How our lives have changed since COVID-19. I ended the year without seeing my students. I did not get to hear the excitement and fear of new paths being forged as acceptance letters are delivered. I did not get to listen to ideas and goals of a different path some will forge. I did not get to encourage those whose letter did not come and let them know their path may be different than they wanted, but they were in control of opportunities placed in front of them. Just a very different ending for us all.
Not only did my students year end so differently, so did every teachers. Professional development opportunities were cancelled or changed. Conferences went totally virtual. I was very excited when I received the call that I had been selected as a Kenan Fellow. I was looking forward to all the great and amazing opportunities I had heard about this fellowship. As the year ended, we thought the summer would be more normal. We had bunkered down, limited our exposure and thought the curve had flattened. Much to our dismay the curve had yet to peak. With this never ending rise of cases, more changes were brought about, including the cancellation of NCCAT for Kenan Fellows. However, the Kenan group put together a great virtual experience. From that experience I found my project idea. I knew that the next school year would mimic very much my summer Kenan experience.
As COVID changed schools, stores and restaurants, COVID changed industry. Eaton in Forest City, North Carolina was able to provide me with an internship opportunity, but it would be different. Masks are required at all times. Six feet of social distancing must be maintained at all times and your temperature is taken upon entering the building. The biggest challenge came in finding the time with Eaton. My mentor, Lori Ray, was able to schedule time between furloughs, vacations and demand of product. She made sure I was able to see as much of the plant running as possible and talk to everyone that was available. She even scheduled a phone interview with a worker who was working from home to answer questions I had about sustainability. Another challenge was maintaining the six feet of distance while observing how machines work and asking questions and hearing the answers. Though I will not have machinery to speak over in the classroom, remembering that we cannot lean closer to hear in our current virus climate is a hard habit to break.
I have finished my second week and have learned much. A common thread heard throughout the different departments and supervisors was that students need to be willing to work hard, to show up and to be willing to learn. These are much the same principles we are always trying to get our students to see. I think it comes down to one word – perseverance. Can you get up every morning and go to work, persevere through a headache, body aches or just plain wanting to do something else? Can you work through problems thrown at you that do not have one correct answer – persevere through failure? Can you keep looking and searching for that answer, learning a new way to solve a problem and learn another method for your solution – persevere through a certification process, a degree program?
Working at Eaton has been like being on location for “How It’s Made”. I am always mesmerized watching industrial machines work and wondering how the person came up with the idea and most importantly the implementation. How many times did they fail before it worked? Watching the braiders spin so fast, knowing it is like lacing a Maypole makes me wonder if that was the inspiration. Instead of kids skipping around and through each other, the bobbins are spinning around gears and mechanisms to produce a covering for a hose. Ever look at the threading of a braided hose and wonder how they do that? I know now.
As a scientist first in my various career paths, I know the importance of data. As a teacher, I know the importance of data. After my experience at Eaton, I see even more how data drives so much of our lives. Teaching our students to deal with and understand DATA had been a driving force in completing lab work in my classes. Looking at data in forms of graphs and equations is an important skill I try to teach. I know it needs to be an even bigger emphasis now.
As I am winding down my time with Eaton, I look to my new and very different school year. Just like Eaton and their workers are learning new ways to do business and get their product out in our new pandemic world, we as teachers will also have to figure it out. As much as we want it back the old way, that it will not be. We need to direct our new path and focus on the solutions to our new way of teaching. We need to persevere through and work to make our students ready for whatever the future holds.