When I decided to become a teacher, I never imagined that I would be required to turn into a tech guru. (Who am I kidding, I’m definitely still not a tech guru.) But then 2020 happened. Now all of us are a little closer to technology than we ever thought we’d be. (A little closer to technology than we’d probably like to be.)

Teaching first graders online is ….. use your imagination. I’ll admit that many teachers have had it way harder than me. I’ve been able to teach in person for a good portion of this school year and I’m grateful for that. However, I’ve had enough stints of teaching online to know from firsthand experience that it’s quite a challenging and not-so-ideal way to teach six and seven year olds how to read and write and add and subtract. 

My mother always told me to “look on the bright side” and “bloom where you’re planted.” Not sure about that flower analogy, but I can agree that counting the positives is almost always a good thing. So here are nine times during online teaching this year so far that have made me smile. 

1. When students raised their hand on Zoom to ask me for permission to go to the bathroom. In their own house. 
2. When I was greeted on Zoom with, “Ms. Katie, look at my cat!”
3. When a student posted a photo of their pet fish and another student (the girl with the cat) commented, “I want to eat them.”
4. When I was giving a spelling test over a Zoom call and I accidentally started spelling the words out loud.
5. When students have surprised me with their creativity despite being limited to work with what they have at home. 

6. When a boy sent me a message that said, “Ms. Katie I can’t read online today because my eyes hurt.” Me too, buddy. Me too. 
7. When I dressed up like an epidemiologist for a video lesson but couldn’t pronounce the word “epidemiologist.” And the students didn’t care. Because they are six. 

8. When I congratulated a boy on the birth of his baby brother, and he turned his camera around and said, “Look, I’m at the hospital now!”
9. When students tell me the thing they miss the most about school is their teacher. 

I don’t know any teachers that say they love teaching online. We didn’t choose to be I.T. majors (no offense to the I.T. people because we really REALLY need you!). We chose to teach because we love to work with people. Technology is great, but I sure do miss those little people. I’m looking forward to the day when I can forget my Zoom password and get to see my students faces again, maybe even without masks covering them. Until then, I’m going to keep looking for reasons to smile along the way.