Allison Watson, Junior Kindergarten Lead Teacher, talks about teaching during the pandemic lockdown and in person.
Leading up to the school closure in March 2020, Junior Kindergarten teacher, Allison Watson had been in weekly team meetings where they discussed the possibility. “I had a feeling that this might become an issue,” she said. “Ms. Rice and I decided we needed to anticipate what might be coming and be prepared. Then a week later, a lockdown was announced.”
Mrs. Watson, along with the other teachers prepared packets of core curriculum worksheets for the students. “We planned asynchronous learning because, according to the news, we would only be in lockdown for two weeks ‘to flatten the curve,’” she laughed.
On March 23, Governor Northam announced schools would be closed through the end of the school year. “Once we realized we would be closed for an extended period, we knew we would need to start teaching live,” said Mrs. Watson. “We had already been sending recorded lessons of ourselves teaching, with specific written instructions for math and language arts, but after spring break we started live morning meetings and weekly one-on-one facetime calls with students.”
Mask wearing has become a normal part of life during the
pandemic for both teachers and students.
Mrs. Watson and her colleague, Ms. Rice, lead teacher in the other Junior Kindergarten class, emailed materials to families every day at 8:00 a.m. “Parents were very engaged in the beginning,” she said. “They even asked if we could send them materials the night before, so we started sending them by 8:00 p.m. instead of 8:00 a.m. the morning of.”
One of the few positive aspects of teaching remotely according to Mrs. Watson was that it gave parents an opportunity to see further into the Junior Kindergarten curriculum. “Most parents were very supportive of us,” she remarked “Some said they had gained a new appreciation for all the work their kids do in Junior Kindergarten. It was great for parents to see just how much we do.”
Junior Kindergarten students have been learning Chromebook skills
so they are prepared in the event of another lockdown.
Screen time is still kept to a minimum in Junior Kindergarten.
For many families, juggling parenting and working at home was highly challenging. This was also true for many Congressional teachers and staff. Mrs. Watson’s daughter, Mia, was very young last year when school was closed, adding to the challenge of teaching remotely. “My daughter was so little,” she said. “I really had to be organized so I could maximize my work during her naps”.
Having survived months of remote teaching, Mrs. Watson turned her focus to returning to school. “I wanted to be back, and felt it necessary for all of us to be in person,” she said. “I wasn’t nervous for myself. I was more nervous for others who might be vulnerable, but I felt we had the right protocols in place to keep everyone safe.”
At the beginning of the school year, the safety protocols were really stringent. “Everyone had indoor shoes and outdoor shoes,” she laughed. “We had shoe racks outside the classroom with the expectation that students would switch back and forth each time we exited or entered. But we couldn’t sustain this; it just wasn’t feasible. We all had very good intentions, but we couldn’t keep them up. We just didn’t know the extent of how it could spread.” she laughed. “So we had to weigh the risk and figure out what worked.”
After months of being at home, many children were anxious to get back to school to see their friends and teachers. For some, being away from their parents again might have been an adjustment, but the students just took it in stride. “The children were surprisingly normal,” said Mrs. Watson. “We had to practice with hand sanitizer and teach them how to put on a mask,” she said. “We talked to them about why we were doing these things to help them understand, but most of them were already aware, so I’m grateful to the parents for that.”
Looking back over the past year-and-a-half, Mrs. Watson is pleased with how things have gone. “The year has been so wonderfully successful in so many ways,” she said. “The pandemic has really not badly affected me or my family, and for that, I’m very grateful.”
Allison Watson
Junior Kindergarten Teacher
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