What it's like to be a distance learning teacher: Shir Tikvah

Here’s to the educators—on a moment’s notice, they completely transformed how they do their jobs to make sure our kids’ Jewish education didn’t miss a beat. We wanted to know: How are they handling this? What are they learning?

As schools close and we move into a pandemic summer, we’ll be sharing interviews with teachers at our seven partner schools. 

Cheryl Shachaf, who teaches preschoolers and parents together at Shir Tikvah, had the opportunity to close out her class’s school year via Zoom. Through that experience, she says, she felt the class received much-needed closure. 

What has been the most rewarding part of this experience? 

Being able to find a way to bring closure to our class without being able to be face-to-face and finding that I could be my true self: open, present, and genuinely caring to each child and their parent(s). I am very, very appreciative to Forrest who heads our religious school. Without his support running the Zoom session, I would have had a much harder time feeling comfortable, at ease, and able to be fully present as a teacher. 

I played a song which we used in class to welcome everyone as we gathered together in our welcome circle. It was so much fun and deeply satisfying so see the children and their parents participate in the arm and body movements we used during the song as we sang along, just as if we were together in the class! 

I also loved having the children request from their parents when they wanted to "chat" and get a chance to speak to one another. It felt as if we were together in our class! 

And what has been the hardest part? 

Not being able to be physically present and have the connection between myself, the children and the parents. The virtual class gave everyone a chance to share what they had been doing during "quarantine" and share in saying good bye to one another. 

What will you remember as a teacher during this crisis? 

I appreciate having had the experience of virtually teaching and seeing the possibility of genuinely reaching young children and their parents in a meaningful way. I will deeply appreciate being able to teach in real time, allowing me the ability to truly "touch" the children and see them interact together as a group. I will not forget the separation we experienced during this time.