Author Archives: Lynne Olmos

The Exodus

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Are you here to stay?

For some educators, it is the end. They are leaving the classroom. Others are leaving their current positions, changing their teaching assignments, seeking the change that will heal the damage, the damage of the last three years.

It’s hard to fully analyze what has happened to our profession. So much has changed, and these changes are real and here to stay, whether or not we are.

Let’s break it down into a few chewable bites.

Loss of Control

We educators take years to establish control in our classrooms and in our practice. But, the pandemic stripped away our control. Suddenly, we were tasked with solving unsolvable problems, such as how to continue educating students who were no longer in our classrooms. As students returned, we had no control over the work we could expect from them. Expectation had to be lowered, or we would have experienced prolonged failure for our students and ourselves. Then, close on the heels of the subdued and masked, return to schools, this year brought us a marked increase in behavior issues. Unhappy students, fueled by TikTok challenges, anti-public education sentiment, and pent up emotions, vandalized our schools, stole from us, threatened us, and refused to comply with the simplest tasks.

Loss of Respect

With parents on a national scale accusing us of teaching inappropriate materials, violating their students’ rights with mask mandates and quarantines, and having unrealistic expectations, what should we do? Some students parrot the words of their parents, disrespecting public education in general and their teachers specifically. No matter the hours we put in, the changes we endure, the new training we take on, the tears we shed, we are not always seen as allies in the public eye.

Loss of Hope

The statistics are rolling in. We are going to see the effects of the pandemic and the staggering economy on student achievement for years to come. We face the prospect of appearing to fail at our life’s work for many years to come. We have experienced the effects firsthand in our classrooms with students who are easily a year or more behind, not just academically, but developmentally. We are tasked with the continued problems of inequity and achievement gaps, the threat of gun violence, the ongoing lack of mental health support, diminished resources, and a world full of false narratives and propaganda that we fight on a daily basis, just trying to help our students discover their own truths.

Loss of Joy

There is less time for play, for art, for relaxation in the school setting. The urgency around learning loss and solving the problems growing in the system is driving us away from one the most important elements of education. Students and teachers need to find joy in learning and in being a community. Without it, there is less engagement, less safety, less overall satisfaction in the experience of teaching and learning.
It is tough to face all of the loss and carry on, but we must. Of course, some will not come with us on the journey ahead. We certainly understand their need to seek a new profession or remove themselves from uncomfortable situations. However, the rest of us need to rally and carry on in a way that restores the loss.

Let’s be clear. Restoring the loss is not a call to return to normal. There is no normal, no make education great again rhetoric. We need to embrace new solutions to the problems we face.

If we want control of our profession, we need to lift our voices and let our needs be known. Teacher leadership efforts all but disappeared in the pandemic. It is time to step back into the role of advocates and leaders. What do we need? How can we get it? Why do our voices matter? Who is willing to listen and give us the agency we have earned through our experiences.

If we want respect, we need to face this issue on two fronts. First, in the classroom respect is not a given. We cannot stand in front of a group of young people who have suffered through the last few years and demand, because we are older or we are the authority, that we deserve their respect. When you study the effects of trauma on children, you start to understand that traumatic experiences tend to create an aloofness in children. They do not automatically trust adults. Without trust, true respect cannot exist. To earn the respect of students, it will take time. Teachers will need to focus on the safe and supportive environment they provide in the classroom. They need to model the respect they want to receive. That is the only way to get it from kids who have been struggling. On a larger scale, our respect as a profession will also take time. We need to openly advocate for the safety and support of our students. Our voices need to be heard, so that the false narratives have some competition. And, maybe most importantly, we need to reach out to families and communities, including them and opening our doors. When they see what we do for kids, they will have a deeper understanding.

If we want hope for the future of education, the time is ripe for innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship. Seek and share solutions to our common problems. What works? What helps our students? What makes us happier in our classrooms? For me, I am diving deeper into trauma-informed teaching practices and brain science. The pandemic gave me the opportunity to put my work online and expand the resources I provide to my students. I am not pulling back from that; I am leaning in. I am embracing technology as a way to open up a world of knowledge for my students, and I resolve to help them find their own truth through informed research and inquiry. After all, those kids are my hope.

Finally, if we want joy, we need to play and create together. We need to offset the incessant testing with music, theater, dance, art, physical activity, and all pursuits that bring smiles to the faces in our buildings. Happiness is the cure for all the ills we are facing, and the pursuit of happiness in education is a noble cause.

So, if you are not giving up on finding your joy in this profession, I invite you to join me in my quest for regaining our control, our respect, our hope, and our joy.

Despite the challenges (and because of them), I’m staying.

Are you?


Ready for a deeper dive? Check out the links below.

Links to stories about the crisis:

NPR’s Consider This: Teachers Reflect on a Tough School Year

EdSource: Covid Challenges, Bad Student Behavior, Push Teachers to the Limit & Out the Door

The Wall Street Journal: School’s Out for Summer & Many Teachers Are Calling It Quits

NPR: We Asked Teachers How Their Year Went; They Warned of an Exodus to Come

Here some more to address some of the problems:

Education Week Video: How Can We Solve the Teacher Staffing Shortage

Secretary Cardona Lays Out a Vision to Support and Elevate the Teaching Profession

Education Week: How School Leaders Can Support Social Emotional Learning (and Retain Teachers, Too)

Experts Say We Can Prevent School Shootings; Here’s What the Research Says

Your Turn: Classroom Tech 2022

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The last few years have really been an education for educators. Wherever our tech skills were in 2020, we faced challenges that drove us to do more- learn more, create more, improvise more. The good news is that we learned a lot and now have that giant toolbox of tech tools. So, let’s take a moment to share and broaden our knowledge even more.

We asked our bloggers the following questions: What is your favorite technological upgrade in your teaching practice? Is there anything that you discovered during remote learning that you integrated into face-to-face instruction? What gadgets, apps, or programs can you recommend?

Emma-Kate Schaake

I will say, adapting to Google Classroom has been incredibly convenient. I love the idea of helping students navigate their own time management with the clarity of when assignments are due and how to access materials. I also don’t  miss the piles of papers and trying to assess what a student might have missed when they’ve been absent. 

While all online, I adapted our grammar instruction to NoRedInk and students have found it to be the most painless way to practice grammar. Plus, I love it because it adapts to their mistakes, making learning more authentic than the static worksheets we’ve used in the past. 

In the library, I have been working on upgrading our catalog to a more student friendly view in Destiny Discover, and students seem really eager to be able to search for their books with that platform. I can create curated collections and students can search for books related to titles they like or on topics of interest. 

Jan Kragen

We made the shift from all Microsoft to all Google this year. I love using Google Classroom! I add assignments and the instructions stay up until all the assignments are turned in. I grade written work with multiple individual comments. I can send a message to all my kids or an email to all my parents. Parents can see everything all the time, and they can see their kid’s grades as they happen.

Jamboard is lots of fun for kids to add their comments to a discussion. Like anything else, you have to teach some tech etiquette first, but once you get going, it gives everyone a chance to all “talk” at once.

Gretchen Cruden

This year we began using Promethean Boards in our classroom. We did not have time for professional development on how to use them as they were installed over a break upon a bit of a surprise arrival date. When we got into class and saw our new boards, I was at first worried about how it would work…so I turned a few of my students loose on it to figure it out and within a few minutes they had everyone interacting and using the board. The experience reminded me of the India Hole in the Wall experiment. Overall, and would say it is easy technology and is much like a iPad-love it!

Lynne Olmos

Like Jan and Emma-Kate, I have adapted to using Google Classroom, and I really appreciate the versatility of it. I especially like it now that I am often reusing and adapting assignments I created last year or the year before! 

Beyond that, I also depended on Padlet during our remote learning times to collect and display student work. Now that we are back in person, I still find it to be very handy for collecting projects to publish and share. I even created ways to use it for test prep and fun interactive activities. 

This year I received a new ViewBoard. It’s one of those smart TVs that behaves like a giant tablet. I can project my screen onto it, use it as an interactive whiteboard, or just go straight onto the internet to show videos or access resources with students. It is a fun new toy that has been useful, replacing my broken projector, my old TV, and sometimes my whiteboard.

Now it’s your turn. Tell us what you are using that makes teaching more engaging and effective. What resources did you discover during the recent changes in education?

Your Turn: What does culturally responsive teaching look like in your district?

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We asked our bloggers to tell us about their experience with culturally responsive teaching. We asked them:

What does culturally responsive teaching look like in your district?

How are you and the educators you know using relationships to connect with students, honor their individuality and support academic achievement?

Gretchen Cruden

“We embrace learning that connects to their real lives…”

Culturally responsive teaching may look a little different in our school. I work in a high-poverty, extremely rural school. Example? We are so rural that we are defined as a frontier school and have had “cougar patrol” as part of our playground supervisory activities. That said, our school embraces what our students walk in the door with and honor it. We are a culture of “make do” and “outside the box” thinking because our students often do have to be creative in their problem solving in their home environments. We embrace learning that connects with their real lives including studying outdoor survival skills, gardening and dissecting parts of animals their families have hunted. These lessons honor their home lives and connect families to the school. In this way, our school embraces and supports our students’ backgrounds and helps build bridges to adjacent possibilities as they grow in their academics.

Lynne Olmos

“…more celebrations of diverse cultures could benefit us all.”

For all the time I have worked in my small, rural district, there has been a sort of self-congratulatory attitude in our district. We are proud of our students of color and how successful they are in our schools. However, that success is really a tribute to their hard work more than it is to any sort of outreach or responsive programs built into the system. Latinx families make up around 35% of our community, and, though we have a migrant support program that hosts occasional events and the standard English language learner supports, we don’t do a great deal to celebrate Latinx culture. Our kids are awesome, and some of our teachers go the extra mile to embrace the diverse cultures in our classrooms. However, there is a need for a more culturally responsive system.

Every now and then, we get the opportunity to celebrate our diversity. One very cool opportunity that landed in my classroom recently was through a national project funded by the CDC and managed by the Olympia Family Theater. The project, entitled Fully Vaxxed, utilized the input of bilingual youth from our school and a few others to write plays about the impact of the Covid vaccines on Latinx communities. Three of my students participated in the program, and our Drama Club attended opening night to celebrate their work. It was awesome! 

We really do a great job supporting all students in my district, but more celebrations of diverse cultures could benefit us all. Everyone deserves to see their home language, culture, and traditions represented, respected, and honored in their school environment.

Emma-Kate Schaake

“I want students to know they have strengths in their cultural, linguistic, and ethnic backgrounds…”

I am grateful to have a district and department with enough funding to have some creativity in lesson planning and curriculum. Last year, I was able to buy four class sets of contemporary young adult books for book groups and that unit was the best engagement I had online by far. The English teacher saying that books should be windows into other perspectives or mirrors into your own is almost trite by now, but still incredibly true. 

The books we read allowed students to share their own experiences and empathize with the characters. As much choice as I can offer in my curriculum, the better. I want students to know they have strengths in their cultural, linguistic, and ethnic backgrounds, regardless. So often, students do not see themselves in texts (especially those written by old, dead, white men) and I try to deviate from that norm as much as I can.

So now it is your turn.

Tell us how your school responds to the culture of its students. How do you connect with your students, honor their culture, and support their academic achievement?

All I Ever Needed to Learn about Teaching I Learned…in the Barn?

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This blog is about the intersection of my teaching life and my relationship with horses. Not a horse person? No problem. You might have another passion – cats, science fiction, woodwork… It hardly matters. The reality is that analogies are powerful pathways to learning. When we make connections, we gain insight.

Horsemanship strategies have had a bigger impact on my teaching style than any professional development, administrator, or mentor. Most of the lessons I have learned from my four-legged friends would be labeled social/emotional learning, but they also touch on trauma-informed teaching, restorative practices, and student engagement.

Here are just a few truths I have learned from those big beasts:

Fear is not an effective tool for training or discipline.

Adult humans often assume that their status as the elder and more powerful in a relationship affords them the right to insist on hard work and good behavior. Honestly, some students (and horses) are conditioned to respond to this behavior, doing whatever the boss says and trying hard to please. On the other hand, many sensitive creatures do not operate well under these conditions. Just because you have the power does not mean you can force or threaten a kid (or a horse) to do your bidding. They may do it, but it will not be their best work, and it will not be for the best reason. If you want to truly inspire a great performance, you need a trusting relationship.

Building trust takes time.

With any creature, you cannot ask too much too soon. With a horse, you need to take time to prove that you mean no harm. You have to let the animal adjust to your presence, and you have to earn their trust through consistency and fair treatment. This is so true of students, too. Push them too hard before you have earned their trust, and you might break that trust forever. You cannot demand hard work or ask them to take risks if they don’t really know or trust you. Time. You have to invest time in your students to see the best results.

A good leader does not have to be a bully to earn respect.

Once trust is achieved, you can work on building respect for your leadership in the classroom. This is similar to working with horses. They are big and can be dangerous, so it is important that they respect and honor the space of their human leader. It is similar with kids. If they trust you, and you establish firm and fair boundaries, true respect can be earned. They will be happy to do as you ask, without any dramatic effort on your part. With horses, this is all about body language, how you move, where you stand. They are creatures who communicate in silence quite effectively. With students, physical cues are also important, but we humans mainly use words to establish boundaries and build trust. One thing you never do with a horse is block its avenue of escape when it is stressed. This is also wise with students; always give them agency and voice, and you will earn their respect.

You have to give clear cues to get good results.

When you are riding a horse and you ask it to move a particular direction, there is a specific cue for that movement. If you are inconsistent in how you ask, the response will also be inconsistent. The creature is trying to understand your language, but how can it make the correct response if you keep changing the request? Imagine how frustrating it is for any learner when the rules keep changing, or when the instructions are unclear. The only cure in these instances is clear and consistent instruction. If you want students to succeed, they need clarity, consistency and repetition, along with support they can turn to as needed.

“Drive” and “draw” are the keys to engagement.

Recently, I have dabbled in “liberty” training, where the horse is free to interact with you, no equipment, just you on the ground giving cues and trying to get the horse to respond to them. It is very challenging. You have to have a way to send or drive the horse away from you, and then an even more powerful method of “drawing” it back to you. A strong drive is putting them to work and a strong draw is getting their undivided attention. Done right, it looks like magic. In reality, it is the product of good horse and human relationships, clear cues, and rewards for good responses. I see the application to the classroom here, too. I want drive. I want kids to work hard, take risks, and struggle when I ask it of them. I want them to respect my requests and take me seriously. Beyond that, I also want draw. I want them to join up and listen when asked. I want them to be curious about what we are doing next. I want them to be looking for the benefits of our interactions.

Horses are wise teachers and they have taught me to listen carefully, and not just to words. They have taught me to be respectful to earn respect, and to leave a little wiggle room to relieve anxiety. They have humbled me and helped me to understand that I am more powerful in my connections when I am thoughtful, intentional, and kind.

You may not have the privilege of learning these lessons from big beasts like mine, but you get the idea. We become wiser when we are open to the lessons around us. What we learn from our experiences, we can bring to our classrooms to be just a bit better for the students we teach.

I am interested in the philosophies and influences that other educators bring to their work. Where did you learn “everything you needed to know”? Do you have some analogies to share? Leave some ideas in the comments and we can learn from each other.

Meanwhile, here are some related readings for you.

What Teachers Could Learn from Animal Trainers

8 Lessons Horses (Yes, Horses) Can Teach You About Business

Horses Teach Us Life Lessons (Learning Emotional Intelligence with horses)

Equine Assisted Learning: Skills Development through Experiential Learning

Ready for Some Smiles?

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This week Chris Reykdal, Washington’s Superintendent of Public Instruction, released a statement supporting removal of the mask mandate in our schools. Likewise, Governor Inslee announced upcoming changes in mask mandates statewide. With mask mandates being lifted all across the country, it seems like only a matter of time before it happens in our classrooms.

Locally, in my rural region of Southwest Washington, some conservative families have been staging protests against mask-wearing. They are still holding on to the tired old claims that masks are more harmful than COVID and that people who follow the governor’s rules are sheep.

Sigh.

My four-year old grandson, masked

Well, they are going to get what they want. The days of masks in school are numbered. And, how do I feel about that? A bit conflicted, actually.

This has been a wild ride. For two years, I have been in close contact with infected students countless times. The majority of my 139 students have been quarantined at least once, sidelining sports teams and filling up the absence list, leaving half the desks empty at times.

I have lost friends to the virus. I have heard of the suffering and near death experiences of others. I know how awful it can be.

Due to my high rate of exposure, I missed out on so much time with my family, not wanting to spread anything to vulnerable family members. I stressed out over any symptoms, took my temperature hundreds of times…

The funny thing is that I was less sick these last two years than I have been in all twenty years of teaching. Why? What was the difference?

The mask. I believe this, 100%.

Still, it’s time. The masks are coming off, and I predict that it will be like a collective sigh of relief being released in every classroom across the state. As much as we have relied on them for safety, their absence will bring back something we have truly missed- the faces of our students.

One of my favorite areas of research is trauma-informed teaching practices. Recently, everything I read about the effects of trauma on children seems to apply to all of my students these days. Collective trauma. Stress. All of us, and particularly young people with less agency in their lives, have been under a great strain. Part of that strain is the inability to read the faces around us. There is research on this aspect of mask wearing, and it is the only valid argument against masks that I have seen. It comes down to one big truth – you cannot build trusting relationships with people when you struggle to read their emotions. Masks complicate that process.

With our new focus on the emotional health of our students, we will definitely benefit from the ability to openly smile at them. And won’t we also benefit from their smiles? Meanwhile, all this time teaching in a mask has likely honed our ability to communicate more clearly with our eyes, our gestures, and our body language. I think we can look forward to some big gains in relationship building very soon!

My four-year old grandson, unmasked

So, while we may have some nervous moments when we take off those masks, let’s make the most of it and enjoy the smiles we are about to see.

As you sort through your own emotions about the possible lifting of the mask mandate, here is some suggested reading:

Reykdal’s Statement

Protests in Lewis County

Study on the Impact of Face Masks…

Do Masks Stunt Students’ Social and Emotional Development?

With Mask Restrictions Set to Lift, a Haze of Uncertainty Lingers

Doctors Warn Ending School Mask Mandates Will Lead to Rise in COVID Cases

Resolutions for a Happy Teacher’s New Year

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Self-care.

I tell you, if I had a nickel for all the times I’ve heard about self-care for educators in the last year, I would be independently wealthy.

It’s problematic.

Every human being in a care-giving profession these days is under extreme stress, and they are responsible for the well-being of other human beings under stress. Teachers are in the thick of it. Their jobs have gotten more complicated; the students they serve need more care than they ever did before. And, let’s not forget that we are still in the midst of a pandemic with some unpleasant statistics telling us that our return to school next week will send up another spike in Covid-19 cases, just like we saw in September-maybe worse. School is a stressful and sometimes hazardous place to work.

It has been snowballing into a situation where the frustration is palpable wherever you go, wherever teacher’s voices can be heard. Resignations, declarations of pulling back and doing less, lashing out at the system, the administrators, the communities.

It is easy to see why we are under stress. We risk our health in classrooms full of students every day. We have to rethink every lesson we teach to increase the engagement and minimize the stress, since our students struggle to prioritize education in these difficult times. We, too, are living in a world that is not as free, open, or hopeful as it once was, just like our students. We are more isolated than ever. So– self-care?

I bristle at the term. Shouldn’t everyone else- our communities, administrators, the government, our society in general- step up to support teachers in this difficult time? The answer is obvious. They have their own stressors and difficulties. The pandemic is more about stress than a virus these days.

So, it does come down to you and me. Self-care.

The cliche is the image of the oxygen on an airplane. Adjust your own mask before attending to a child. Without oxygen, you are no good to anyone.

As a teacher, if you are out of “oxygen,” not only do you feel awful, you are also less likely to be successful in the classroom; you aren’t able to support students. It may bleed over into your family life, every aspect of your existence. So, self-care.

But, I do not mean bubble baths (though much can be said about a lovely warm bath…). I mean, flip your whole teacher practice to be one that feeds your soul, revives your spirit, and infuses your daily classroom life with oxygen.

Of course, I do not have the magic wand that helps every teacher achieve this, but I can do this for my own classroom. I can give my teaching practice a good, hard look. What is going well? What needs improvement? What needs to go? And the beginning of the year is a perfect time to resolve to make these changes. So here they are, my five resolutions for a year of happy teaching:


LYNNE’S RESOLUTIONS for HAPPY TEACHING IN 2022

I will foster a more…

…ACTIVE CLASSROOM: I will make my classroom a better physical space by encouraging movement for my students and myself. We will breathe intentionally and get our heart rates up on a regular basis. (Here is a concise article that sums up how movement can be incorporated in the classroom.)
…DYNAMIC CLASSROOM: Through art, humor, music, and all forms of creativity, I will encourage my students to be curious and involved. (This study connects humor to creativity and learning. And, if you are not sold on how the arts are essential for learning, you need to watch and read some of the work of Ken Robinson, starting with his TED Talk.)
…REGULATED CLASSROOM: I will learn more about co-regulation to better serve my students under stress, and I will provide sensory stimulation to help students de-stress. (I found this short article to be a good explainer of co-regulation, but you should really look into the work of trauma-informed educators, if you haven’t already. Check out the Trauma Informed Educators Network. They have a Facebook page and podcast I recommend.)
…CONNECTED CLASSROOM: Relationships and trust will be the first priority of every class. I will model good behaviors for sharing feelings and supporting others. (This link will give a short overview of the importance of emotional literacy for the classroom.)
…REFLECTIVE CLASSROOM: I will grade less and communicate more. I mindfully teach my students to reflect, to build on their learning and look to the future. (I have switched to a portfolio grading system, but here is a general article on how gradeless may work better for teachers and students. And, if you are looking for a concrete way to redefine grading in your classroom, I found the work of Steve Paha to be very inspirational.)

These five goals for improvement will make my classroom a better place to be, for me and my students. Honestly, I will not be a happy teacher with unhappy students, so my self-care still starts with them.

But, I am not adverse to a bubble bath from time to time.



Your Turn: 2021 in Education- Back to Normal?

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Is going back to “normal” a valid goal? Or should we learn from our experience in order to grow and change?

The last year and a half has caused a lot of havoc in education. We had to learn new ways to deliver instruction, and we had to face important equity issues with a crisis igniting urgency. What did we learn from this?

We asked our bloggers these questions: We keep hearing “back to normal,” but is that what it is? Is that what we want? Here are their responses:

Gretchen Cruden

Going “back to normal” may be a comforting thought, but I hope we don’t—at least not completely. There have been some incredibly wonderful new changes that have arisen in education due to the pandemic. I am beyond thrilled that an emphasis on SEL is occurring across the state with…wait for it…actual money to support it!  We are starting every day with mindful breathing and stretches now. Life feels good!

“I am beyond thrilled that an emphasis on SEL is occurring across the state…”

I am also grateful for the opportunity for more educators to explore the ways in which technology can play a powerful in personalized instruction. And, shhhhh…but I am also over having my students sit in pods ever again. Short sets of direct instruction in rows with break outs for small group interactions will forever be my new norm, as I can see where this serves the learning brain the best.

Jan Kragen

One of the best parts of the day is Circle Time. We spread out our chairs in a big circle around the perimeter of the room. I have a karaoke machine, so I use the microphone as our talking stick. It’s so much easier to hear kids talk through their masks with an electronic boost!

This year every one of my students has a ChromeBook. That’s been a learning curve, just in terms of logistics. Every ChromeBook goes home every night and gets charged at home. They return to school every day, get out of backpacks, and into desks. I’ve worked much harder on helping kids keep their desks organized this year because I can’t have them stuffing things on top of their ChromeBooks!

“Now everything is in Google
Classroom…It’s paperless
and super easy.”

At the same time we’ve switched to Google. For decades I’ve taught students using all of Microsoft Office. Trouble is, not everyone had MS at home, so files would go home as MS files and return as RTF or OTD or PDF files–or even pictures of files. Sometimes I could do electronic comments and sometimes I couldn’t. Now everything is in Google Classroom. I post the assignment, kids hand it in, I add comments and a grade. It’s paperless and super easy. 

What I’m missing now is the ability to have lunch with small groups in my room. That’s been so useful in the past for small groups who want to have a writers group or who share another common interest.

Lynne Olmos

I often reminisce about the old days, back when I wasn’t shocked to see what a seventh-grade student looked like without their mask. That said, I think we unveiled issues concerning equity and emotional support over the last year and a half. 

We have seen the need to ensure access to technology for all; however, we started this year without seeing to that. I feel that the hope was that we would not have to get ChromeBooks and hotspots out to those who needed access. We have less capability to provide this access than we did last year! Hope of normalcy set us up for a possible disaster, should we have to go remote at some point.

“I won’t go back to normal, because normal wasn’t good enough for the kids.”

Some of us shifted our practice to take care of our vulnerable students during a time of crisis. Personally, I changed  my grading practice and relaxed a lot of traditional discipline and “classroom expectations” to meet kids where they were and give them a safe place to feel respected and supported. I won’t go back to normal, because normal wasn’t good enough for the kids.

Denisha Saucedo

NOPE, we did not learn. In fact we took three very LARGE steps backwards. Education may never be the same. This is not meant be be negative, but reality is that we as a society may never be the same.

“New habits were formed. Students and staff have new needs.”

From year to year we know that we teach the students in front of us. Well, those students had to do (or not) school online for over a year. It is said that you need to repeat something  66 times to create a new habit, well you can triple that. New habits were formed. Students and staff have new needs. Families and communities look different, therefore the education has to look different. Educators are also dealing with trauma and that in itself has caused them to grab onto bits and pieces of the way education “use to look.”  

Emma-Kate Schaake

I’d love to have seen a full scale reimagining of education after last year, but I know that kind of revolution needs to be more of a slow burn than a five alarm fire. What I have seen in our building is a dedicated focus on student mental health, systems of support, relationships, and community. 

“..education should look different going forward, to meet students where they are and provide what they need…

We seem to be coming in with a strong “kids over content” lens and I think that’s absolutely essential. Some students haven’t been in “real” school in a year and a half. Many have crippling social and academic anxiety. 

I fully believe that students didn’t “lose learning,” but we’ve all been changed by the last year and half. So, education should look different going forward to meet students where they are and provide what they need, academically, personally, and holistically.

Your Turn: Should we be trying to get “back to normal?”

In your opinion, what should education look like going forward? What changes should we embrace? What did we learn? What are the new priorities we need to acknowledge? Share your thoughts with us.

Joy Loss: Diagnose That

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Assessment, Education, Education Policy, Elementary, Equity, High School, Life in the Classroom, Middle School, Professional Development, Social Issues, Teacher Leadership, Uncategorized

Despite the growing pushback against the term “learning loss,” it does not seem to be going away, and that is a problem. We have mandated diagnostic testing to make sure that we are addressing learning loss, meanwhile losing the time where we would be learning in our classrooms to excessive testing. Ironic? Yes, it is.

This obsession at the administrative level seems insane. I mean, no one is arguing that the last two school years were normal. Students lost time in the classroom, and we have not regained a so-called “normal” state in education since the pandemic struck. True. However, “learning loss” ignores two basic truths:

Truth #1: Our kids did not stop learning just because they were not in school. They learned a lot from these crazy times, i.e. how to navigate online learning, how to communicate digitally, how to avoid controversial topics with adults on social media, how to live through a pandemic… So many things.

Truth #2: We have ALWAYS met kids wherever they are academically. Some are at grade level, some beyond and some below. Always. They will still reach their potential. No need to panic. Honest.

Learning has happened, is happening, and will happen. But we HAVE lost many, many other things in the last year and a half- important, invaluable things: laughter, music, art, play, companionship, smiles, theater, dance, hugs, cupcakes…JOY.

Joy loss. Why are we not more concerned with joy loss?

I first saw this term on Twitter. Dr. Gholdy Muhammad tweeted: “The issue with the rhetoric of “learning loss” presumes that students were only at a loss during a pandemic, yet children and uniquely Black children have been at an educational loss (and identity & joy loss) since the inception of this country being colonized.”

Of course, her tweet is equity-focused, and it is devastatingly true. When I read it, I realized two things. First, there are always students who are marginalized, all the more reason to reform our practice. And, the second new learning: identity and joy are essential to success in school, for all children.

I am all in on this ideology. I believe that each child in my classroom needs to feel welcome, safe, acknowledged, valued, and happy. That is the only way that I can ensure that they will learn.

After stumbling on the idea of “joy loss,” I went Googling and found a blog on the ThinkLaw website. ThinkLaw is an organization founded by Colin Seale that creates curriculum to foster critical thinking skills. That was an interesting find on its own, but the blog had some great points. Check it out here.

One of many takeaways from this blog was the idea of a joy mandate. What if we cared so much about how our students felt at school that we mandated their joy? This is not to replace academics, but to enhance learning. What if every classroom was full of happy, engaged, and joyful children? Before you get too skeptical, consider this: Isn’t that just as achievable as every child meeting standard on a state assessment? Therefore, is it not a goal worth pursuing?

If you are unconvinced, if you feel like we need to seriously drill those skills and teach for those tests, think about educators and their joy loss, too. These are tough times for all of us. How will doubling down on testing and measuring learning create better school environments?

Stephen Merrill’s blog on Edutopia, “Too Much Focus on Learning Loss Will Be a Historic Mistake,” speaks so well to the problem. We actually know- according to research- what works best for kids, and we have the opportunity to reinvent public education while it is in this relatively broken state. Why aren’t we reimagining how to create a better way? Read the article here for an in depth discussion of the topic.

The “better way” is a more joyful way, full of student choice, student voice, and student passion. This is evident in my own practice. I teach three grade-levels of English and a drama class. Even with my evolving mindset for a more joyful classroom, I often get stuck in that old rut, teaching the same English lessons as I did years ago. I don’t always respond to the apathy and lack of engagement I am seeing these days as quickly as I should. I am trying to loosen up and let go of the things that don’t matter, but, in a core class, with mandated diagnostics hanging over your head, you tend to clamp down from time to time.

On the other hand, my drama class is a vibrant and playful space. We are creating art on a daily basis and learning and practicing a myriad of skills. One of my new drama students told me the other day that he learns the most in drama. He values the skills he is learning, and he is having a blast at the same time. It brought me back to my thoughts on joy loss. What if my English classes felt like my drama class? What if they were having a blast learning?

Imagine this mandate: Foster joy in your classroom. I know some educators are going to be uncomfortable if we place yet another expectation on them. I also know that it is harder than it sounds. However, wouldn’t some PD and admin support for mandated joy be nice?

We can all choose to suffer under the traditional mandates, or maybe we can ask for a new way, a better way, a joyful way to help our students learn.

Your Turn: Taboo Topics & Tough Conversations

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You have most likely seen a lot of talk on the news or in social media about subjects that some parents and pundits believe should not be taught in school, i.e. Critical Race Theory. Many teachers are being instructed to steer clear of political conversations, an all too common policy.

We asked the Stories From School Bloggers some questions about the work they are doing in their classrooms. 1) How are so-called taboo topics handled by you and your administration? 2) Do you actively avoid controversy? 3) How do you help students learn to have tough conversations in a civil setting?

We start with less volatile, but engaging areas…


Gretchen: Building Critical Thinking Skills First
With hot topics, minds and hearts are already closed. Yelling mouths tends to be the only thing open. For me, there are far more effective ways to reach the same goal of helping students to engage in difficult conversations in a civil manner than hammering on hot spots. I use direct instruction to build critical thinking skills about far less “hot-button” topics with my students. We then apply them to real life.
For example, we do unit about how the Supreme Court decides cases and how every word of the Constitution is examined for historical and current meaning as it applies to the cases. We start with less volatile, but engaging areas -Love the Fourth Amendment!- and really dig into word definitions and logic (or logical fallacies) that may accompany the arguments. We then work our way into the big ones -…the First and Second Amendments!

Denisha: Holding Educators Accountable for the Learning

“…race, equity, and inclusion are just as important as Friday’s algebra lesson.”

The problem is that so many educators have the privilege to ignore the structural racism that is the foundation of the education system, and that continuously contributes to the oppression of the BIPOC community.

With this privilege, students are left to their own devices (social media) to stay current and to vocalize their thoughts on the current social unrest, or to weigh in on discussions around race, or gender identity.

I am fortunate to work in a building where everyone says they are willing and at least wants to learn more about how to engage in “tough conversations.” We have an equity team, we have daily announcements, and weekly lessons around equity, and we have staff  PD’s around race. None of this translates into actual conversations.

Some are doing the lessons, nothing more. Some are not doing the lessons. Some are skimming the lessons. Some are finding the right time to do the lessons. Either way, it’s not enough. If a teacher didn’t offer math lessons, it would be grounds for a low evaluation, and a growth plan would be put into action before termination.

We need to hold districts accountable for teachers engaging in the necessary PD’s to feel confident and competent. SEL and conversations around race, equity, and inclusion are just as important as Friday’s algebra lesson. These conversations will change lives, open minds, and heal hearts!

Jan: Educating Tomorrow’s Citizens

“It’s important for children to understand the good and the bad of history…”

I will be teaching the 20th century in social studies this year, but I started the year by reading a Tribal Acknowledgment; Suquamish Elementary sits on Suquamish land. My class had SO many questions, so the next several days I spent sharing Suquamish history from the earliest human habitation in the region to the Boarding Schools that continued into the 20th century.

While my students were appalled at how badly the Euro-American settlers treated the Suquamish, especially after they had helped them survive the first harsh winters here, they also were able to see that some of the abuses were no longer in effect. For example, the city of Seattle banned all Native Americans from the city limits, but my students said they had been to Native cultural events in the city. Clearly, things had changed.

Again, the stories about the Boarding Schools were heartbreaking. But the Suquamish children now go to Suquamish Elementary.

It’s important for children to understand the good and the bad of history, and it’s important for them to see that things can improve.

Finally, when I asked kids what they learned that was important, one answered, “I learned my country doesn’t always do the right thing.” Learning that our government–even with the best of intentions–still makes mistakes is a valuable lesson. Having an educated electorate means having citizens who pay attention and evaluate what their leaders are doing. The first step is letting kids know they might need to do that.

Lynne: Fostering a Safe Atmosphere for the Tough Topics

We don’t give our young people enough credit for how they can manage discourse…”


I believe that part of our problem as a society is our inability to participate in discourse when multiple viewpoints are present. As educators, we can impact our nation’s future rather directly by facilitating the skills young people need to navigate discourse.

Parents in my district tend to be wary of teachers touching on controversy. Although I am not reckless in my introduction of controversial topics, I do instruct my students on discussion protocol. Then I work diligently to foster a safe atmosphere for students to discuss more and more sensitive topics.

Generally, the students choose the topics, and I provide protocols, guiding questions, and mediation as needed. And, you know what? These kids are amazing! We don’t give our young people enough credit for how well they can manage discourse, like a good Socratic seminar or a debate. However, they are initially very leery of anything political, because they know what it is like on social media, and few kids really want to dive into that mess.

On a side note, the staff in our district are specifically forbidden by our administration to discuss the vaccine. No joke. We were told that there were to be absolutely no conversations about the vaccine in our school. One substitute teacher broke that rule, and they are no longer welcome in our district. And, with the sub shortage, you know that is serious!

“…it’s our job to teach critical thinking and dismantle systems that create barriers for students.”



Emma-Kate: Engaging Curiosity for the World around Us

I absolutely believe that teaching is political; it’s our job to teach critical thinking and dismantle systems that create barriers for students. My students read news articles every week, and we read literature outside the canon because I want them to engage with the world around them with curiosity and a critical eye. In many perspectives, what I teach would fall under the (falsely defined) CRT umbrella.

I’m fortunate that my principal believes in equity work, and stands behind me and my teaching philosophy. We’re wrestling with a lot this year: How do we meet our most equity reluctant colleagues where they are? In what ways can we change discipline and MTSS to ensure our system serves all students? How does our instruction center student agency and honor the dignity of our community?

We definitely don’t have answers, but we are constantly asking the right questions.

Your turn:

How is it going in your district? What are you doing to facilitate those tough conversations? Let us know in the comments.

Your Turn: Back to School, 2021

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By the end of summer this year, most parents were anxious to see schools open up full time for all students. This was not just a local concern, but a hot topic nationwide. On August 18, President Biden issued a memorandum: Ensuring a Safe Return to In-Person School for the Nation’s Children. This memorandum called for “full-time, in-person school for our nation’s  children.” 

Washington educators answered the call and returned to their classrooms last month with full class sizes and somewhat relaxed safety precautions. We asked the Stories from School bloggers about their thoughts on this return. How are we ensuring the safety of our students and ourselves? Read their thoughts below; then we would love to hear from you in the comments. What is your experience with this year’s back-to-school season?

Gretchen Kruden: Grateful for the Protocols and Support

Having had two beloveds (one vaccinated and one not) contract Covid this year, I have had a front seat to the turbulence Covid causes in a home. It was awful to have felt such wringing worry for days on end.

That said, I am so grateful our school is following masking and handwashing protocols to a tee. We are also on the spot with kids going home and staying home who have any symptoms of Covid until they test negative. In addition, we will be rolling out an onsite testing program to help ease the financial burden of driving the 50-mile round-trip to get a Covid test for our families. The only additional layer of protection I hope the state will provide is a mandate for health districts to enforce that has schools pivot to distance learning when a certain number of Covid cases/100,000 people are active in the area. 

Emma-Kate Schaake: We All Need to Do Our Part

I feel grateful to be a teacher in Washington. I am friends with teachers in other parts of the country where even the very baseline practice of masking is essentially nonexistent. We’ve already had at least five positive cases in our first eight days of school, so I can’t imagine living and teaching elsewhere. 

That being said, that doesn’t mean our community universally accepts these truths. One of our school board members actually ceded his time with a piece of duct tape over his mouth to protest the mask mandate. 

We’re all pandemic weary, but I’m well aware that it’s a gift to be back to in person learning. I don’t want anything to jeopardize our time together, so we all need to do our part.

Leann Schumacher: Physical Distance with First-graders?

To echo Emma-Kate’s feelings, I feel so fortunate to live in Washington state. It is horrifying that other parts of the country are penalizing schools for trying to keep their teachers and students safe. Truthfully, I was very nervous about starting this school year. The dread was definitely not as intense as Fall 2020, but the anxiety was still there. Working with first graders, it has been a struggle to keep my physical distance as much as I should be. The little ones need proximity for guidance not to mention they struggle to fully comprehend directions as they can’t see my mouth. 

The students themselves are struggling to keep 3 feet of distance and I often see masks below noses. However, in general, my district has good systems in place to help keep staff and students safe but this is far from “normal” and I wish that we would be more open to acknowledging and accepting that fact.

Lynne Olmos: It’s Not Yet Time for Back to Normal

It was a stressful reopening for us in Mossyrock. Our numbers of Covid cases in our area were steadily climbing, and our community has been largely anti-mask and anti-vaccine. There was even a protest across the street from the school on our first day.

It is a struggle to follow the safety precautions when our students and our parents often see us as part of a system that they neither trust nor respect. The very first week, our entire volleyball team was quarantined after a player came down with the virus. This was a stark reminder that we are not over this yet, and we need to be prepared for the same sort of measures that we had to put in place last year, such as the possibility of remote learning or reduced cohort sizes. I am glad to have all my students with me, but this is stressful! Everyone wants it to be “normal,” but it just isn’t, not yet.

Denisha: It’s Worth It to Be Back, Despite the Cost

Teaching remotely was difficult; coming back into the building has been even more challenging. That saying, “be careful what you wish for” is 2021-2022 in a nutshell.

It is nostalgic, saying good morning, having someone respond in real time! Even though I would never ask to be back online, I don’t know that after a year and a half we understood what being back in buildings really meant. 

Shorter attention spans (adults too), kindergarten, first, and second graders with almost zero experience of how to “do school.” First, second, and even third year teachers, still really first year teachers. Modified recess, mask breaks, homesickness, substitute shortages, extended absences, anxiety, and most of all fear.

The issue? Systems. Every neighboring district is doing this version of school differently, which leaves everyone wondering, who is doing it right? 

The tears and anguish displayed daily on both students and teachers would make you wonder, why not go back online? In-person is still the right choice, but the cost is great.

Jan Kragen: Despite the Protocols, Covid Strikes

I’m happy that all the staff at school is fully vaccinated. Of course, I work at an elementary school, so the kids aren’t vaccinated. Yet. 

Everyone is wearing masks, but mask-wearing ranges from kids who double mask to those who–in fifth grade–can’t seem to keep one mask over their nose all day despite multiple reminders.

Our desks are spread out. We use hand sanitizer frequently. There’s a protocol for bathroom use, and kids are spaced out at lunch time.

Still, on September 16 I left school feeling sick. The next week I tested positive for Covid. So did enough kids that my whole classroom went into 14 days of quarantine. I haven’t been back to school yet.

Thank God I had a substitute who was able to work ALL the days I was out and who had two daughters in my room in years past. When my lesson plans were sketchy at best, she was able to fill in the blanks.

I’m going to try to teach in the afternoons next week. Here’s hoping I don’t relapse. The truth is, until we can get the kids vaccinated too, all the best protocols really aren’t enough.

What about you, readers? How was the first month of school in your district? Please leave us your comments below.