By: Folashade Adetuyi
Hailey Redman remembers her first day as a teacher.
“My first time meeting my first class ever was through a screen.” It was 2021.
She was having a very hard time trying to connect with kids online. Kids were screaming during class, while others were having Wi-Fi issues logging in.
“It was very isolating because everybody was to themselves and in their classrooms, and we had to flip flop being online and back in the classroom,” Redman says. “It was very difficult to say the least.”
Fast forward four years, and things are better, but only slightly.
“The obstacle is just trying to catch up and making sure that the kids are ready for new curriculum materials, trying to make sure that they understand the information from years before and prior, so it just a lot of catch up, “Redman says.
A follow-up survey of teaching post-COVID-19 by facet journal revealed that many teachers experience high levels of stress, anxiety, and burnout. Nearly 75% reported a decline in their mental health over the past year. Redman touched on her experience pre and post Covid. “I felt like I had more of a spark before covid and after has been a little bit of a burnout, not to say that teaching is always easy, it never really easy, but it been a little bit more challenging post covid.”
Redman teaches French to grade 4-8. She also serves as a gym and science teacher for grades 1-3. She taught classes both in-person and online during the height of the pandemic in 2021. She didn’t appreciate the challenges waiting for her after just graduating from college.
“I was very stressed and very frustrated about the whole experience,” Redman says. “I did not know what I was doing as a teacher, while learning my new role in developing my skills at the same time, it was hard to navigate that.”
A RAND survey in the United States found that nearly one-quarter of teachers indicated a desire to leave their jobs at the end of the 2021 school year, compared with an average national turnover rate of 16% pre-pandemic according to NCES data.
“Teaching is an individual job, but you are working as a team, and not having the team, or access to the team was a little bit difficult for me, because I wasn’t able to go to other teachers for support, so I just have to figure it out,” Redman says.
Redman’s advice for new teachers: “If you have a passion for it, anything is possible, and you can do it. You just have to rely on yourself, your strength, your knowledge, and a sense of community and I feel like you would be able to get through it.”
As for her own future in education: “I would love to work in an administrative role in the future, while working as a teacher from time to time.”
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