Inside the classroom: a CMS teacher's story

Plus: Teen Talk, Charlotte's news of the week

Nov 07, 2020

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As elementary students finish their first week at school since March, a 5th-grade teacher shares her challenges and joys; ‘Everyone is doing the best they can’

It’s been a tough last few months for a lot of teachers, like Elisabeth Janusiewicz, who teaches fifth grade at Smithfield Elementary. What would this week’s return of students to the classroom be like? (Photos by Element5 Digital/Unsplash and Elisabeth Janusiewicz)

Growing up in Michigan, Elisabeth Janusiewicz always knew she wanted to be a teacher, just like her parents. When she graduated from college in 2003, she heard from a friend that schools in Charlotte were hiring. So she hopped on a plane, interviewed and landed a job teaching at Albemarle Road Elementary. After stints there and at Myers Park Traditional, she started teaching fifth grade this fall at Smithfield Elementary, off Park Road near Quail Hollow.

This year has upended the lives and jobs of a lot of people — but especially of teachers, who had to adapt overnight to find ways to teach over the computer. This year, they had to connect with students they had never met in person.

That changed this week, as Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools opened elementary classrooms to students for the first time since March. Students have been divided into two groups, so that no more than half the students are in a classroom at a time, and everyone is required to wear masks and to try to maintain social distancing.

Checking in on how it is going, The Ledger’s Tony Mecia spoke with Janusiewicz, 41, this week by phone about the challenges of remote learning, safety procedures, teacher workloads and students’ return to the classroom. Here is her assessment, in her words, edited for brevity and clarity:

Growing up, I always enjoyed working with children. My connections with my students are often stronger than those I have with other adults. I went into teaching because I honestly could not see myself doing anything else.

In March, when we went into virtual learning mode, we had to adapt to an unknown way of teaching in a very short period. There was very little guidance provided because it was obviously completely different from anything we did before.

One positive was I learned how to navigate Canvas, a technology platform used by CMS. Canvas has been around for years, but there was never a real push to use it. I think the digital learning crash course helped me be a little more ambitious with technology.

My class in the spring had very specific needs. They needed the personal interaction. They needed support because they often did not have it during the day due to parents needing to work. Many did not have stable Wi-Fi, which made it difficult to connect.

It was difficult. Sometimes, we had to push the academics to the side and focus on their emotional health. As children, it was a scary situation for many students. They didn’t understand what was going on. They kept asking, “When are we coming back?” or we’d be in the middle of a lesson and they’d say, “You know, Ms. J, this would be so much easier if we were in school. I could just raise my hand if I need help.” Sometimes I just said, “I’ll be on Zoom at this time. If you want to join, we can just chat.” And then we would. We did the best we could and tried to continue to get students where they needed to be by the end of the year.

But some of my students, like those with anxiety, they were doing well because they’re at home, they’re comfortable. So that has helped some of them.

I had some kids that were home by themselves. And some had siblings who were watching them. Emotionally, at least in my experience, my students were fine. They wanted to talk because I think they just wanted to talk to someone because they were at home.

Academically behind, heavy workload

Academically, I think it definitely affected their academic level, because you can’t do the same things — like explaining how to do long division — when Zoom is breaking up all the time.

It’s just not the best situation. Coming in and teaching fifth grade this year, I see some holes. It is nothing the fourth grade teachers did. Everyone is doing the best they can.

For instance, ordinarily, a fifth-grader would know how to do a lot of decimals. They didn’t. So we started right away with decimals and place value. We’re working hard to catch them up.

As far as my workload, I’m normally someone who comes in at 7 and stays till 6. During virtual learning, I was putting in long hours just to get things done. I thought maybe with how we were told things would be set up, that the workload was going to cut down a little bit. Instead, it has greatly increased, because there’s not as much time during the day to get things done due to responding to emails, uploading modules, learning a new language arts curriculum and trying to help parents and students navigate through all of this.

I’m putting in 12+ hours. I get here at about 6:30, and I stay until about 6 or 7. And then I go home, get some dinner, and then I start working again. The day goes super fast when you’re replying to emails, trying to troubleshoot through different things, plan and get ready for the next subject. I was putting in almost 20 hours every weekend. I finally had to tell myself, “Stop, I can’t do this anymore,” because I can’t be the best for my students if I am just wiped. It also was affecting my relationship. My boyfriend actually said, “I’ve never seen you work this much.” Some of my coworkers are feeling guilt about not focusing on their families.

My team at school is amazing and has helped me get through this, and my administration is so supportive and understanding. They try to make it as easy on us as possible.

The parents have been great. I’ve never been so supported by parents. They understand that we’re all working through this. They’re patient. They’re kind. I feel like I’m a first-year teacher sometimes now. I’m thinking, “Am I doing what I should be doing?” and “Could I be doing better?” But after parents and I have conferences, I didn’t get anything like that. They said, “No, you’re doing great. You don’t have control of this. You’re doing the best you can.” That means a lot to teachers. It’s the one positive boost that we have.

I have one student who has had a hard time in the past. And for some reason, I just clicked with him. His mom was just so happy about that and said, “I really appreciate that he knows you care about him.”

The return to the classroom

With students coming back this week — I’m not going to lie — I was nervous. I have some respiratory issues, and so I was a little nervous about this. Spacing was a concern for me, but we ended up figuring it out.

We’re fortunate enough to be able to socially distance our students. Other schools where I have friends teaching, that’s different. I have a friend at one school that has three kids. Then my other friend has almost all of her kids. The numbers vary from school to school.

Monday went so well. I had 14 students. The students were so well-behaved. They listened and followed directions. I mean, yes, they’re fifth-graders, so it’s not like I’m teaching kindergarten. I thought we were going to have some issues with masks, but they all wore them like champs all day. I thought that it was going to be a challenge with all the students in the hallway, but how they have it, they space it out. So there’s never a big group of children all together.

I realized how much I miss in-person and how much more you can accomplish in-person, because you can have a talk with them. If they need help, you can be right there and see what they’re doing. The distancing is a little bit of a challenge. But we’re adapting. It was just so nice to actually interact with students. I’ve gotten to know them so much better.

They come down the hallway, and I go, “You guys are so tall!” And one said, “You are not! We thought you were taller!” (I’m 5’2”.) I’ve missed those kinds of interactions, the banter. You can have a chat with someone, where if you’re doing it virtually, there are not as many chances.

The look on their faces when their friends come in, that is awesome. They haven’t seen them other than on screen a lot of the time.

In person, the kids can get instant feedback. Monday, we were working on an assignment, and they had a writing portion. As they were writing, I was walking around looking at it and giving them advice right then and there.

And they’re more engaged. Let’s be honest. I mean, I’m standing right there. At home, some of them are lying in their beds watching TV. I’m like, “I can see the remote in your hand!” So there are fewer distractions here, but I understand why we can’t all be here. I’m not saying I believe we should all come back right now.

This year, it’s just different. It’s been tough. I’m not going to lie. It’s been tough.

But we’re doing the best we can. And we’re getting used to it.

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Teen talk: Build your vocabulary

Impress and delight the young people in your life by using the words they use. The Ledger shows you how in this occasional Saturday feature.

Today’s phrase: “bruh moment”

Part of speech: noun

Definition: a moment of embarrassment

Used in a sentence:

“It was a bruh moment when he spilled water on his pants, making it look like he wet himself.”
“It was a bruh moment when a teacher saw her copying homework off of another student.”

Ledger analysis: Was popularized by a 2014 Vine showing a basketball player Tony Farmer fainting in court after being sentenced for kidnapping. Gen X and boomer generations may loosely compare it to Homer Simpson’s “doh!” exclamation when he does something stupid.

—Andrew Bolling, age 13

This week in Charlotte: An election, sure, but also word on a tall apartment tower, Covid health fallout and a possible med school site

On Saturdays, The Ledger usually sifts through the local news of the week to get you caught up. But let’s be frank. News this week was dominated by one particular event, and you’re all probably sick of reading about it. So instead, we’re featuring our Ledger hot exclusives we published throughout the week.

Big plans for the Metropolitan (Friday 🔒): Apartment developer Northwood Ravin filed plans with the city this week to rezone land at the Metropolitan in Midtown for a tower that could be as tall as 28 stories. We’ve got the details on that from a publicly available filing from Wednesday, and the potential for the tallest building in Midtown seems like a big deal to us, at least — so we tell you about it.
UNCC survey reveals alarming trends (Friday 🔒): Public health experts have been warning of the stress the pandemic is causing to our mental health. Now, a survey by UNC Charlotte of low-income Charlotte-area households has some data to back that up. It showed significant percentages of respondents reporting domestic abuse, depression symptoms and suicidal tendencies among other alarming findings.
Medical school campus? (Wednesday🔒 ): In a curious, under-the-radar transaction earlier this week, Beacon Partners sold approximately 7.6 acres of land in Dilworth. Some signs point to it as the future site of the medical school Atrium Health has announced. But nobody is saying anything official.
City releases plan for the future (Monday): The long awaited, prodigal 2040 Plan has arrived. Charlotte is ready to move into the future, all in one “comprehensive” 320 page manual. But how much of the plan is feasible and how much is pure ambition? Time will tell.
October’s rezonings (Thursday 🔒): Want to know where developers are planning to build? The Ledger wraps up monthly rezoning filings before they hit the city’s main rezoning website.
Decision time at the cat cafe: (Wednesday): Several landmark decisions were made around the country Tuesday, none more prominent than what adorable felines Griffin, Hayes, and Cody wanted to do with their free time at the Mac Tabby Cat Cafe in NoDa. Mac Tabby and other cat cafes have begun popping up around Charlotte, offering residents an escape from grueling day-to-day work and politics.
Blissful bobbing: (Wednesday) Cristina Bolling takes us inside a saltwater float therapy tank at Float Carolina in Waxhaw, where $75 gets you a relaxing hour in an egg-shaped pod with body-temperature water so salty it’s impossible to sink.
Take it from a relaxation expert: (Wednesday) We talked to Keisha Riley, a massage therapist at The Spa at Ballantyne, about the keys to a calming environment. Two secrets: candles and lavender.

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Executive editor: Tony Mecia; Managing editor: Cristina Bolling; Contributing editor: Tim Whitmire, CXN Advisory; Reporting intern: David Griffith

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