A distraught teacher has gone viral in a video shared on social media, after delivering a tearful plea about the pressures of conducting online learning during the pandemic.
Terry Kinder, a seventh-grade civics teacher who hails from Bellview in Florida, explained in an emotional face-to-camera video that she feels as though many teachers across the United States are suffering as well, as a result of the pressures of teaching virtually.
According to a recent report by Good Morning America, the Bellview Middle School teacher uploaded the video to Facebook on September 10, and shows a tearful Kinder sitting in her car before class, opening up about some of the difficulties she has faced doing her job in the midst of a pandemic.
Ever since Bellview Middle School closed in March as a result of lockdown restrictions, technical issues have hamstrung Kinder's attempts to get through her lesson plans, and Kinder states that her school district switched from using Microsoft Teams to Zoom as a result.
Watch Terry's emotional video right here:She added that a great many children were unable to sit still or concentrate while learning remotely, with some babysitting younger siblings, or being made to run errands by their parents.
As she works in a Title One school, some children come from low-income households, and guidance counselors and social workers have been unable, despite their best efforts, to track down ill-attendant pupils.
As a result of these setbacks, 80 out of 150 students are currently flunking her class, compared to the typical rate of around four or five students per year.
Kinder captioned her video by writing:
"Over the years, I have learned so much about my teaching abilities through reading my data, obtained through standardized testing.
"I read the results, I plan and prepare lessons for remediation and review based on my data. I review the standards that were tested and look at the scores."
She continued:
"With that being said, district pretests are the absolute least important thing on my plate right now. It’s unnecessary and puts additional weight on the shoulders of teachers and students who are already stressed to the max."
"So this video is not a lazy teacher crying that she has to give online students a pretest. It is so much more than that. Watch it in its entirety before commenting on it or judging me for sharing my vulnerable truth."
On the same day she uploaded the video, she also penned an open letter to the school district and school board, in a lengthy Facebook status. In brief, Kinder stated:
"I am tired. I am at my breaking point. All of us feel like we are drowning under the weight of the expectations for online learning ... Hundreds of other teachers within this district feel the same way. We can't endure this for long."
Kinder added:
"At what point does my own mental sanity matter? At what point does this teacher abuse end? At what point will someone in the district put an end to this madness? [sic]"
Per GMA, since sharing her video with the public Kinder has been invited to be part of the district’s technology task force aimed at making the online learning format easier for teachers and students alike.