God uses willing hearts far more often than able bodies.

There is picture of this quote on my classroom work desk. It serves as a reminder to myself that I can make it. I will figure it out. I will make it happen for my students. Yet, during these last few years- even months- I seem to look to this quote for strength much more than ever before. It takes a selfless person to be an educator, I know this. I know the type of person I am-- I give and give until I have nothing left for myself. That's just who I am. That is how many teachers are. But who will be selfless for us? Who will help us solve our problems with the gap? How are we supposed to take care of others and teach when we are not taken care of first? When are we allowed to think selfishly and reflect on our own monster of a digital divide before thinking of accommodating our students'?

When discussing the digital divide, many conversations seem to veer towards digital equity and the homework gap. As a current graduate student in an educational technology program, I read about digital equity and the lengths communities and even countries must go to create this for all members, closing the digital divide and the consequences if not-- so on and so forth. Yet, all of the articles, news reports, and data I find and am provided seem to primarily focus on one subgroup of the population-- K-12 students.

As much as I find our future generations and their education to be of the utmost importance, as an educator, I can't seem to understand why we are so concerned about the homework gap when we (those that actually make the learning happen) have a gap of our own to worry about... I like to refer to it as:

The Planning Gap

My definition of the planning gap is similar to the homework gap, yet it applies to our educators who do not have equal access to the internet or tech devices, whether it is at work, at school, or both. Many experts note that as the demands for internet use increase to function in society, work, and school, the gap seems to continue to widen with little to nothing done about it in the majority of the school districts and communities, specifically relating to internet access (both at work and home) and mobile work devices.

Teachers continue to have their plates overloaded and added to. This has escalated dramatically since the pandemic. So how can teachers continue to keep up the ever-quickening pace of instruction, along with yearly changes to curriculum, the new "purposeful" implementation of technology requirements, as well as the authentication of assessing when they do not have adequate access to internet or their salary does not support such expensive technology and bandwidth? All of these new expectations for teachers require more work and more time for planning, but what if teachers can't plan at home? We are just as "stuck" as students are with the homework gap, yet no one seems to pay much attention to our issues, since we typically fulfill the role of problem solvers for our students and others.

Over the course of the next 5 weeks, I plan to share my research and findings on "the planning gap," as well as present my ideas behind how we can better close this gap for teachers, so that we can then truly focus on what we do best and enjoy most-- teach!

While pondering where to even begin when addressing the issue of equity, I came across the term, awareness.

How do we make others aware of our current situation as teachers? It seems as though teachers are more outspoken than ever before. You see it all over social media. From comedian Eddie B's videos, to teachers' savage letters of resignation going viral, we see teachers standing up for themselves, calling out those who continue to add to the excessively long job requirement list.

Today, I want to share some insider knowledge about what is really going on within the education system... why teachers are quitting...why time is of the utmost importance right now... and how digital equity can provide the time teachers so desperately need. All in hopes that more awareness will be brought to this concern and issue.

Since the pandemic, teachers have taken on more and more tasks, as well as expectations.

NIET Rubric updates seem to be the root of all strife for teachers this past year.

Just this year many districts decided to make the transition to the "new" 2020 NIET (National Institute for Excellence in Teaching) rubric. Many districts held off on grading teachers based off of this updated rubric due to classroom changes during the pandemic and the many strenuous shifts NIET has made-- many of which have been seen to decrease scores by up to two points per category, if teachers continue to teach based off of the wording and goals of the previous rubric.

This is because the goals of the updated rubric have changed: student ownership, authentic assessments, and options being at the frontline of innovation.

With student ownership comes many other requirements teachers must consider, plan for, and learn how to incorporate on a daily basis.

For example, student ownership focus requires options for students to choose from or autonomy in general. However, with either of these comes new skills and thinking that must be taught in order to ensure students stay on task and complete their tasks successfully. Teachers are now having to find the time to not only plan lessons that allow for choice in activities and assessment, but they must also find the choice options. This takes much more time and research than many noneducators realize. If the idea is to have purposeful lessons that are meaningful to students' lives, finding or creating options to fit each student your teach can take hours upon hours for just one lesson.

To add to this, with options comes the incorporation of physical versus digital options. Once you get into the options in the digital world, now you have to worry about accessibility for all students (considering accommodations and other needs). This takes even more time and research, especially if you are a teacher with not much background in technology use and tools.

Also with student ownership comes authentic assessments. NIET is now moving towards wanting assessments that represent real life or possible scenarios students might encounter. Although this sounds great (and it honestly is), this again takes hours to create these new assessments and the rubrics to help them accurately grade them.

This is just the start of it. Don't forget about how much grading there is still to do and the lack of off hour time teachers have due to the lack of substitutes, etc.

Although pay is a big issue in the teaching world, I think time is even a bigger issue. Teachers barely have time to perform all of their daily responsibilities during their work hours, much less their additions to their tasks after the pandemic. Then, bring in new curriculums every few years to have to learn, plan for, and customize. And, to top it off, we now have new evaluation rubrics to know, understand, and prepare for-- otherwise, our job could be in jeopardy.

TEACHERS NEED MORE TIME if we are ever going to catch up with our responsibilities and changing expectations.

And, the only way we will get more time is by having access to our plans, our grades, our students, our curriculum, and other resources outside of our work hours- at home.

If we want teachers to "catch up" or "stay on top of things," something has to give to ensure each teacher has sufficient bandwidth to support their work from home. Otherwise, there is not enough time to meet the new demands of our career field.

This blog post will be published soon!

This blog post will be published soon!

References

Excerpted from: TEDXGreenville [TEDxTalks]. (2017, May 23). Bridging the Digital Divide | Jim Sevier | TEDxGreenville [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzokRz1pgb0

McLaughlin, C. (n.d.). The Homework Gap: The “Cruelest Part of the Digital Divide” | NEA. NEA News. Retrieved March 7, 2022, from https://www.nea.org/advocating-for-change/new-from-nea/homework-gap-cruelest-part-digital-divide

Rubric and Observation Systems. (n.d.). NIET | National Institute for Excellence in Teaching. Retrieved March 7, 2022, from https://www.niet.org/our-work/our-services/show/rubric-and-observation-systems