The room’s in gentle darkened peace,
Sitting by the sole computer, buzzing
Loudly in a corner, when it should be
Drowned by teenage breaking voices,
Hurling dirty words and phrases, laughing
And learning how to be a human life.
They’re not here though,
And so that eerie silent quilt
Is thrown across the room, floating
Gently to a world we do not want.
I went into work today and it was the first time I’ve been in since last Monday when we still thought that there would be a small amount of normalcy. Now that we know that’s not going to happen, it all feels very different.
I sat in a room that was quiet and dark. The chairs that would normally be filled with students and voices that I once would have wanted to be quiet, they were empty.
As I sat at my computer in the eerie silence, I felt really sad for all of those students. I know that some of them must be having a terrible time and the place that they should be, is school. They need that sense of community and the support and encouragement of teachers.
But I also felt sorry for those very teachers. They didn’t sign up for this and yet they are all soldiering on. I know it’s nothing compared to what the wonderful NHS staff are putting up with, but it’s still lonely and sad. The best bits of teaching are those crazy interactions that make you laugh or cry or feel immense pride.
I looked across that classroom and my heart broke a little bit. I hope that things do get back to normal soon. We all need and it, and I don’t think anybody realised it until our world came crashing down.
Much Love
Rachel xx
Margot Kinberg
I’ve been in the field of education for over thirty years, and I’ve never seen this much upheaval of school life. It’s very, very hard on everyone. I work with teachers who are in the field, and with pre-service teachers, and all of them are stressed, anxious, and more. Mostly, they’re worried for their students. What will happen to their learning? What about students who are stuck in a bad home situation, so that school is their oasis? I give teachers enormous credit for facing this challenge, and I hope you all know that you are not alone.
patientandkindlove
Our assignment for this term is about closing the gap for the students that are disadvantaged and I just don’t know how to tackle it when there are families of five or six using one tablet. How are we supposed to help these people?
Margot Kinberg
That’s the thing about teaching. We cannot control things outside the classroom, such as who is poor. We can create different pathways to the content, so that there are different ways for students to explore it. That’s where I believe our empowerment lies.
clcouch123
How well you capture the zeitgeist of school. Too hard on everyone. Where is school life? Disapparated.
patientandkindlove
It felt so ghostly. It’s good to know that others feel the same way though….
Mister Bump UK
I feel very sad for schoolchildren, but ultimately, we can’t really compare losing a year of education to losing your life. I’ve no problem whatever if every child matriculated a year later.
TheHiddenEdge
Last year, I was delivering a Young Enterprise employability programme for year 9 and 11 on career aspirations … oh … how they need this now!
patientandkindlove
All of that good extra curricular stuff is just gone. That’s the stuff that makes them great adults!
TheHiddenEdge
So sad … We volunteers need to be there to help, when the time is right. There was always so much for teachers to do before ‘this’ without adding extra curricular stuff to their workload. 😊
Greg Dennison
This
crispina kemp
We are social animals. We are primates evolved in social groups and troops. Some few of us might prefer isolation, but mostly we don’t thrive alone. Hard times. This is the sacrifice. And what, ultimately, will it do to us?