With the start of my college career, I knew that I wanted to no part in online classes. There were three main reasons why.

1. I had never taken a class online and had no idea what to expect. I do not like facing the unknown.

2. I knew I would never be able to focus on my work outside of a classroom.

3. I have terrible internet service and can not rely on it to work when a deadline is due.

As the years went on, there was no avoiding an online class. I muddled through. There were days I spent all day at the Library on campus to get my work done before I made the hour drive home so that I could make sure my assignment was turned in. Or nights where my planning did not work out, and I was sitting outside of my mamaw's office stealing marginally better internet than mine at 11:55 p.m., hoping my assignment would load in time to not be late. Overall I hated online learning and was glad to be done with it when I finished college. Or so I thought...

I started teaching in August 2019, and I was put in a computer lab to start my teaching career, not teaching computers but teaching Louisiana History to eighth-graders. I loved it! I could teach using both online and paper resources and have students turn in work the same way. It was the best of both worlds! Until that March, as we know, the world shut down, and I had to start teaching online only to make sure my students still learned everything they needed to move on. There was only one problem. I still lived in rural Louisiana, where I barely got my cell phone's data to work. How in the world was I going to teach?

I did the best that I could, just like my students. I posted assignments and tried to give feedback, but while some teachers are having zoom meetings and getting to see their students, I barely know if they turned in the work. It was horrible and a reminder of the struggle from college. I finished out the year by sitting in the local High school's parking lot to use their internet and zoom in and see my students one last time to say goodbye. It was hard and something I do not wish to repeat.

Fast-forward to the next school year, and now we are hybrid, and while I am at school with some of my students, not everyone is back. The district has a great plan to give students devices and internet if they need them, but they have to live in a particular area. So is it really helping? Also, who is helping the teachers that are struggling with the same issue? I can afford the internet, but it doesn't work. What am I supposed to do if we get sent home again?

All of this drives home the idea of Digital Equity. It is supposed to help all students make sure that they have the tools that they need to succeed and have the knowledge to use them. This is great in theory but is going to take years to put into effect and actually work. I can see this being a great opportunity and really growing our student's leaps and bounds. But we must not forget the rural communities who, no matter how you help it only helps if the technology given works. Also, does digital equity reach the teachers, or will we have to be pushed to the back and forgotten like we often are?

How can we teach when we are the ones that are not being given digital equity along with our students? Is this the job I really love anymore?

Signed,

A teacher who moved cities to make sure she could teach online.