Reflection on 2020 School Year - Carol Burk

Good morning. I am Carol Burk. I teach Preschool at Spring Lake and I teach as an adjunct at UNO.

What do I want people to know right now? I am worried.

Throughout the spring and summer, as classrooms and schools shut down, I worried.

Now, as we begin this school year, in all its difference and uncertainty, I am worried.

I am worried about my student’s families; what are their needs and are those needs being met?

I am worried about their health and their family members health and worried that they are dealing with losses of family members and I am not there to comfort them.

I am worried about what virtual learning will look like when I have been fighting my entire career for children to be off screens and instead, to be playing.

It is hard not to wallow in the sadness and worry. It is hard not to dwell in despair.

But that is the super power of teachers. We pick ourselves up. We learn. We adapt. We move forward. We persevere.

Right now, I am spending much of my time learning how to be technology expert, a family support worker and a cheerleader for my fellow teachers.

Right now, I am planning lessons for students I will only meet virtually.

Right now I am thinking about my own child, Ava. This is her first time learning remotely and I will not be there to monitor or supervise her progress or help when she needs help. (Not that she would ever ask me for help, nor would I understand any of the homework she gets.)

I want to be with my students. I am longing for the human connection of teaching. The delight in children’s faces in the morning. The humor of hearing them tell me things like, “why does your hair look that way?” (Children are delightfully honest). I want to see the joy on their faces as they greet their friends. I want to smile when I see the increasing confidence in their everyday tasks.

And Play. I want to be with children as they Play.

I want to share one of my favorite Mary Oliver poems,


“I Worried”

I worried a lot. Will the garden grow, will the rivers
Flow in the right direction, will the Earth turn
As it was taught, and if not, how shall
I correct it?

Was I right,
Was I wrong, will I be forgiven,
Can I do better?

Will I ever be able to sing, even the sparrows
Can do it, and I am, well,
Hopeless.

Is my eyesight fading or am I just imagining it.
Am I going to get rheumatism,
Lockjaw, dementia?

Finally I saw that worrying had come to nothing.
And gave it up.
And took my old body
And went out into the morning,
And sang.

As Mary Oliver says, you can sit around and worry, but our resilience enables us to persevere. And if there is anything to know about educators, it is that we are resilient. We preserver.

This school year we are going to open up our laptops instead of our doors. We will create exciting videos and virtual lessons that engage our young students. We will assist our families to meet their needs.

We will definitely do some singing.

And we will teach.

Thank you.