New Normal

It was tempting when school ended last week to write about how relieved I was and how much I was really looking forward to the end of the school year…more so than most years. Most years I look forward to summer without necessarily looking forward to the end of the school year. I know that sounds contradictory, but it really isn’t if you think about it.

I decided to wait for a bit so I could process. I’m not really done processing, and I probably won’t be for a while, but here are my random thoughts anyway.

Of my nineteen years as an educator, this was one of the most difficult, right up there with my first year, which is always going to be the hardest. In a way, this was like my first year teaching because there was so much new that I had to learn and so much uncertainty about whether what I was doing was helping my kids or not. I really won’t ever know the answer to that last part.

As much as I’m looking forward to getting back to normal in August, I keep asking myself if completely returning to normal is a good goal or not. I’m not only thinking about school…just life in general. There are some things that, maybe, should be a new normal.

Many businesses have found that they can cut costs by having people work from home instead of paying for office space. Working from home also helps with childcare costs for families.

Along the same lines, the pandemic has helped people, schools, institutions find new, and often times really helpful, ways to use technology. And some of it has not been great. I’m looking at you Zoom teaching.

One thing that I do hope gets back to normal…my sense of taste and smell. I had COVID in June of last year, and both of those senses are still dulled somewhat. Some foods taste normal, some foods taste a little off, and other foods don’t have any taste at all. For someone who likes to eat as much as I do, this past year has been a bummer.

I also look forward to actually being able to see (and hear) my students while they are sitting in my classroom. I understand and agree with the reasons for wearing masks, but it’s been rough for someone like me who wears hearing aids.

I’m not saying that I’ll actually wear a mask again during some parts of the year, but my allergies have not been as bad this past year as they normally are.

If I have a point, I guess it’s that I hope enough people use the pandemic as a learning experience so that we can make things better, (hopefully) avoid another situation like this for at least a lifetime, and, in the process, create a new normal…whatever that means.