Jen Wilson is our SEC Fellow at Cook Hill Elementary School in Wallingford, CT. She teaches kindergarten and is committed to collaborating with colleagues across the disciplines to enrich her students’ learning experiences. As you will read here, collaboration and integration have continued to be at the heart of what she does, even in these strange times of distance learning.

I was planning on writing this blog entry while lounging by the pool in sunny Florida during my April vacation.  I bought a new outfit back in February for this annual family vacation to see my in-laws.  Our school district had three snow days this school year so my fear of losing any days off of this treasured break was long gone out of my mind.  I was so looking forward to this much needed trip.  And then our world was shaken.  The COVID-19 virus made its way to the United States.  I first remember hearing about it on the news back in January.  I never imagined the impact it would have on me and my community.

My principal started talking about the possible impact of this virus at our March staff meeting. Discussions about distance learning emerged as we created our Google classrooms.  Is this really happening?  How can I possibly teach this way?  Especially to five and six year olds.  My style is completely a hands on learning approach. I think I was in complete denial at this moment.  Until it happened.  Stories of people possibly coming in contact with this horrible disease, others very sick.  On March 12th, we were notified that schools in our town were closed until the end of the month.  A few days later, we heard distance learning would begin!

I began to think about what I needed to do as an educator.  My stress level increased so much!  How is this going to work?  My Kindergarten team and I had two days to virtually meet and plan on how we would teach our students.  We spent countless hours daily together trying to learn how to use Google classroom, and then more hours after trying to learn how to upload assignments.  Parents had questions and concerns.  Some people struggled getting in the classroom, others were still working, educational websites overloaded with so many children trying to access online materials.  It was so very hard.

As time went on, my team got into a routine.  We started getting into a groove.  I started noticing some different things.  I was grateful for this planning time that we always wanted but couldn’t find the time for during the regular school year.  I learned more about these women and their children as they became part of our daily meetings.  I learned more about their strengths and passions during this time.  I loved seeing their kids come on our Google meetings to say hello and show their schoolwork with us.  I learned that we could come together as an amazing team to get this challenging task done.  It’s far from being easy or comfortable for me, but this distance learning is something I will continue to work at.  I noticed how we now had the opportunity to really integrate subject areas.  Science lessons carefully intertwined with language arts or math.  I loved this part as this made our work easier when we figured out how to integrate our lessons.

Now a month into this “new” normal way of teaching, I feel a little better, more into a “new” routine.  I began to think about my stress level and what was contributing the most.  The feeling of the “unknown” is one of the most difficult parts.  The last few years for me and my family have been challenging health wise: I had several surgeries for breast cancer, my father had heart sugary, and my daughter underwent an emergency appendectomy. I have learned from these–that as hard as we try to have some control over our lives, we ultimately don’t have that control.  What we do have is the power to try to control how we handle and how we react to these challenges.  It’s not always easy to do this.  This feeling of uncertainty was coming back.  I kept thinking how will I react to this outbreak?

This crisis in our world brought me back to remember one of my favorite quotes by Fred Rogers: “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’”  I see so many helpers.  My school planned a parade to visit our students with our sister school.  About thirty cars met the day before April vacation.  The weather was awful with pouring rain.  I set out with my almost sixteen-year-old daughter after I decorated my car, cow bell in tow.  The energy during this time was amazing!  I was so touched by families standing in the rain, which turned to hail, and back to rain.  The kids just wanted to see us.  They needed a connection as much as we did.  Not only were our current families there, but former students from twenty years ago, and babies holding signs that said “Future Cook Hill Student.”  Some people were waving inside from their home windows.  It was such an emotional day.  I never imagined the impact our parade would have on our community.  The three hours it took to complete this parade left my heart feeling full and hopeful.

As April break came to an end, I did not spend this week relaxing by the ocean as planned.  I did get to spend it with my family watching movies together, finishing up a book I was reading, hiking with my own teenage children.  I am so grateful for this time with them.  I feel closer to them.  I also spent some time reflecting on this new way of teaching.  I miss my students so very much and get teary eyed every single time they send me pictures and videos.  I never would have imagined the school year like this.  I keep thinking about how we all saw a rainbow at the end of our school parade before our vacation began.  I am reminded of the hopeful lyrics to the song, “Rainbows” by Kacey Lee Musgraves.  She sings, “Well the sky is finally open, the rain and wind stopped blowin’ / But you’re stuck out in the same old storm again / You hold tight to your umbrella, darlin’ I’m just tryin’ to tell ya / That there’s always been a rainbow hangin’ over your head. If you could see what I see, you’d be blinded by the colors / Yellow, red and orange and green, and at least a million others / So tie up your bow, take off your coat and take a look around. Oh tie up your bow, take off your coat and take a look around. Everything is alright now.”