What 2020 + A Global Pandemic Taught Me

I realize it’s not still 2020, but it is still the 2020-2021 school year. I have about 3.5 weeks left of this school year. It has probably been one of the most challenging years we’ve faced. I wanted to reflect on the things this year has taught me.

1. I can adapt: Now don’t get me wrong. There were times this year that gave me whiplash with all the changes and it felt like I could never get on even ground. But each time, I dutifully rearranged my schedule and tried to make things work (ok, so there may have been some curse words and tears).
2. I actually like teletherapy: I was very reluctant about teletherapy in the beginning. I wasn’t sure how my students would do with it and was afraid I’d have massive problems getting them to log onto sessions. Some weeks were better than others with attendance, but I was pleasantly surprised at how well the kids interacted with me and each other.
3. Boom Cards and the help of other SLPs was key: Figuring out how to make Boom Cards myself as well as using those that were made by other SLPs was a life saver.
4. My priorities shifted: I feel like this happened to a lot of us. Suddenly, we were faced with worrying about our and our family members’ health and that put everything into perspective.
5. Memories with my family: Although the memories weren’t the same and were not what I envisioned for most things, the time spent together mattered. I hope my daughter looks back on this time and remembers how I taught her to read and we did fun projects whenever possible.
6. Educators are afforded very little respect: I think I already knew this, but this year really drove that point home. The people making decisions aren’t in the trenches and it feels very much like they don’t care about those who are.
7. Toxic positivity is real: There were many points this year that I had nothing positive to say about anything and I struggled with that. This year was hard and there was no amount of “be flexible” or “be positive” that would fix it. I think we need to acknowledge when things are bad and be ok with saying that.
8. Constant changes can really have a toll on your mental health: The constant changes this year really took their toll on me. It felt like we didn’t have time to even process one change before the next one was being thrust upon us. I started to really resent this.

What is something you learned as a result of this year?