I’m not writing this to be mean to anyone. I’m just writing it to get these thoughts out of my system.
When I was principal of Tennessee Online Public School, most of the obstacles I encountered had nothing to do with delivering online instruction. The teachers took care of all that, and they were fantastic at it.
Most of the obstacles were with other people and their perceptions of what we were doing (Sartre was right, after all). Here are some comments that we often had to endure from other educators:
“I don’t think it’s fair that these online teachers get paid the same as classroom teachers.”
“It’s not a real school.”
“It’s not fair that their teachers get to work from home.”
“I’d love to teach there; you get to work in your pajamas.”
“Their students aren’t learning as much as the students in regular schools.”
“It’s not fair because they don’t have to deal with classroom behavior.”
“Must be nice to only work with gifted kids.”
“It’s easier than real school!”
All of these comments were made purely in ignorance and some sort of misplaced jealousy. And they certainly weren’t made by everyone, but each time someone said one in earshot of my teachers, it really hurt. I even got my own brand of shade from other principals, but that’s ok. I freely admitted that I enjoyed being able to avoid beans (food service), balls (sports), buses (transportation), and butts (discipline), but I filled that time with grander educational pursuits for my school.
I feel like finally a lot of the folks who made these comments are having to eat some crow. Many teachers are finding out that teaching online isn’t a pie job. It’s a very hard job that requires a lot of problem-solving and troubleshooting on a daily basis. It’s a job where a ton of work is front-loaded with design work and back-loaded with problem-solving and troubleshooting. While all of that is going on, you’re also grading, giving feedback, and helping students. In addition, you’re also working with behavioral issues such as students not turning in assignments and trying to come up with interventions or plans to help those students catch up.
What I want to say to these teachers who said these things now is imagine having to teach online like you’re doing now and count attendance, give EOCs, be held accountable for your students’ EOC scores, be held accountable for your students’ ACT scores, follow IEPs and 504 plans, and make sure everyone graduates prepared for life after high school. They did this working with a mostly at-risk student population who had, as a group, been disenfranchised by public education in one way or another.
It’s quite an accomplishment that the teachers at TOPS were able to do all of that and to be designated a reward school for three years in a row while facing all the obstacles online learning presents and while also being dragged by many of their colleagues.
So let’s hear it for online teachers - the real ones - the ones who did this on a trapeze with no COVID Closure net below. And if you are one of those teachers who made one of these ignorant comments about my online teachers, your apology is accepted.