This is a short list. One item. And the trick is that I won't tell you what that loss is until the end. First, let me tell you a story.
I never wanted to be a teacher. Never. In second grade I remember writing on a "dream board" that my dream was to be a biologist. I wanted to be a Rogue Mountain Man Scientist (RMMS). I had watched Never Cry Wolf too many times. It was perfect! As a freshman in high school, I joined the Youth Conservation Corps and started working in fisheries biology. I loved it. I got to collect data and make observations without interacting with people. What a dream job. I settled my heart on avoiding people and serving data. Data is quiet. Data is clean. Data doesn't argue. Data doesn't get its feelings hurt.
I remember specifically laughing at one of my teachers in high school. She had pulled me aside right before graduation and told me that she thought I would make a great teacher. I literally laughed at her!
There is no way I will ever be a teacher, you have to be around people all the time!
So I continued my path to becoming the Rogue Mountain Man Scientist. I went to college to study biology. I got the best job in the world. I was a fisheries biology technician in the largest wilderness area in the lower 48. I literally couldn't get farther from people. It was me and the data. The data and me. So happy together.
A photo of my son, who has the same lust for lonely places.
I continued on this path until I made a startling realization. Rogue Mountain Man Scientists are not MARRIED! I got married and spent one summer with my new bride as an RMMS. It was really hard. I would leave her for a five or six day hitch in the wilderness. All the while she stayed in a town where the only people she knew were her brand new in-laws. And it was during this summer that I had my epiphany.
I wasn't being called to serve data. There were real people in the world. With real problems. And real passions. And real insight. And I was really avoiding them.
My heart broke for people.
And when I realized this, my past began to make so much sense. I was the oldest kid in the neighborhood. And as such, I would flex my social power, force all the kids to sit down while I taught them from my nature books. But I didn't want to be a teacher.
My senior project was teaching physics to little kids. But I didn't want to be a teacher.
My wife and I had taught homeschool science classes while we were in college. But I didn't want to be a teacher.
Once my heart broke for people, I wanted to be a teacher.
And now, 20 years into my teaching career, what do I want to be when I grow up? A teacher.
So now for the big reveal...
The #1 Loss if We Have to Teach Remotely is.....
You.
I mean it. Think about your favorite teachers. Are they your favorite because of their amazing ability to tie curriculum to NGSS? Are they your favorite because their Zoom meetings were always well organized? Are they your favorite because the pacing in their class always demonstrated their mastery of planning?
No. No. And no.
They are your favorite because of THEM. They invested in you. They taught from their authentic heart. You cared for them because they cared for you.
Every year on the first day of school, I tell the story that you just read. I tell them that origin story because it defines how I approach my life. It tells them the real struggles that I had. It tells them that my heart is broken for them.
And that is what we must not lose if we are not in the classroom. You must fight for all you are worth to be real and available for the kids. You must take every opportunity that you are given to build bridges to the wandering kids. You must not lose yourself. You are the most valuable asset in your classroom. Not your curriculum. Not your videos. Not your tests. You. So don't lose the most valuable part of your classroom, no matter what the circumstances may be.
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