~And I could have cried, but I didn't~

A week of virtual school, continuous learning from home via the internet, has been completed in our district here along the border of Kansas and Oklahoma.   For the past five days my students have checked in daily on our Google Classroom site to find out what lessons to do for the day.  As a beginning teacher 41 years ago, I never would have imagined seeing the faces of my students on a site called Google Meet, but now even that has come to pass.  Twice each day, for 20 minutes at a time, I logged on with the kids as we discussed the lessons they had worked on.

To say it is a challenge would be an understatement but it is a challenge that is worth it.  I have devoted my entire life to being an advocate for the well being of children and their families.  No virus, especially Covid-19, is going to deter me from doing what I know is right and good.  I owe that to the kids and as I think about it now, I also owe it to myself.  I'm at the very end of my time in the classroom and as a matter of fact having failed retirement now on 3 separate occasions, it is with certainty that I say these 24 young people are indeed my bonus group.  This fourth grade classroom of students is not going to see less come from their teacher.  On the contrary, I hope they see me at my best.

And so I plod on.

I have tried since school began in August to keep things as normal as I could for the students in our classroom.  I planned many activities that began in earnest almost from that first day of school yet all the while I kept an eye on Covid-19.  I wanted the kids to hear a special read aloud book and so from day 1, I began to share it with them.  When we were finished with the book, each of the kids made a special shoebox diorama for it and we displayed them all in the library.  I had wanted the kids to understand the concept of community service and as luck would have it, we've already been able to do two community service projects.  Several other special lessons are on my "Mrs. Renfro's 4th Grade Classroom" bucket list and the good Lord willing, I intend to teach them.

One of those special lessons is the chance for the kids in my classroom to participate in a classroom spelling bee sometime in January when we return after Christmas break.  As a lifelong lover of the art of orthography, I have always had the desire for my students to develop the ability to become better spellers.  It has been my experience that kids love spelling bees as a way to practice words each week and so that's what we've been doing since early September.  Normally once a week we have been using part of our spelling time to have a practice bee, something the kids seem to enjoy.  When I told them Thursday that we would all join on a Google Meet on Friday morning and keep up the tradition of the weekly practice of the spelling bee, they were really happy.  I wasn't sure how many would be able to log on and although there were a few who couldn't, 19 of them did.  As we were finished with the practice, I asked them to stay put a minute and not leave the meeting.  

"Wait a minute guys," I told them.  "I just want to see your faces before you have to go."

They didn't know that their teacher had a big lump in her throat.  They had no idea how much it meant to me to be with them all at that very moment in time.  I could have cried.

But I didn't. 


I've had so many wonderful experiences as a teacher for the past 41 years.

The good Lord saved the very best to the last for me here in Kay County, Oklahoma.

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