covid chronicles pt. 3

For those of you following along on my “covid chronicles” saga, I will continue it today.

As I mentioned at the end of one of my last posts, “covid chronicles pt. 2“, I began to apply for teaching jobs last year, around the end of March. I did not have my teaching license yet, mostly because I did not have my true “diploma” yet. That was to come in May. In a normal year, I wouldn’t have faced these time lapse issues.

I applied anyways, leaving asterisk notes “*Expected graduation date – May 2020*” or “*License anticipated after receiving diploma in May*”.

I had recently gone shopping for interview clothes with one of my best friends from college, which I never really needed.

I ended up getting hired to be a 6th Grade English Teacher at a Middle School in April of 2020.

*Fast-forward to the end of summer 2020.*

Two weeks before school started, I was in my room preparing for the impending year – organizing, decorating, cleaning. I was basically trying to get everything just right so that when the millions of new “COVID to-do” items fell into our laps during Orientation week, I wouldn’t have to worry about any trivial things.

I had just hung my English-inspired book tapestry (see below), when I got a text from my principal – “Call me.” Honestly, this did not alarm me because this is typical of him to do. He does not prefer texting.

I called him up right away and he asked if I was there, to which I responded yes, and he said that’d he would just come down to visit instead. Once to my room, he suggested that we go outside so we could “talk like people”. That means “without masks”.

Outside, he started explaining a bunch of teacher shuffling that I really don’t think I understood, mostly because I didn’t know anyone’s names and I didn’t know what kind of programs this district offered.

What I remember most was this question, “So, would you hate me and want to bash my face in if I asked you to teach 6th grade math instead of science?”

My wheels started turning a million miles an hour and I think I just started laughing. I said, “Yeah, let’s do it.”

A couple of things prepared me for this moment.

#1. My dad was a principal for 7-8 years. I understand the work that administration puts in day in and day out in a normal year, much less a COVID year. I understand that what is on his plate is a lot more than what is on my plate. Our goal this year was not to move mountains (although I like to think that teachers did just that). It was to survive in a way that we could bounce back from.

#2 This is just one of many things that being a student-athlete prepared me for. In all reality, this is what I was prepared for. I was prepared to perform well in a worst-case scenario. My adrenaline takes over and honestly, this is where I feel most comfortable. Stepping up to the plate during crunch time. Being a team player. Rising to the occasion. Being flexible. Working in crisis mode (being on the court with 45 seconds left when you’re up by only 4 and need to protect the ball, while both teams are calling timeouts left and right and the gym is so loud you can’t hear, is pure crisis).

After our conversation finished, I went back into my room and honestly, just sat there laughing (that’s not a joke). I packed up my stuff, went home for the day, did a workout, and just freaked out a little bit. I possibly screamed into my pillow.

The thing is, I love math. My dad was a high school math teacher for many, many years.

However, the months I had just spent on preparing, reading, studying, researching how to teach English in a best practice way in a 6th grade middle school setting with double hour sections and during COVID, went right out the window.

But, the sun rose again the next day, and I was given tons of support. This is a situation where curriculum books come in handy, my friends. 🙂

It wasn’t a slice from today, but it was a slice that needed to be shared.

love always, caitlin