Full-Time Teacher, Mom, And Student: Creative Coping With School Buildings Closed
TEWKSBURY (CBS) - Michelle Grasso of Tewksbury is a mother of a seven-year-old girl and four-year-old boy. She's in graduate school. And she's a middle school math teacher at St. Augustine School in Andover.
Each day, she juggles teaching her 140 students over Zoom and Google classroom, helping her young kids with their at-home schoolwork, and getting her own studies done to achieve her master's degree. Work bleeds into home which bleeds into work, as she corrects, plans, helps her kids, and answers emails throughout the night.
This is the reality for teachers working from home and helping their students learn virtually. "The first couple weeks were a really big adjustment for my family," she told WBZ about being at home.
Grasso knows she's not alone, and that thousands of teachers across the state are in a similar situation. As her husband works in their home office on conference calls for his real estate job, she's in the dining room on "Zoom" with her students while her kids do independent work. Then, once she's done, it's time to be "teacher" again for her kids.
"When I am off with my students is when I'm hands on with the kids. So the time when they're not with me…we've had some times when they've interrupted a class or two," she said.
When Grasso learned Governor Baker would be extending schools closures throughout the rest of the calendar year, she knew it was coming and knew it was the right thing to do. "I wasn't surprised but that didn't take away the emotion," she explained. "I'm sad. I miss the students, I miss my classroom, I miss being with them. Nothing that happens digitally can replace the one on one experience, especially in math, when you see those 'aha' moments. I'm a little sad."
In the meantime, Grasso finds ways to be creative for both her kids and her students. For example, she took her kids on a nature walk and had them model measuring objects and shadows, then used the video to teach her students about proportions, geometry, and algebra.
When her daughter couldn't go to the school's family dance, the family held a personalized "Daddy Daughter Dance and Dinner" in the dining room, where Grasso's husband dressed in a tux to twirl their first grader, Priscilla, around the dance floor.
Still, being a mom of young kids, and a full-time teacher comes with its snafus -- like the time Michelle was distracted and said "yes" when her daughter asked to paint with her feet, leading to a hilarious video as Michelle chuckles at the mess.
She knows she's lucky, and that not everyone is in a similar situation. "I know that it's not that easy for everybody," she said. "I hold onto the [small] moments...let those overpower the stress...I've really adjusted my expectations for myself."
Grasso says the support of her St. Augustine School community, including parents and students, has made all the difference. "I have students that are contacting me through Google classroom," she explained. "Once I sign on, some students immediately chat me and say 'Hi Mrs. Grasso how are you?' and that makes me feel good."
For the rest of the school year, Michelle, her husband, and their kids -- along with parents and teachers statewide -- will continue to juggle online learning with work and studies, looking forward to the day they can be in the classroom again.
