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"When school buildings across the country closed their doors due to the coronavirus pandemic, many teachers had about a weekend's notice-if that-to gather up their belongings and reimagine their classrooms from their homes. The hurried nature of the move to remote learning meant many educators never got a chance to hug their students one more time, to look them in the eyes and ask if they are OK or to tell them goodbye. Though most teachers are checking in with their students virtually, via Zoom, Google Classroom or some other video-calling mechanism, it's not the same as face-to-face interaction. After going from spending hours a day together to hardly any face-to-face time at all, the reality is teachers really miss their students. That was one of the most emphatic answers teachers gave when EdSurge asked 15 of them, What is one thing about your job you wish the public knew? For many, the "one thing" is that they really love their students, and during this time of isolation and uncertainty, they miss them a lot."

"You learned how to Zoom, or Hangout, or Team up. You read all the quick tips about emergency remote teaching. You recorded your lectures or gathered via video call with however many students you could reach each week. You pivoted, shifted and, let's be real, maybe stumbled into a makeshift version of online education. At last, final grades-or pass/fail marks-are turned in. Congratulations, you made it through the virtual semester. Now what?"

At some point, we will need to pause. Lift our heads up and survey the scenery in this new world. Then, let us hope that we ask the right questions. Making time and space for a moment of pause and reflection will be crucial if it becomes clear that this is more than a brief fling with online learning.