From the City of Taguatinga-DF, Brazil.
My name is Kátia Pereira da Silva, I am a French teacher and I have worked in public schools in the Federal District, Brazil, in the “Language School Centers” since 2003. I have always been a teacher, but I worked as a coordinator from 2017 until September 2019 when I received from the principal of one of those schools, the invitation to replace the vice principal who had gone on maternity leave. On April 11, 2020, classes were suspended and only the management team remained at the school: principal, assistant principal, and supervisors; the teachers stayed at home until June 5, when the Education Office summoned all the servers to begin their work on virtual platforms.
We had two weeks of preparation, moments of anguish, and a lot of uncertainty about everything, what the classes would be like, how the students would access the virtual platform … Given the difficulty, both in psychological and technological knowledge, the government decided to give another 15 days of preparation for teachers and students who did not have the means to access classes.
On July 13, 2020, we resumed the first school semester, still in the midst of many doubts and with circulars and decrees that circulated mainly in the WhatsApp group of teachers, they never reached the Management Team, this generated a lot of discomforts since we were faced with information that had not yet arrived through the official communication channels with the school. Meanwhile, the deputy director resumed her activities, and they invited me to continue with her work, this time as Pedagogical Supervisor.
Wednesday 02/09/2020.
The day started very early. At 7:30 am I sent a reminder to the afternoon teachers recalling the virtual meeting at 10 am to convey important information about the course of the semester. I had my coffee and went to finish the “PowerPoint” with the presentation to be made. The meeting ran easy, but the teachers are distressed by the little time to comply with the contents, carry out evaluations, and conclude the diaries to end the semester. We presented final dates, an “online” follow-up project, and talked about the graduation that will be broadcast on YouTube on September 24th.
As soon as the meeting was over, the mother of a student called my cell phone to ask about printed assignments at school. Yesterday I used the landline and my cell phone to call students who access the platform and do not carry out activities: most parents say that they are doing everything and are not aware of not doing the activities. I feel that my private life, my house has already been invaded by my work.
At 2:00 pm we began the same meeting for teachers with regency in the afternoon, the anguish is the same: students who do not deliver homework, difficulties to involve them in homework and effective learning.
The Pilates that was scheduled for 4 in the afternoon had to be canceled … No provision.
At 5 pm I participated in a “Meet” training for the Language School Centers of the Federal District on “Evaluation in Times of Pandemic”, I finished at 6:40 pm, I took a quick shower, and now at 7:37 pm I am in the fourth videoconference with the Association of Teachers of the Federal District, dealing with the virtual calendar for the second semester.
My intention was to call the parents of the students who are not doing activities on the platform tonight, but I am very tired. When leaving this “Meet” I will call my mother, we also have a personal life in the middle of everything, unfortunately, it has been a week since she passed out in the kitchen, fractured a vertebra and is resting in bed for 15 days ...
Thursday 03/09/2020.
Today was the day to send emails to teachers requesting the preparation of printed activities for students who do not access the “internet”. Some send it fast, some send it the day before, and some refuse to do so on the grounds that the school should take care of that part.
The school is closed, we do not receive students, but parents come to ask for some information or another. Today a father wanted printed activities, he said that in addition to the activities of the platform, he wants to receive extra material for his daughter. I explained to them that it is not ideal, that we are all at home for our protection, and that the material that we print at school is exactly the same that they access in the virtual classroom.
In the afternoon I went to Pilates and then I prepared a private class that happened tonight. Today was a calmer day, I took the opportunity to call my mother and see how she was. Thank God everything is progressing. I always comment that the goal of the year is to survive and the goal of the moment is not to get sick. And then we go …
Friday 04/09/2020.
Today, Friday, I went to school in the morning to scan the printed activities handed in by the students at the school. I called a teacher who is in the support group to help me. Everyone is at home at the moment, so the face-to-face work is all with the Management Team, which overloads the 6 professionals in charge of this task. We are a school with 6,000 students, about 145 servers, and everything must become “virtual” at that time, all through a computer: secretary, library, tutorials, graduation, meetings, etc.
At 10 am, we meet, Management, Supervision, and Coordinators to review the weekly demands and align actions for the next week. The Coordinators, always doing an excellent job, emphasize the goodwill of the teachers, but complain about the difficulties that many have in dealing with the technologies, which generates anguish, exhaustion, and many complaints about distance work.
On Friday afternoon I take the time to look around the house and get some rest. Normally, I would go to a park or a shopping center, but in times of pandemic, the ideal is to think of a home program. At the end of the night, I check the email of the Association of Teachers of France of the Federal District, Brazil, to check if there are important messages to send to the group, in times of pandemic there are many interesting video conferences around the world and one of our missions is to keep the group always informed about formations in the area. I go to sleep very late, but on the weekend I want to disconnect.
To be continued…
