Across the country we recently celebrated National Teacher Appreciation Week. This year, we need to show our appreciation for educators more than ever. A new National Education Association poll of parents and guardians shows that over 88 percent of parents/guardians approve of the job their teachers are doing during coronavirus.

Here in Maine, we all owe a deep debt of gratitude to our teachers for their unanticipated call to service over the last couple of months and into the foreseeable future.

Maine’s teachers and all of the other staff working at our schools have taught lessons, counseled and encouraged our students remotely, working overtime to build and plan lessons. Our teachers and school staff have also continued to feed our students, making sure that hungry students are not forgotten during this crisis.

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Many of our educators have been accomplishing all of this while teaching and caring for their own children at home and managing a household in this new landscape of physical distancing. I am a retired teacher and have experienced what an all-encompassing and rewarding career teaching is, but I can only imagine what an impossible task our teachers have been assigned and are accomplishing.

What can be learned from this unique and challenging experience our valued teachers are going through? Last week, I sat in on a listening session with over 20 Maine teachers. Coming from all corners of our state, these educators shared their experiences with remote teaching. I was able to glean some important take-aways.

First, creating a classroom environment and building relationships is key during this time, equal to or more important than academic learning. While our students are isolated at home, it’s critical that they feel supported and listened to by their educators. Our educators are building this relationship every day though frequent video calls and recorded lesson plans.

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Additionally, this virus is exposing and enhancing the inequalities that already existed within our state’s education system. There is a clear patchwork of opportunity for Maine students created by lack of access to food, lack of access to broadband and technology and poverty.

For example, for those in more urban areas, broadband access has not been an issue. At the same time, in northern Aroostook County there are students sitting in school parking lots to try to get a powerful WiFi signal. Broadband access is key and needs to be available to all Maine students.

Finally, remote learning has created unique challenges for special education services. Teachers are working hard to hold virtual IEP meetings and offer services like speech therapy and literacy support via Zoom. For students with learning disabilities, however, in person support is critical to their success. Maine parents have had a hard time offering this specialized level of care to their students.

Despite these challenges, there are some bright spots that these Maine educators shared. For example, the 2002 Maine Learning Technology Initiative has put Maine ahead of other states in remote learning. Commonly known as the Laptop Program, this popular initiative has helped to level the technological playing field for our students. This has allowed educators to quickly transition their lesson plans to remote learning, without worrying about students falling behind because of a lack of proper equipment.

In the long term, as a policy maker and a member of the Education and Cultural Affairs Committee, my job will be to continue to listen to our great teachers. All of us in Augusta will then need to work together to turn these successes and challenges into good, sensible policy for the state of Maine.

But today, we need to support our teachers in any way we can to help them get through this challenging time. Current inequities in Maine, including broadband access, equipment availability, home supports and food insecurity, are exacerbating the growing achievement gap for our students that are struggling.

All of this makes our teachers’ work even harder. As one teacher said to me, “… This work is hard. It’s hard intellectually, it’s hard emotionally and it’s hard physically.” So please, thank an educator in your community. Remind them of how critical their profession is to our state, and let them know that you appreciate their dedication to our community.

Henry Ingwersen is serving his first term in the Maine House of Representatives. He represents Arundel, Dayton and part of Lyman. A retired teacher, he serves on the Legislature’s Education and Cultural Affairs Committee.

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