New Challenges: The Pandemic’s Toll on this Generation’s Learners

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Originally published in TEACH Magazine, September/October 2021 Issue

By Alex Newman

When the COVID-19 pandemic was declared in March of 2020, schools shuttered and students were cut off from their friends. Teachers scrambled with the sudden transition to online instruction. As quickly as that all unfolded, the same can’t be said of the eventual return to society, and therefore to school; we can’t be expected to instantly revert back to our old ways. A lot has happened to each and every one of us.

From the unknown emotional impacts of the pandemic to the uncertain extent of learning loss in their students, educators aren’t sure what awaits them when in-person learning resumes this fall.

Transitioning to remote learning would have been a huge endeavour with months and years of planning, let alone unfolding overnight. There have been a lot of reported technology challenges and many “behind the scenes” challenges too: parents rising at 4 a.m. to get a head start on their own work before helping the kids with schooling; grandparents pitch-hitting as homeschoolers; young students helping younger family members with their studies because parents are out of the house.

But through it all, teachers have arguably shouldered much of the load. In a Canadian Broadcast Corporation (CBC) News survey from this past May, one teacher responded that “colleagues feel broken. We were ignored and pressured to do quadruple the work, with no breaks, no support, and constant criticism from a government that ignores us, and applauds themselves for deciding we should do online learning, without any resources, instructions, or time to develop programs.”

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Alex Newman is a Toronto freelance writer and editor. Visit her website, alexnewmanwriter.com.

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Alex Newman
Alex Newman
Alex Newman is a Toronto freelance writer and editor. Visit her website, alexnewmanwriter.com.

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