Now that summer break is upon us, all of us here at Skooler want to take a moment to give a special round of applause in appreciation for all of the teachers around the world. We thank you for the incredible effort every one of you has made over the past few months to teach our children during this difficult time.

The pandemic has touched every nation on Earth, and we are humbled to have witnessed the amazing flexibility that our teachers and school systems demonstrated as they pivoted to implement new ways of teaching.

Whether you had already dipped your toes in the water of distance learning, or it was a completely new format for you, the shift to teaching entirely online meant many of you were suddenly swimming in the deep end of that pool. Some of you were learning completely new tools at the same time you were reworking your lessons and tweaking your teaching style to fit into a new format.

Yet, despite the challenges, you stayed afloat. What’s more, you not only embraced the opportunity to swim, you busted some fancy moves that kept your students engaged and learning, despite the stress and hardships.

As we think ahead to the 2020-2021 academic year, we see an education system in a state of change. Having adapted to a completely new way of teaching, many will come back with a somewhat different mindset. As we look ahead, we believe that, with new tools and processes in place, digital and remote learning will become an integral part of education.

We hope that in-person and distance learning will go hand-in-hand and lead to new ways of teaching. For some it might mean a willingness to experiment with new approaches like the flipped classroom. For rural schools and those with limited teaching resources, blended online learning approaches could provide greater access to teachers for specific subjects that can be taught remotely. These changes will open the door for more opportunities for students who are ill or otherwise can’t attend in-person classes to be able to keep up with their peers.

For parents, many of whom found themselves suddenly having to play much of the teacher role with their children at home, there is already a new level of appreciation for what teachers do on a day-to-day basis. This alone will advance positive changes in parent-teacher communication and understanding!

With that, we want to wish you all a well-deserved summer break, and we look forward to connecting with you again as we approach the new school year with new and exciting tools that will make your school day easier than ever.