Teachers in Transition - Episode 67 - What Will You Do When School Starts?

Now that we are past the 4th of July, predictably, attention is being turned to schools. Do we open them this fall? When do we open them if we do? And what precautions will be taken to help mitigate the risks to students and teachers and other staff?

While this is all serious business, if you want a chuckle and a relatively light-hearted take on these questions, take a look at this bit by educator and administrator, Gerry Brooks. The particular YouTube video to check out is entitled, "Classroom Job Assignments for this year..."

In this episode, I comment on how I love Brooks' humorous take on the various implications of going back to school in the fall, but he also points out some very serious considerations. And that's what I talk about in this week's episode. Each individual listener is going to have to make an individual decision about whether or not he or she goes back to school in the fall.

To learn more about Gerry Brooks, click here:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-6WUaQSC_AfKZrinPuhVFw

To make an appointment to talk about your individual situation, click here for a 20-minute complimentary session:  https://teachersintransition.com/calendar.

To reach out to Kitty by email, write to kittyboitnott@gmail.com

Transcript

Kitty Boitnott: 0:01

Are you a teacher who's feeling stressed out and overwhelmed? Do you worry that you're feeling symptoms of burnout or are you sure you've already gotten there? Have you started to dream of doing some other kind of job or perhaps pursuing a whole different career, but you don't know what else you're even qualified to do? You don't know how to start a job search. You just feel stuck. If that sounds like you, I promise you're not alone. My name is Kitty Boitnott. I'm a career transition and job search coach and I specialize in helping burnt out teachers just like you deal not only with the stress and overwhelm of your day-to-day job, but to consider what other careers might be out there waiting for you. Join me for"Teachers in Transition." In some episodes I'll be speaking to stress management techniques and how you can manage your stress on a day to day basis. In other episodes I'll be talking about career transition. What tools do you need to be successful in a job search when you're moving from one career into a totally different track? These are questions that you need answers to and I can help you find those answers. My name is Kitty Boitnott. Welcome to"Teachers in Transition." Hi, this is Kitty Boitnott of Teachers in Transition the podcast and the YouTube channel. Welcome back. This is Episode 67. And we are now into the real summer time vacation. We just celebrated the 4th of July, and we are into the real deal, the fundamental middle of summer. And while many of us may still be headed off to the beach or parts unknown, maybe a lake house somewhere, somewhere where you can get away from it all. There's still lots of people who are concerned about the virus, depending on where you live in the country. Some States are fairing better than others. And you, you may be trying to find little ways to celebrate the summertime and to get the rest and relaxation that you need and deserve. But this summer is probably presenting something of a challenge in a way that other summers haven't always. So, if you've listened to this podcast for any length of time, you know that one week I talk about stress, and another week I talk about career transition and this week is the week to be talking about career transition. But what is on my mind to talk about...And it has to do with career transition, but not, not by way of offering career transition advice, or tips or strategies, but perhaps advice on how to consider going back to school in the fall, assuming that your district is making such plans. I have started seeing an uptick in calls from individual teachers who don't fall into my normal demographic. My general demographic of client is the burnt-out teacher who is tired of teaching for a variety of reasons and ready to explore other options that might be out there for them to go into or to, to endeavor, to, to find. And so most of the folks that come to me ordinarily are the folks who have been increasingly discontent, unappy, dissatisfied with teaching as a career. The folks who've been calling me in the last week or so are not those folks. In fact, I'm not hearing from those folks at the moment because it is summertime. I generally hear from the burnt-out folks during the school year, they are not burnt out during the summer because they're taking a break. And so they left. They let the burnout sort of wash away from them. And they're hoping that this next school year will be better. That's the normal cycle. Summertime is a respite. And so they forget about the burnout. A lot of times. I get those calls in the fall and winter and spring. So I have noticed an uptick in calls from teachers who are still in love with their job as teachers. So their concern is now, what do they do about this fall? If their school division goes back into full-fledged full day face-to-face teaching instead of remote teaching or some of the other models that school divisions might be looking at. And their concerns run the gamut. Some of them have health issues of their own that they're worried about, but rightfully. Some are concerned about perhaps inadvertently picking up the virus and bringing it home to their own family, which is a legitimate concern. Some are just anxious in general. Because this entire pandemic is created, um, a level of stress that many of us have never seen before. And then pile on top of that, the economic distress, and then piled on top of that. It's the social unrest and Sigh You've got, you've got this big boiling stirring pot of stuff going on. So the folks who were calling me in general are not so much talking about the social unrest, not even really about the economic, they're worried about what to do, what decision they should perhaps make about going back to school in the fall. If their district opens up as a regular day to day, five day a week model. And some of them are offering that they have a preference for remote teaching. If they can find a remote teaching position. Some of them are thinking about taking some time off if their school district pro 11 to do that, others are thinking, you know, maybe this is the sign that they need to just move on to something else. And I think they're legitimate concerns across the board with all of those folks. So to lighten the mood just a little bit, what I would recommend, if you have never followed Gerry Brooks, find Gerry Brooks on Twitter, on Facebook, on YouTube. I first found him on Facebook and then I follow him on Facebook and YouTube. But this morning I found him on Twitter. And his advice this morning for teachers was try to relax. Take this time of the summer to just, they cation and take, take a mental and emotional break from teaching because there are people who are working on plans for going back. And if you're not on those committees, you don't need to be worried about it. And what I would suggest to you is that any plan that you might hear about now is subject to change all the way up to the end of August or the 1st of September. You know, I just, I don't have anything to base this on, except my gut. I'm just going to be surprised if most school divisions go back to a full day for face to face experience in the fall, in spite of the fact that we really need schools to get back up and running so that the economy can get fully back up and running. I just know I've worked in schools enough to know that trying keep little ones from spreading and sh..., I mean the little kindergartners, first graders, second graders, they share everything, including their germs. Asking them to, to understand the concept of socially distancing and then practice the concept of socially distancing. I wouldn't, I just wouldn't want to be in the position of being the teacher responsible for that. That's just me. The reason I mentioned Gerry Brooks is that this weekend he did a cute little YouTube bit that was funny at first. I mean, it was funny, but it also was thought-provoking. I don't know if he meant for it to be as thought-provoking as it was, but you can find him. He starts, he's sitting in his car. He does that a lot because of the acoustics. I'm sure. And he's talking about all the fun jobs that kids are gonna have when school starts again in the fall. And now if you're not familiar with Gerry he's from Lexington, Kentucky, and he deliberately exaggerate, I guess I'm assuming he deliberately pt exaggerates his Southern accent. He refers to educators as are erducators, for example. And he refers to the COVID-19 viruses, the Coronas, you know, like a six pack of Corona beer, the Coronas. And in this one bit, he's been doing bits about COVID for a while now, but in this one bit, he talks, he has little illustrations to demonstrate the different jobs that kids will have when they go back to school this fall. And won't it be fun? So the first job was the temperature takers. You know, every kid who comes into the classroom will need to have their emperature taken. And if your temperature is within a certain range, you get to come in. If it's above a certain range, you'll get sent back to the office. And that brings the second job. The Bouncer. The Bouncer's job will be to escort you back to the office. So you can be sent home. Your parents can be called and they will be asked to come get you to take you home. Cause you have a temperature. And then he referred to one job as the CVS czar, the CVS is ours. Job is to ask every child as they come into the room, did your mama give you Tylenol or Motrin this morning? Because you might've had a little bit of a temperature and she wanted to make sure you made it pass the temperature check For a few hours. And if you said, yes, you took Tylenol or Motrin then you got bounced back to the office to be sent up. And then he talked about the social, social distancing monitors. The ones who'd have to make sure everybody stayed six feet apart, a two yard sticks apart is how he phrased it any, he went on it. Everybody was going to have to be a contact tracer. That would be a job for everybody because they would all have to keep track of everybody they'd been in touch with in the event that somebody came down with the virus, then they'd have to be notifying everybody else who'd been in contact. It was a cute little comic bit, but it was also to me thought provoking because all of those extra steps to just let the kid in the classroom that's all before the actual day even starts before the actual instruction even starts before any of the other activities that are part and parcel of a school day. Before any of those get started, You have to have your temperature taken. You have to be asked, did you take Tylenol or Motrin this morning, which might have affected your temperature Socially distancing. I just, I try to imagine kindergartners staying socially distant. I'm sorry. It's beyond my imagination. And then I start to think about the teachers who are in the age group that they've been told they're in a high-risk group, healthy or not. If you're above a certain age, uh, chronologically you're in a high-risk category. If you've got underlying health issues, you're in a high risk category. What are schools going to do about those folks? Do you force your employees to sign a waiver saying that if you contract COVID-19 while you were conducting your day to day duties as a teacher and you die that your family can't sue the school division because they put you at risk.? So what kind of accommodations were going to be made about that? How much choice will teachers be given about whether they return in person or perhaps are allowed to teach remotely? And then of course there all the downsides of teaching remotely. You don't get all of your students online at the same time. You don't get them all engaged at the same level. The gifted kids will do just fine, thanks. And then the kids with special needs are gonna fall through the cracks. It's a big bunch of decisions that have to be made. And there are no easy answers. And you can be funny about it. And thank goodness people like Gerry Brooks can be funny about it. I'm not being funny and I'm not able to be funny about it because it's serious business. So my message having this week, the topic of career transition. If you are on the fence about going back to your school division, this fall for your own health reasons, or because you're concerned about people in your family, you have health issues that you don't want to risk bringing the virus home to them and advertently. Then perhaps we should talk about what your options might be. You can reach out to me at teachersintransition.com forward slash calendar For your mental and emotional health follow Gerry Brooks, because he, he knows how to put a funny face on a serious situation And follow his advice to right now set as much of this corona stuff aside and enjoy your summer. There'll be plenty of time to worry about what you're actually going to do later this summer in August, um, decisions that will have to be made as you get ready to go back or not in August. But for right now, to the extent that you can set aside the worry and just enjoy the summer. But if you would like to talk about what your individual concerns are and whether or not you think you are going to be ready to go back in the fall, or perhaps you'd rather start preparing for a change instead of going back, we need to talk so they can appoint minute teachers in transition.com forward slash calendar. http://teachersintransition.com/calendar. And let's chat. I'll provide a link to Gerry Brooks's YouTube channel in the show notes, and I'll also provide a link to the calendar. If you have a specific question, you can email me at kittypointnetatgmail.com as always, if you would leave a review of this podcast, recommend it to your friends, people that you think might need to listen to either the stress management advice or the career transition advice. And I apologize for straying a bit from the career transition thing today, but just felt important to talk about how COVID-19 may impact whether or not you go back into your classroom this fall. And it's a legitimate concern. I want you to realize that it's a legitimate concern. That's it for this week, have a wonderful rest of your week. Stay safe, stay well. Be kind to yourself and to others. Bye bye. So there you have it, an episode of"Teachers in Transition." I hope you enjoyed the information and I hope you'll plan to come back. Please subscribe to"Teachers in Transition" so that you can be alerted of future episodes. And let me know if you have any questions or topics that you would like me to specifically cover in a future episode. I'm more than happy to help with individual questions as well. So email me at KittyBoitnott@BoitnottCoaching.com. If you are interested in finding a new career or just enjoying your life more, this is the place to start. Hi, I'm Kitty Boitnott and this is"Teachers in Transition."