The younger students weren’t the only ones to have a difficult time processing the uncertainty of what was ahead.
Chesapeake Bayhawks goalie Brian Phipps serves many roles at Archbishop Spalding High School in Severn, Md. He is the boys’ lacrosse coach, teaches history and helps seniors as a resource teacher. He said the hardest part of the process was feeling “useless” because he couldn’t answer the questions his students and players had.
“When it first came out, you’re hoping by the end of the school year we’ll get back in the classroom with everybody,” he said. “[The student-athletes] missing senior days and rivalry games hurts, but talking with my seniors is where you really feel it. I’d be helping them with physics, and they were like, ‘What about prom?’ ‘What about senior salute?’ Academic and education life is important, but the interactions and experiencing those senior privileges, that’s what they’re really missing out on.”
As instruction moved from the physical classroom to the virtual one, new concerns popped up.
Not only did teachers like Madalon, Phipps and Tucker have to adjust their lessons; the concern for student well-being became even more pressing than normal.
“The hard part for us teaching in Stamford and not being in an affluent community is some of these kids live for school,” Madalon said. “It’s where they get meals and feel safe. Some of their at-home lives aren’t great. You feel for them.
“We have kids who are living in homeless shelters. As teachers, of course we want them to complete work and participate, but we all quickly realized schoolwork might be the least important thing. Completing their math journal may not be their No. 1 priority when they’re struggling to put food on the table or they’re watching their siblings while their parents are trying to work.”
Academically, the teachers make work available online for the students to complete and then meet in online sessions every other day to go over the work and answer any questions.
To help guide their students and themselves through the current challenging times, Madalon, Tucker and Phipps are drawing inspiration from the lessons they have learned through their own lives.
“You can’t control when we get back — if we get back — but you can control your effort,” Phipps said. “We know our destination is to graduate, but we may have to take a different path than normal. We may have to go offroading. Your headlights show two feet in front of you. Take care of what’s in front of you, and hopefully, that will take you where you need to go.”
“You have to look at the bright side and find the positives and silver linings,” added Tucker. “My mom is unbelievably good at doing that. I’ve been trying to channel her and trying to figure out what good can we find out of this.”