Teaching in the Age of COVID-19

Tohill Theatre, Bunce Hall, Rowan University- Photo Credits Robert Thorpe

I sat in my classroom for the 3rd day in a row. Eyes bloodshot, head pounding from staring at the computer monitor for hours on end. This time, not students or professors on the other end, but a friend. I looked at her, beyond exhausted. We chatted for a while about how we were holding up, as I also probably looked completely defeated.

“It is extremely stressful,” said Carolyn Little, Theatre Arts teacher at Toms River High School North. “Trying to create new lesson plans for hybrid and virtual learning is draining all of my energy.” I knew this feeling all too well. This basically sums up an average public school teacher’s reaction to teaching in the age of COVID.

This was my first semester teaching in a public school. Having my own chaos with the Coronavirus, I took a full time job substitute teaching at a high school. Being my first year in the classroom I had a lot to learn, but I had no idea how much would be involved for day to day operations.

Before we enter the building, we fill out a pretty comprehensive health questionnaire. Judging by the results, we are then either cleared to enter the building or told to stay home. When we enter the building, we have temperature checks, visual checks and social distancing protocols the whole way. This is to say nothing of masks, safety shields and sanitizing the desks in between each period.

The result, now, is that teachers--who are overworked and underappreciated already--are more stressed out than ever! In fact, according to the American Institute of Stress, one in five teachers felt stressed about their job all or most of the time, compared to one in eight in other professions.

One in five teachers felt stressed about their job all or most of the time, compared to one in eight in other professions.

I have experienced way more stress than I ever thought possible. Earlier this fall, our school’s Theatre teacher was placed on full time leave. This left me, quite suddenly, planning for three brand new classes that I had never taught before.

I spent two weeks frantically planning, just like many other teachers, for a future where we had no idea if we would even have students in person or online. I spent hours on end developing hands-on classes into something that can be accomplished through a computer screen.

If you’ve never been in a theatre class, let me explain what it usually consists of. In a normal class, in a normal year, it's the closest thing to a circus in a school building you can get. Theatre is a place to explore how to express yourself. Oftentimes the beginning stages of this exploration are loud and chaotic. However, in an average year we could at least establish a routine to make it more manageable.

But when class began, I was met with the opposite. Dark screens with names and empty responses. In a theatre environment, you learn by doing. Students hiding behind the “Camera Off'' button on Zoom is not conducive to a learning environment. In a study done by the Educational Theatre Association, they found that 25% of Theatre Educators had less than 25% participation from their students in Spring of 2020.

Source: Educational Theatre Association, 2020

When we finally got everyone out of the Zoom black hole, we were finally able to get started. Students were able to follow along with daily physical warm-up, participate pantomime activities and even play some very basic improv games! Although, it tended to be a struggle to keep the excitement and participation that is more prevalent in a face-to-face learning experience.

But when class began, I was met with ... dark screens with names and empty responses. In a theatre environment, you learn by doing. Students hiding behind the “Camera Off'' button on Zoom is not conducive to a learning environment.

The social element that makes teaching worthwhile was gone. This was not an unfamiliar feeling throughout the profession. “It is very lonely, exhausting, and strange. I'm used to creating relationships with students to help them learn and it's almost impossible to do via remote learning,” said Victoria Pirolli, a Biology teacher at Northern Burlington Co. Reg. High School.

After our first week of planning, we had our monthly board of education meeting. The Board was discussing whether or not to open the school to Hybrid learning. Justifiably, many of my district’s educators had worries. We had already had a case of COVID, just in the first week that ONLY teachers had been in the building. These worries were met with a tremendous amount of disdain and hostility from the community during that meeting.

One mother from the community offered an explanation in a comment in a local Facebook group. “They might not have enough staff to open the building,” which was completely misinformed.

“Then they should hire new staff!,” another parent responded, “Some of us are corporate business folks with a clue!” This shocked me. It was even suggested that our district’s educators wanted to take advantage of the situation to spend more time at our beach houses, as if we could afford them.

However, this is not what I saw with all of my colleagues and in the school district as a whole. I saw teachers working together to keep their students on the same page. I saw departments working together to revisit their curriculum and expand that to an online platform. I met with teachers who had been teaching for 20+ years and had to completely revamp their tried and true lesson plans and learning new educational platforms. Teachers were overcoming the obstacles and making the best out of an awful situation, even with the negativity coming their way.

I saw teachers working together to keep their students on the same page. I saw departments working together to revisit their curriculum and expand that to an online platform. I met with teachers who had been teaching for 20+ years and had to completely revamp their tried and true lesson plans and learning new educational platforms.

We made a sharp turn and dove deep into SEL, or Social Emotional Learning. Social Emotional Learning encompasses all of the things you learn in high school outside of the classroom. This includes developing relationships with peers, how to cope with stress and anxiety, and just generally how to maintain being a human being. Our department found this to be essential to ensuring that students had a semi-normal beginning to their school year.

For the first two weeks of remote learning we played games, worked frequently in groups and tried to get to know our students as best as we could. Luckily, these adapt well to the arts and I was able to help other subjects involve the arts in their lessons.

I taught Theatre Arts in the Northern Burlington County Regional School District until the end of the first marking period, when the full time teacher returned from leave. Honestly, wanting to teach Theatre Arts in the future, the opportunity was one of the best things I could have been offered.

But it did not come without its obstacles. I found myself navigating a one person department. I was also given the fall play, which is completely online. This left both me and my students retraining ourselves to a new routine since many of us had settled into what a normal theatre experience had been. It was not an easy process, and we wanted to make it easier for others.

Our state organization had decided that we wanted to compile all of these resources for other educators, specifically Theatre Educators. Our Thespian State Board of Directors worked together to assemble the COVID materials on our website. We also contributed to state reopening plans, created a guide to performing safely outside on top of teaching our own classes and working on our own productions.

I am beyond proud of what I was able to accomplish this fall. We stepped up to help our fellow educators, even when a lot of the time we ourselves were drowning.

The story of education in the United States is one of survival. It’s a story of advancements. It’s a story of teacher sacrifice. Teachers frequently give up their time, money, and energy to go above and beyond for their students. This is being felt by educators all across the country, and we ask for your patience.

This is new to us too. We will be back to normal soon!