Getting up this morning was strange. Sleeping in was strange. Eating a leisurely breakfast in my home surrounded with family was…strange. I kept looking at the clock, and thinking about what class period it would be ordinarily, ever so conscious of the thought that things are no longer ordinary.
Prior to the determination of closing our schools, I had a few conversations with my students about recent events. The topics of discussion usually started like this: “What have you been watching, or reading, in the news recently?” The kids groaned, “CORONAVIRUS.” We’d spend a few moments discussing what they’d seen or read, which inevitably, and quickly, turned into questions stemming from their underlying fears and anxieties. “Do you think the schools will close?” “What if everything closes?” “Will we have to make up missed school days at the end of the year?” “What is the point in any of this?” And, the shocking commentary of one particular student who knew that situations were changing because her mother bought off-brand toilet paper! We grappled with these questions and many more, exploring options, possibilities, and potential scenarios. Some students expressing fear, some expressing a mild curiosity, some rolling their eyes in a poignant gesture of teenage arrogance. Emotions ran from excitement over the prospect of two weeks away to somber realizations about not being at school for two weeks straight. Yet, all of these conversations remained in the hypothetical bubble of “What if…” I don’t think any of us expected the decision to be made as quickly as it was.
The speed in which information started to change by mid week last week was something I’ve rarely seen in my lifetime. Reports were changing as rapidly as the pubescent moods that sit in front of me on a daily basis. It was impossible to keep up and it was impossible to know and understand what would happen next.
Now many of us have found ourselves knee deep in uncertainty and unknowing. Many of the wonderings from my students’ voices still ring in my mind and are amplified in these times. Still, I have no real answers. I wonder what my students are doing all day. I wonder how they’re staying connected to others. I wonder what this experience is like for them. I wonder what they’re wondering! These are basic things that I’ve known, or got to know, through my time spent with students on a daily and weekly basis. That is virtually gone today. So, for me, today is a very strange day – and strange days are all that I can see on the horizon.
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