Is Distance Teaching working for you?

It’s week 5 of distance teaching from the comfort of our homes for parents, teachers and students alike. All teachers by now would have started exploring and utilizing a variety of distance teaching tools from the beginning of school closures in March. We are all in an experimental phase; some more than others as we strive to continue the teaching learning process so our students can continue building their knowledge and skills. The thought of adjusting our normal routines and getting in sync with the ‘new norm’ only God knows how long it’s going to last; might be a stressor for most of us as we savor up the push to get out of bed to do our jobs. How is it going? How are you coping? Are you finding a routine or online tool that’s working for you and your students? You may be feeling exhausted, overwhelmed and asking yourself daily if distance teaching is working for you. As teachers, we are used to being busy moving around the classroom and being pulled in a million directions all at once in our daily routines. But distance learning has brought a whole new level of stress to the teaching game. Not only are you trying to continue teaching your students during a global pandemic, you’re also trying to learn how to use new technologies, keep a consistent schedule, and take care of yourself and your family. There’s no doubt that being at home, means more time to sleep, more chores to do, more time with family and doing introspective meditation. I know I’ve had those mornings where I’ve fathomed the thought of getting out bed and getting dressed to do my Zoom online classes. You may be asking yourself at this point why am I getting dressed for work when there’s no work?  However, if I am going to play the part I must definitely dress the part especially if my students as well as their parents or guardians will be seeing me via virtual teaching and learning. This is an important part of remaining professional and should not be taken lightly. So if you haven’t been dressing the part there’s no better time than now to start doing so. Dressing the part means you portray a professional look (hair, face, clothes), and also a teaching background (free from traffic and noise) at home that reflects it also. You will thank me later. This blog post is however intended to assist my fellow colleagues in ‘warming up’ to the new scheme of their job descriptions and alleviate some of the stress they might be experiencing day in day out. The following tips are suggested to vanquish or minimize our stress levels during this distance teaching phenomenon.

1. Scribe It!

Do you find yourself in bed unable to sleep because you keep trying to remember everything on that never-ending to-do list? You need to get it out of your head because your brain wasn’t wired to hold onto never-ending task lists… it was meant to process information and help you move through life. Don’t let your task list take up precious energy and brain space. Instead of trying to memorize #allthetasks, get all those ideas out of your brain and onto your notepad. By doing this you set up a plan of action consisting of all the ideas you want to come alive or all the tasks that you need to get done.

2. Clock the Tasks

We set out to get all that we have to do each day done but soon realize that we are running out of time to get it all done. Why is that so? Where did I go wrong? It’s not that you did anything wrong it’s just that you are running against time to cram everything into one day or a week. It’s normal to have a schedule and stick to it but clocking each task is very vital. You’ve written it down and allowed yourself to eliminate some things, it’s now time to attach some time constraints to your to-do list. Do your best to stick to the time constraints assigned. You’ll find you are more focused on the task at hand when there’s a clock to beat. We are still humans not robots, please take your time.


3. Schedule an Appointment

Creating, adjusting and maintaining a schedule at this time is very crucial. You don’t want to feel like you are going ‘coo-coo’ each day because you don’t have or follow a scheduled pattern. Yes there’ll be times when you have to alter your daily schedule but it should occur seamlessly and not forced. There’s not much you can control at this point, but you can definitely  control what happens when and how. Having a schedule can save you so much sanity! Having a schedule also helps you create I healthy boundaries between work life and home life (even though both are done in the same space right now!)

Now is not the time to have a mental breakdown. Take that time, clock those tasks and schedule the appointments. We certainly couldn’t get it all done when school was in session; why do you think you can conquer it now? Distance teaching is working just allow yourself time to adjust. Hopefully these three tips will help you sort through the stress and exhaustion of distance teaching during this pandemic.