COVID and Teaching and Fear

You might think by the title of this blog that I’m going to state just how afraid I am of potentially teaching in Fall 2020 with students in the classroom.

You’d be wrong.

I’m not going to say I’m too afraid to teach or do my job because no matter what, I’m at risk of exposure. My wife is a high school teacher – she is at risk of being exposed.

My kids are junior high aged. They’re at risk when they go back to school.

I’ll be at risk every time I walk into a campus building or my classroom.

Here’s the trick…my exposure will be less than they will deal with. Why? My team is working from home. Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays I’ll be teaching for 50 minutes in a classroom on campus – and I’ll be driving in, teaching, and heading home. 50 minutes, three times per week.

My wife teaches 5 classes with a duty period (lunch), plus she’ll likely have kids visit her during her actual lunch for academic help.

My kids will be around their peers for 6-7 hours, plus lunch, plus the bus ride to and from school.

My exposure will be the least of my family. That will be on my mind every day as school starts in Fall. Am I afraid for my wife, my kids, and me? Yeah, you bet I am.

What will I do? I’ll wear my mask, I’ll carry a tub of disinfecting wipes so I can wipe the instructor podium and technology controls down (I don’t trust others), and allow my students to borrow a sanitizing wipe to clean off their desk. I’ll mandate mask wearing, I’ll change my teaching to reduce close instructor-student or student-student interaction in the classroom.

…and I’ll hope for the best. However, I will not allow the COVID-19 virus to paralyze me due to fear.

I’m not sure what else I can do.

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