Six weeks into school, adviser Caron Peck finds herself adapting to the situation, admiring her staff’s dedication and recognizing her own improved skills.
Going the Distance is a new blog series about embracing yearbook challenges. This is the third post in the series which is available on the Balfour Blog. We hope you’ll enjoy hearing from different advisers and reps around the country.
We're back! We've been back for almost six weeks now and things are still changing by the day here in Tennessee. In my district we are on a hybrid model—parents may choose to send their student to school in-person or have them attend virtually, so teachers are pulling double duty as we teach both. There is no deadline to choose one or the other; parents may make this choice at any given moment.
Technology-wise, the first week we were back, our online learning platform crashed EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. It did in weeks two and three as well. Yet through all of this, I am encouraged. Don’t get me wrong, the water level is still above my head, and I am bobbing up and down sometimes gasping for air, but I have grown. In my technological prowess, in my compassion, in my lesson planning, in my communication skills—I have grown.
My YERDS are an amazing group—I have five in-person students and three distance learners and our class meets every day during first period. Every Monday and Thursday, we have a mandatory Zoom meeting where we brainstorm and give one another feedback. It is during these meetings my staffers have learned the basics, and they finalized the theme and designed our cover. Ladder Day is next week, and they are excited! Yes, it’s different than past years, but they are resilient, and we are making it work.
Broadcast journalist Dave DeNatale joined the staff from Cleveland, Ohio on a recent Zoom meeting to give the staff pointers on how to write a human interest, feature story. Photo courtesy of Caron Peck
As yearbook advisers we all accept that we wear multiple hats, oftentimes, they're crazy hats, but we wear them with pride as we guide our staffers toward another publishing date. I'd love to say this year is no different, but it is. The hats seem a little more crazy, a little more heavy, a little more...everything. Yet as I write this, I receive a text from a staff member that reads, “Guess what!? We made it through Picture Day! Thanks for leading us with laughter Mrs. P.”
It would be really easy to focus on all the negative that 2020 has dumped on us (virtual learning, canceled events, illness, natural catastrophes, etc.), but if we take a moment (or 10) and really look around, we just might find the rainbow’s end within our own classrooms.
Caron Peck is the yearbook adviser at Riverdale High School in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. This is her seventh year teaching and her third advising. You can follow Caron and the yearbook staff on Twitter & Instagram: @ownrhsyearbook
