So many teachers have talked about how much they miss the in-person contact with students. Feelings of care and concern are so much more difficult to convery through on-line forums. In the following poem, Jane Ammon expresses how much she misses that direct, caring relationship with students.
Ode to Remote Learning
Jane Ammon
I cried
at my desk last night
as I sat grading feeling sad
and so far away from my students
as they navigate
remote learning and
online learning alone.
They tell me they are scared
because their loved ones
have COVID-19
and they are
lonely and overwhelmed
and life is hard
as they log into class from their phones at work
so they can help support their families and still be a student.
All I can do is love them
from far away inside my box on
their screens and this breaks my heart daily.
At night I pray for them.
I pray they can feel the depth of how much I love them.
I worry they cannot feel my love
through the Brady Bunch zoom boxes
I call a classroom in this space
we call life, right now.
When I was done with my tears
I finished grading and
a text appeared on my screen
from a former student asking, How are you?
and can we talk soon because I am missed?
I exhale.
Maybe, they do know
Really powerful conveyance of what is like to be remotely distanced from one’s students……..💖
Thank you Lynn 🙂
Hello, Jane –
I appreciated your thoughts on such a saddening topic. It is very encouraging to see the care and love you have for your students. I would love to exemplify that in my potential future classroom. Covid-19 has made it extremely hard for different connections to flourish and I believe that the teacher-student dynamic is one that is often pushed aside and not noticed. Thank you for calling it to all of our attentions.
Hi, thank you for your story. I’m so touched. I am a senior education major and I will be teaching next year. Thank you for being a great example of a loving teacher. Many children need a good compassionate person to look up to. You will be remembered by them forever.
God Bless, Katie
Hello Jane, while I am now studying as an education major, I was a recent 2025 high school graduate, and was a student during the pandemic who had to attend online learning. Reading this and seeing the perspective of a teacher during this time was really comforting. One of my main motivators for becoming a teacher was my own experience of teachers who seemed to lack care for their students, and motivation to creating a safe learning environment to foster high levels of achievement. The last line, “Maybe, they do know,” was very powerful to me. When teachers show that they care, even if the students don’t always show appreciation, they do notice, just as much as they notice when teacher don’t care.