I didn't think I could be happier to be retired, but...

Obviously many people are worried about school starting and I’m certainly one of them, I have a child starting back too, you know. But even if you set aside the fact that teachers and students are being exposed to a possibly deadly disease, I can’t imagine what teachers are going through. 

Mollie called me last night to run some questions by me. If I’d just been able to stand off and just listen I would never have guesses we were talking about the career I worked at for thirty years. It wasn’t that I didn’t have all the answers she needed – I couldn’t understand the questions! The vocabulary was unfamiliar, the methods were unheard of, and the overall concept of what they’re having to do was completely bewildering.

Teaching online was not somethings teachers ever expected to be doing. They didn’t train for this. I’m not worried about Mollie, she’s young and computers are second nature to her. Most of her questions she was able to answer herself, I was just a way for her to talk it through. In fact her principal asked her to do a workshop tomorrow showing the other teachers what to do. 

Picture the teacher with twenty to twenty-nine years of experience. They can’t retire, at least not with full benefits. I wanted to retire a half year early and found it would lower my retirement check by over four hundred dollars a month for the rest of my life! So they’re soldiering  on, scared and confused. 

Mollie has helped many of them individually. She’ll say something like, “Import the picture from your desk top into your virtual classroom and link it to the site you want.” Now I have the vaguest idea of what she’s saying because of blogging. But most of her teaching friends don’t. Their questions are:

What do you mean import? How do I do that?

How do I get a picture onto my desk top?

How do I take a screen shot?

How to make a virtual classroom?

How do you make a link?

And on and on. It reminds me of the time I spent in the early 2000's trying to teach my father how to email – he really wanted to learn, but it wasn’t to be. When he would finally get the mouse positioned on the right spot – and trust me, that took forever, he’d move it trying to click the button. It was frustrating as hell and I loved him.

Now picture trying to teach anxious, overworked, worried, pissed off middle-aged teachers who don’t really want to learn it. Mollie’s got more guts than I have. I was able to help her just a little. She would tell me what she was going to say to them, something that was so simple to her and I could say, ‘Wait, go back – you’re going to have to tell them what these things are and how to do it step by step.’ I just hope they don’t shoot the messenger.

If you have a child going back virtually or in person, please, please be kind to the teachers – especially if they’re older. And for this I mean over thirty! In some cases they will be as lost as you are but I’m guessing they’re trying as hard as they can to be pleasant and patient with both you and your student.

And if you don’t have children going back but you have friends that are teachers, be there for them if they want to call and cry on your shoulder – and send wine, they’re going to need it.