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The Cost Of COVID: One Year In The Virtual Classroom

Courtesy: Sheree Baldwin Muhammad
Sheree Baldwin Muhammad, in her classroom.

Teachers across Connecticut have started to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. And while vaccination brings a sense of hope, it doesn’t erase the traumas they and their students have experienced over the last year of teaching -- a time when many educators had to reinvent what it meant to be in school. 

“This is really one of the few professions where we’ve really turned around what we’ve done,” said Claudia Tenaglia, a middle school social studies teacher in Hartford. 

Tenaglia is one of the many educators across the world who were thrown into disarray when teaching went virtual.

In Connecticut, the shift happened on March 15, 2020, when Gov. Ned Lamont ordered all schools around the state to shut down as the coronavirus threat grew. At that time, the shutdown was expected to last only two weeks. But it turned out to be just the start to a yearlong journey. 

And for Tenaglia, that journey hasn’t been easy. She teaches in a hybrid setting and balances students learning in-person and remotely. She and several other teachers spoke recently with Connecticut Public Radio’s Where We Live.

“I have to make everything computer-friendly. That takes a lot of time, planning and prep. On top of already being on all day. So yeah, I’m exhausted.”

Credit Dwight-Bellizzi School
Claudia Tenaglia, a middle school social studies teacher sitting with her student Jade.

Tenaglia said she hasn’t just changed lesson plans. She also has tried to place a larger emphasis on student engagement. She’s noticed students who learn remotely yearn for the connections created in a school setting. She’s therefore mastered videoconferencing apps to help bridge the distance between locations. For example, she’ll use breakout rooms -- a way to divide video calls into smaller groups -- within Google Meets to partner in-person students with those at home. 

Tenaglia’s experience during the pandemic is far from unique. Sheree Baldwin Muhammad teaches a different age group about 50 minutes from Hartford, yet her experiences are almost identical. Muhummad, who works at New Beginnings Family Academy in Bridgeport, said one of the most challenging tasks during the school day is keeping her kindergarten class engaged. 

“It’s really hard to get the attention of the kids, especially on the computer because they’re only 5,” Muhammad said. “So they want to play with their toy, they want to show us their dog. Their attention span is very low, so it’s been very challenging to teach kindergarten this year.”

Teaching kindergarten takes a lot of energy in the best of circumstances, but in the virtual world she has to work twice as hard to keep the focus on the lesson, Muhammad added. By the end of the day, she is losing her voice and is ready for bed. 

The constant changes to the learning model coupled with the effects of the pandemic and the overall fatigue have made many educators feel like first-year teachers all over again. As a result, they’re burning out. Muhammad said she’s spoken to several seasoned teachers this year who are considering retirement, herself included. 

“It’s been challenging enough where teachers are leaving to different schools or just not teaching anymore,” Muhammad said. 

But at the end of the day, her students keep her going. She recalls one of her them who recently highlighted her as a special woman in their life for Women’s History Month. 

“It’s those types of stories that make what I do worth it, when I don’t want to get up in the morning and I’m crying at night when I’m exhausted,” Muhammad added.

Credit Courtesy: David Bosso
David Bosso teaches social studies at Berlin High School.

Those moments are among the most satisfying for teachers, David Bosso said. He calls them small victories because they are evidence of the impact teachers have. 

Bosso is a social studies teacher at Berlin High School and Connecticut’s 2012 teacher of the year. For him, this year hasn’t been just about teaching a curriculum, but also helping his students process history in real time, whether it was the pandemic, politics or America’s call for racial equity. 

“They’re living history as we speak. And they’re going to be talking about this to their children, grandchildren and students if they become teachers,” Bosso said. “And so the more opportunities and avenues we can provide for that introspection and that reflection, during a time where it’s needed more than ever, the better we’re going to be.”

Moving forward, he hopes people will be more mindful of the level of selflessness teaching takes. 

“At the beginning of the pandemic, teachers were rightfully allotted as heroes. That’s shifted a little bit and we’re going back to the age-old perception of teachers in schools -- that we’re not doing enough. And that definitely wears on teachers,” Bosso said. “We spend a lot of time, a lot of resources, a lot of sweat and a lot of tears to provide the best education possible for our students.” 

Camila Vallejo is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms. She is a bilingual reporter based out of Fairfield County and welcomes all story ideas at cvallejo@ctpublic.org.

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