Local Voices: Article written by Los Banos Teacher, Heather Erwin
think it was Covid-19 that changed how I thought of my community. Before there were disinfecting wipes and facial masks, us teachers relied on gradebooks and standardized testing to gauge the pulse of our students. Education was a black hole where many teachers disappeared into a predictable pattern of high stakes testing, followed by public humiliation, retirement, and death (not necessarily in that order). Then one day, it just changed. We were teaching from a screen in an empty classroom. We stared at our students’ ceiling fans and darkened screens for a full year. Somewhere in that educational wasteland, a teacher emerged that valued relationships and community. It was up to us to reach these kids, and believe me we tried.
At some point, we warily abandoned the screens, at least for half of the day, and entered plexiglass cubicles. This is not some dystopian young adult novel-this was California at the height of the epidemic. We looked into our students’ eyes, and somehow, we knew it was going to be ok again. We talked to each other via Zoom, and we discovered that we were all suffering the same sense of isolation and stress. Three of us teachers came down with COVID, and we experienced a community of sorts. If anyone asks, I was the sickest. Eventually I returned to work, and again, it was clear that what didn’t kill us would certainly make us stronger.
So what lessons were learned? I discovered that I am not in competition with other teachers. We are in this mess together, both literally and figuratively. The kids made it too. We grew together, even we were apart. Our test scores took a hit, and academic progress is a daily battle. Those kids are now in high school. But our lives are inexplicably linked forever, and this experience is as real as it gets.
I would have dress up days during online learning. We were reading “Treasure Island” and one day we dressed up as pirates, another day was “Island Garb.” Some students (the ones who wanted extra credit) turned on their cameras and showed off their outfits. There were pets in the background we had to meet, and screaming siblings that had to be muted. But at the end of the day, education was truly what you made of it. No more dialing it in. No more blaming the parents, or poverty, or crime. We all faced the same enemy. This community of teachers, we just kept doing what we do. We taught. And sometimes, I think maybe, just maybe, the kids learned.