presidential election year. However, we can still do this, and we must: Build on and strengthen our efforts to make sure that voting is safe and secure and that we elect pro-public education candidates to office.

Those candidates begin at the top of the ballot with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. They are a clear choice for educators—they stand with public schools and know how important public education is to our democracy.

Joe himself has “school bus driver” on his resume and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, a longtime educator and NEA member.

In contrast, our current president has needlessly endangered lives by his handling of the pandemic and, along with his handpicked Secretary of Education, sought to divert public school funding to private schools.

The issues in this election are far too important for us not to make informed choices. We all need affordable

S

health care, good jobs, and strong public schools that not only offer an opportunity to every child, but build the foundation of our economy and an informed citizenry.

So, as these elections draw near, let’s keep our focus where it needs to be.

We must work to boost voter turnout, encouraging as many of our colleagues, friends and family members as possible to vote by mail, and we must get the right candidates elected.

I urge you to visit VEA’s online election headquarters, veanea.org/veavotes. There, you’ll find a voter’s guide, a civic action center, the latest election news, and much more. You’ll also be able to see who the NEA, which makes the recommendations in federal elections, has found to be the most supportive candidates for our public schools and our educators in Virginia’s Congressional races. (They’re also listed on page 21.)

The future of our schools—and our nation—is in our hands. We have the chance to make a difference. Let’s not let that opportunity slip by.l

Shenandoah County Education Association secretary Abigail French, a U.S. History teacher at Peter Muhlenberg Middle School, has been selected as one of only 21 educators nationwide to be named to the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development’s 2020 Class of Emerging Leaders.

Now in her 11th year with Shenandoah County Public Schools, she also serves as an instructional coach, mentor, and curriculum designer.

Victoria S. Soyars, a Mecklenburg Education Association member and geometry teacher at Park View High School, was selected as one of Virginia’s 2021 Regional Teachers of the Year. She received congratulatory messages from Governor Ralph Northam, first lady Pamela Northam, Secretary of Education Atif Qarni, Superintendent of Public Instruction James Lane, and Virginia Board of Education President Daniel Gecker.

Hopewell Education Association member Megan Babb, an eighth-grade English teacher at Carter G. Woodson Middle School, has been named the city’s Teacher of the Year.

Christopher Olivo, a member of the York Education Association and a math teacher at Tabb High School, has been appointed to Virginia’s Behavioral Health and Developmental Services Board by Gov. Ralph Northam.

Former Suffolk educator and Union leader Sid Neighbours is featured in the latest edition of NEA Today for NEA-Retired Members, a national publication. Now a member of the VEA-Retired Council, Neighbours is highlighted in a story called “The Creative Life,” which focuses on retired members using their talents to benefit others during the COVID-19 pandemic.l

VIRGINIA JOURNAL OF EDUCATION | NOVEMBER 2020

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INSIGHT ON INSTRUCTION

Set Limits for Online Parental Communication If you’re not careful, email can take up more time than phone calls. A message here and there to clarify a rule or set up a meeting is one thing. A constant back-and-forth to hash out everything from assignment grades to social skills is another.

“Last year there were a couple of days when I was at my wit’s end, where I spent two and a half hours emailing parents,” says Stefanie Curry, a second-grade teacher in Chicago. “That’s when I went to my principal and said, ‘This is too much.’ It was taking away from planning time, prepping time and student time, to be honest.”

The problem, Curry says, is that she made herself too accessible. Her new rule is that she’ll hold off on answering emails until the end of the day. But really, there’s no harm in a 24-hour (or even 48-hour) reply policy for non-urgent messages. It will slow the back-and-forth, and can also help cool off emotional exchanges.l

Bookin’ It

Shenandoah educators bring the school library to students.

Source: NEA Member Benefits

By Herb Wilburn Herb Wilburn delivers an aptly-titled book to a Shenandoah County student (top); A family makes a library stop.

used for community events such as concerts and farmers’ markets. We were able to get permission to use the Pavilion each Wednesday from 1-3 and 6-8 for our Pop-Up Library. It’s an open-air space, but library staff “masks up’’ and practices social distancing anyway, and we encourage patrons to do the same.

Next, we made searching in our online library catalogs as user-friendly as possible, then recorded videos to teach parents and students how to search and hold books.

As students place holds on books, our software flags the material and alerts library staff. Paraprofessionals pull the books and check them out to students. Each Wednesday, we’ve staffed the Pavilion, delivering materials to students. Students return books they’ve read the previous week and pick up new ones, and all returned books are quarantined for one week before they go back into the general library collection.

Is it working? We think so. In two weeks, we’ve checked out 200 books to students and hope to grow the program as the year progresses.l

Photo and illustrations by iStock

Photo-illustrations by iStock

F

or many educators, this school year has been a little like wading in a river. You know how to walk, you can see where you want to go, and it’s great to be “in the water” again. But just like wading, your footing can be little shaky, things look different when you’re looking through water (or a screen), and no matter what, you don’t want to fall flat.

Shenandoah County Public Schools made the wise decision to start schools virtually this year. Our county has one of the highest rates of infection in the state. For librarians, this has been tough because so much of our service to students is based on in-person interaction. Seeing students browsing the shelves and finding a good book is something we treasure.

Our solution is to offer Pop-Up libraries! Strasburg High, Signal Knob Middle, and Sandy Hook Elementary are partnering with the Town of Strasburg to provide “pop-up” library services to our students and their families.

I approached fellow librarians Melissa Lewis and Jacqueline Weitman with the idea and they were eager to move ahead, as was my principal, Robin Shrum. When I spoke with Strasburg’s mayor, Brandy Boies, she too was ready to jump on board. Everyone wanted to reach out to our community and extend our services beyond the walls.

Our schools are located across the river from Strasburg.

It’s not like driving cross-country, but it’s a bit out of the way.

Luckily for us, there’s a Market Pavilion in the middle of town,

Wilburn, a member of the Shenandoah County Education Association, is the librarian at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Source: We Are Teachers

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VIRGINIA JOURNAL OF EDUCATION | NOVEMBER 2020

VIRGINIA JOURNAL OF EDUCATION | NOVEMBER 2020

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Now you can manage your own professional development!

Ready to take charge of your professional growth? Do it with VEA VirtualEd! It’s an amazing new benefit for our members, one that allows you to earn micro-credentials in subjects and skills of your choosing.

AND YOU CAN DO IT FOR FREE! Micro-credentials are a competency-based digital form of certification and they’re quickly creating a new wave in the PD world. The process is entirely self-driven, and is generally job-embedded, allowing you to incorporate your classroom activities. Virginia now accepts micro-credentials for re-licensure points.

You don’t want to miss out on VEA VirtualEd! Visit vea.link/virtualed to learn more.

FACTS

Your Union has launched VEA VirtualEd, a new and efficient way to manage your own professional development and sharpen your skills. VEA VirtualEd offers you the chance to choose and earn micro-credentials and is a collaborative project with the NEA. WHAT ARE MICRO-CREDENTIALS? Informally, micro-credentials are a new wave in professional development and a tool to sharpen your skills and build your professional practice. More formally, a micro-credential is a competency-based digital form of certification. To earn one is to demonstrate competency/mastery in a specific skill or set of skills.

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE BENEFITS? Several things. One, you actually learn something that will help you—they’re not a “sit-and-get” form of PD. Two, they’re very flexible. You do the learning on your own schedule, either alone or with colleagues. And three, they’re all about you: you choose what you want to learn, the skills that will help you most.

HOW DO I EARN MICRO-CREDENTIALS? It’s a self-driven process. Begin by identifying an area in which you’d like to learn more and acquire new skills, then complete the micro-credential requirements. To see the lineup of nearly 200 subject areas currently available, visit the VEA micro-credential portal at vea.link/virtualed. Once you’ve selected a micro-credential you’d like to pursue, there are two steps: First, collect the evidence required to demonstrate your competence, using your daily work as the source (writing a lesson plan, submitting a video of your work, collecting data, e.g.).

Then, submit that evidence for review by uploading it to the VEA/NEA micro-credentials website. From your start date, you have six months to complete each micro-credential. When you do, you receive a digital badge that certifies the acquisition of your new skill.

HOW WILL EARNING MICRO-CREDENTIALS HELP ME? In addition to making you a better educator, micro-credentials will become a familiar method of professional advancement as they become more widespread. Of the many offerings now available through NEA, some have been created by both nonprofit and for-profit organizations and others have been designed by Association staff. The Commonwealth of Virginia will accept micro-credentials for re-licensure points; VEA is working to have both the state and local school divisions use micro-credentials in professional advancement and compensation, too.

WHAT’S IT GOING TO COST ME? Actually, they’re free—right now for all educators and forever for VEA members.

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VIRGINIA JOURNAL OF EDUCATION | NOVEMBER 2020

INSIGHT ON INSTRUCTION

In Stressful Times, Take Care of Yourself, Too

Five Areas of Glaring Need areas in which Virginia has the greatest shortage of teachers haven’t changed since the 201112 school year. We still need great educators in: • Special education • Elementary education • Career and technical education • Middle school education • Middle school mathl

The Power of Writing to Unite Young People Fear of contracting the COVID-19 virus, school closures leading to social isolation, and perhaps the loss of loved ones have all combined to make the time of coronavirus a very traumatic one for students of all ages.

Through its Writing Exchange, the Memory Project is offering a way for children and teens to process the experience together, sharing their thoughts and feelings even with peers who may be miles or oceans away.

Using the writing template that’s provided, your students can upload a one-page letter, poem, essay, story, or whatever suits them best. The Memory Project will then exchange them one-for-one with students participating in other parts of the U.S. or world.

There’s no cost to participate, though The Memory Project asks schools that can do so to donate $3 per student. Schools are welcome to take part, though, even if they’re unable to contribute financially.

To learn more, visit www.memoryproject.org/writing.l

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“Incredibly frustrated.”

“Feeling crushed by the workload.” “Under toxic stress.”

“I hate television. I hate it as much as peanuts. But I can’t stop eating peanuts.”l

We all know that young people who

—Orson Welles

identify as LGBTQ can face high levels of

Those are some of the comments we’re hearing as educators, students, parents, and communities learn to do school in our new normal. There may have never been a time when self-care for educators has been more important—concern for your students can’t mean overlooking your own needs. You’ll be doing both yourself and your students a favor by making self-care a priority.

Here’s a list of tips to help you do that, from Marissa Realdine of the New Jersey Education Association: ACTIVITIES THAT TAKE AN HOUR OR LESS

Bring Wildlife to School, Virtually The Wildlife Care Academy, a program of the Wildlife Center of Virginia, is a new virtual learning platform offered for educators and students in the absence of the Center being able to provide its usual in-person teaching.

The first item in the course catalogue is All About Owls, a self-paced course

• Take a walk around your neighborhood

on the adaptations, habitats, and

• Reorganize a closet, cabinet, or shelf

natural histories of owls – one of our

• Write in a journal

most popular and frequently-request-

• Practice your favorite hobby—painting, reading, singing, cooking, etc.

ed program topics.

• Take a bubble bath ACTIVITIES ON A BUDGET

To learn more about programs and costs, visit www.wildlifecenter.

• Call a friend or family member to catch up

org/education-programs/online-

• Go to a public library

opportunities.l

• Watch your favorite movie or television show

stress at school. But all educators can help create a safe environment and challenge anti-LGBTQ attitudes and behaviors in their schools by engaging in LGBTQ-inclusive and supportive practices.

Here are a few examples, from GLSEN: • Providing support to individual LGBTQ students one-on-one; • Displaying visual signs of support for LGBTQ people (e.g., GLSEN’s Safe Space stickers); • Informally discussing LGBTQ topics with students; • Including LGBTQ topics in their curriculum; • Serving as an advisor to a student club addressing LGBTQ issues (e.g., GSA); • Educating other staff or advocating

• Go to a park

for staff training about LGBTQ issues;

ACTIVITIES THAT SHOULD BE PRACTICED EVERY DAY

and

• Get a full, good night’s sleep.

• Advocating for LGBTQ-inclusive

• Eat healthy, nutritious meals and snacks.

policies.l

• Drink water.

• Find three good things that happen each day.

• Find time to just breathe and let yourself whatever feel, then remember

DIY Professional Development!

that you have the greatest job in the world!

ACTIVITIES FROM EXPERIENCED TEACHERS

VIRGINIA JOURNAL OF EDUCATION | NOVEMBER 2020

• Exercise.

• Indulge in your favorite meal or snack.

Want to manage your own PD? Want to do it for free?

Check out page 26 to learn more about VEA VirtualEd!l

• Leave work at work – even when you’re working from your kitchen table – and enjoy your time away from that work.

• Forgive yourself if you do not achieve everything you wanted to achieve in one day.

Photo illustration by iStock

The top five

Helping LGBTQ Students be Safe in School

Can’t Help Myself...

• Have a fulfilling life outside of your career.l

VIRGINIA JOURNAL OF EDUCATION | NOVEMBER 2020

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FIRST PERSON: NARRATIVES FROM THE CLASSROOM

20-21 So Far: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Photo by iStock

— Courtney Cutright

30

My first several weeks of hybrid teaching have been a roller coaster of learning on the fly, constantly readjusting the course, and sometimes just holding on for dear life. The days are long, the hours in my contract are not enough, and the emails seem endless.

The good: My largest in-person class consists of 12 students; my smallest has four. Most days – following our synchronous learning time – I have about 50 minutes of face-to-face time with each group of hybrid students. Not only are the small numbers a classroom management dream, but I’ve been able to get to know students better in a short amount of time.

In terms of behavior, these middle-schoolers seem to take the virus seriously. Students are respectfully wearing masks while seated at desks spaced six feet apart. The small groups follow the directions of the floor markings in the hallways. The social distancing measures seem to have the unintended impact of cutting out many of the usual middle school shenanigans that happen on the bus, in the hallways, and at the lunch tables. I have yet to write a discipline referral.

The bad: Technology is integral to remote learning, but the challenges it brings are aplenty. Because this is their second year with school-issued laptops, the 11- and 12-year-olds I teach had a baseline of knowledge, but there is so much they don’t know. Despite my riveting lesson on email etiquette, I still receive a stray email with the entire message filling the subject line – and ultimately cutting off midstream.

The plethora of education-friendly apps and programs itself is overwhelming. From Flipgrid and Padlet to Office 365 and Blackboard, there are so many diverse tools to utilize. I am fairly tech-savvy and I cannot seem to keep up with all the options. I can foresee students – who are VIRGINIA JOURNAL OF EDUCATION | NOVEMBER 2020

inundated by technology already—becoming harried by different teachers using different platforms.

In essence, my middle-schoolers are being expected to show the kind of responsibility our society expects from college-aged students. Some are rising to the occasion, but many are struggling.

Whether it is keeping up with the workload or simply remembering when to log on for various classes, it’s a challenge for many middle school students.

Many of my students come from families who offer little or no support for their education, whether by necessity or choice. I see this in virtual meetings in which one student bounces the toddler brother he is babysitting on one knee. I can surmise this by students who submit work at 1 a.m. or reply to my email late in the afternoon because they probably slept until lunchtime.

The ugly: I work with adults who fear this virus.

When a student misses an in-person day or a child is sent home after a visit to the nurse, speculation stirs. There has been one reported case at my school.

While my brain understands the privacy protections that prevent the dissemination of certain information, my heart feels there must be a way to assuage the fears if and when my colleagues and I have potentially come in contact with an infected person.

I am putting myself on the front lines and giving it my all – yet I worry that I will inadvertently carry this virus home to a family member.

I am exhausted, physically and mentally – more so than I remember being as a first-year teacher, which was only six years ago. I try to manage my time, but I find myself bringing home more work than ever. I am seated much of the day so that I can monitor virtual meetings and electronic assignments.

I am answering student and parent emails at all waking hours. I spend much of my day trying to track down missing assignments. I wonder how long I will be able to sustain this level of work with my Type A personality, who wants to do it all and to do it all correctly.

For the first time in my teaching career, I am not loving what I do each day. I want to be sharing books and leading writing workshops, but instead I am tethered to my laptop. Now that I am virtually paperless, I yearn for the days of handing out pencils I bought with my hard-earned money. I would not even mind fixing the occasional paper jam in the copy machine.l Cutright (courtcut@gmail.com), a member of the Roanoke County Education Association, teaches English at Northside Middle School.

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