By Jennifer Ivory

We Didn’t Know We Needed You Until You Arrived

Hala Feb celebrations were in full swing. Flags fluttered on corridors, homophonic beats accompanied by the sound of youthful giggles flowed from classrooms, and aromas of cumin, coriander and curry called to the passers-by to join in the celebrations. We didn’t know it at the time, but these would be the final face to face interactions between student and teacher in 2020.

The bell clanged and off they went – National and Liberation Celebrations offering them a well-deserved break. Teachers still had a couple of days left, and as they plodded and trudged into school for professional development, nobody thought to leave their resentments behind and appreciate the camaraderie they enjoyed with their colleagues – usually only felt when rested and refreshed!

Let’s be honest, most teachers can’t even remember what they did on that last collegial PD day. When all the learning was done and duties were completed, teachers “legged it” from school to relish in their few days off – due to return to work on March 1st. Then, the news stations went into overdrive and on the 27th of Feb we received the email – “school closed for the next two weeks.” We couldn’t believe it!

AN EXTRA TWO WEEKS OFF – boy, oh boy, we’re so lucky (not many people were selfless enough to think of the deaths occurring around the world)! It soon became very obvious that this wasn’t going to be just two weeks off. We were moving our lives online, but our future world leaders still needed their education and so E-Learning, on a national level, was born in Kuwait.
What a journey it has been watching it grow and flourish!

I Celebrate You, Online Learning and I Believe Others Should Too

With the birth of online schooling, technophobes grimaced, students trepidatiously got used to being seen on screen, parents panicked, administrators went on 24-hour call, and many teachers, such as myself, grew more and more excited, as we leapt at the chance to adapt and overcome a new (and for most, a welcome) challenge in our careers – as a teacher, delivering the same lessons year-on-year can get monotonous, but we were about to embark on innovative and creative ships that allowed us to float gently among the sea of students we cared about, to ensure their breath and depth of knowledge continued to expand.

Online schooling has become part of our day-to-day lives now. Students need to be commended on their triumphs! We should be celebrating the opportunities online learning has given them. While our kids spend most of their free time facing a screen, they are now using screen time productively. They are adapting to virtual social gatherings and using the new tools they learn with in an innovative way to create new, and exciting, demonstrations of their learning. NONE of us know the type of jobs that will be available to our children when they leave school (some of them probably haven’t even been invented yet!), but you can guarantee that virtual meetings and online tools will be a major component of their work.

So, if your child’s spelling is not too great, or they’re not advancing quickly enough in Math, they are still being prepped for their futures. How can this NOT be celebrated?

Parents, (I am not a mother, and I don’t pretend to know what it has been like) I suggest you celebrate too! The birth of online schooling has lessened your burden of school drop-offs and pick-ups (any way to avoid the traffic at 8am and 3pm should be celebrated), you can see exactly what your child is doing in school instead of being told “I left the book in my locker”, there is no risk of your son or daughter getting into fights or falling down the stairs, uniforms don’t have to be prepped and teachers are better able to communicate with you via virtual meetings rather than you having to make your way into the school.

On Your Birthday, I Want To Say Thanks..

None of this is to say that I don’t miss my daily interactions with students – I still have last years time capsules sitting in my cupboard, but it is what it is, and has been invaluable. My sentiments won’t be shared by all, and I completely understand and empathize. However, for the month that’s in it, I want to say thanks to online school.

Thanks for allowing me to discover passions, interests, talents and a new-found love for my profession. Thanks for showing me my human ability to adapt and overcome. Thanks for reminding me that my students will always rise to the occasion with the right encouragement.

When you think about the year that has passed us, in academic terms, will you celebrate our achievements, or will you commiserate with your family and friends that we are still online?

Jennifer is a full-time teacher, hundrED ambassador, ed-tech enthusiast and UNSDG advocate. Follow @msjenq8 on Twitter and Instagram to get in touch or her website. Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash.