It would seem preposterous to say that the COVID-19 pandemic brought in nothing else, other than loss of lives, massive loss of livelihood due to economic recession, and all sorts of sufferings in catastrophic magnitude. On the brighter side of things, a few things came out good as the pandemic continued to rampage humanity.
As a biologist and believer of evolution, I reckon that
COVID-19 is one force, just like any deadly disease, that drives the natural
selection process. I hate what I just posited. And many people will hate me,
too, for seemingly insensitive and for lack of empathy for those who lost a loved one or two, to the
disease. But ‘tis the sad biological reality,
as it occurs in all forms of life, the human species is continuously evolving.
I never had taught online classes before. When all classes were
unexpectedly ordered to transition to remote delivery with the start of the
pandemic, by force majeure, I had to change the pedagogy halfway through the semester.
It was difficult for me, even more difficult for my students! Online platform may be effectively used in
some courses, I thought. But it might not be good for skills-based courses
especially in the sciences with laboratory components- the reason for my utter
lack of interest in teaching courses online.
But this pandemic had me underwent a sharp paradigm shift, affording new
opportunity for me to acquire and sharpen new instructional strategies in an
online environment. As such, it helped me develop professionally!
I have diverse groups of students in my classes, a
commonplace demography in community colleges. Dealing with these students, who were
coping up with adversities in their family and work situations, taught myself more
about empathy and compassion. I needed
to be more flexible and more accommodating to my students than what I once was before, without compromising
expectations.
It turned out, working or shall I say, teaching remotely at
home, had its perks. I never had to wake so early in the morning to catch up
the 8:00 lecture, and never had to get home late after the late night classes.
I could be in my classroom without dressing nicely, so that literally, I could
teach while on my underwear! It saved me
some pennies since I didn’t have to leave home to drive to work.
It was during this pandemic year when I got the most precious gift – the coming of our grandson. This doesn’t mean though that my own kids were not that precious. Absolutely, each one is! But the arrival of Keith Sebastian (aka Patoot), brought in a different kind of joy, only grandparents can relate. This amazingly adorable and admirable rascal has become the center of our world. His presence in our lives made us forget, albeit perfunctory, the conundrum COVID-19 is spreading. He sure is our ultimate source of happiness.
When will this pandemic end is a question in everybody’s
mind. And the answer remains in the dark. What is certain is that the coronavirus will
continue to live among us. As science
has gained better understanding the
virus and has developed the vaccines against
the virus, humanity will soon be spared from further devastations caused by
this pandemic.
My hope is that, soon, things will get normal, even if it’s going to be a new
normal!
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What are your personal reflections about the pandemic
year? Please write your comments below.
Better still, please follow me in all my blogs.
Happy new year everyone!
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