The truth is that it is almost impossible to predict what is going to happen in the New Year for our schools and us, as teachers and educators. 

If the past two years have taught me anything, it is that in our world of educating children during a pandemic our world can shift overnight.

Just see how COVID has changed since Thanksgiving with the Omicron variant quickly taking over as the dominant variant for people who are testing positive. I know you are wondering how this is going to effect your classroom or your school is top on your mind. I know it is on mine. 

So many questions are going through my mind right now. Will this mean that we need to go virtual for a week or so when we return to school from the break like we did last year? I know you all remember the huge spike in COVID cases when we returned after Winter Break last year. We did go virtual for a week after the break last year and still had a big outbreak at the end of January/first of February that caused us to go virtual again for two weeks to slow the spread. 

The uncertainty makes being able to completely relax for the remainder of the Winter Break harder to do. You are worried that you need to change up your lesson plans. Or delay starting a new unit. Or you may be wondering how you are going to give semester exams if your semester didn’t end before the break. 

Instead of worrying, I encourage you to not be afraid to reach out to your building administrator or your supervisor and just ask if any plans are being made to adjust in light of the changes with COVID.  This way, if they aren’t changing anything you can truly relax and if they are, you can take a few hours and go ahead and make the changes you need to make and then be FREE to get back to making the most of your time away from school. 

I hope you will take this advice to heart in the caring spirit in which it has been given. You and all of the teachers and educators in my world matter to me. I always have your best interests at heart.