Pray for Rain

The rain this week, coupled with our professional development to improve our online courses reminded me of a saying. I've heard slight variations with different origins, but the one I like is attributed to the author, Stephen King. "Pray for rain all you like, but dig a well as you do it." It seems like so much of this school year has been spent wishing and praying that life goes back to normal. So many of us have hit the point of fatigue with social distancing and the other rules surrounding the prevention of COVID-19. Similarly, we had all hit that same point with the commercials, text messages, and phone calls we received leading up to the election. As educators, we want desperately to have our kids in our classes again to engage them. We have been praying and wishing for things to change. 

But whether you realize it or not, you've also been digging your well. Think back to last Spring or even the start of this school year. How much better are we now than we were then? Think about how you've changed as an educator in such a short time. Our work this week to revise our courses based on a student or parent perspective is an excellent example. Before this year, we probably didn't do that a lot and we probably should have. Think about how much more responsive you are to students and parents. Or how much better of a communicator you've become in multiple formats. Do you find yourself thinking more about grading and what really matters instead of what you've always done? These adaptations that we have made won't disappear when we go back to a normal school year one day, just like the well doesn't go away when it rains. The work you've done remains there, ready and waiting to be put to use. I'm eager to see how our new skills will get put to use when we have all of our students sitting in front of us, but until then, I'll keep working on digging this well.