Encouraging Dis-Comfort

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Current Affairs, Education Policy, Elementary, Life in the Classroom, Mathematics, Social Issues

At the beginning of this year, in the middle of a math lesson, one of my most advanced students, Caren,  suddenly said, “I don’t get it.”

Another student immediately spoke up to offer help. “Let me show you how to do it!”

I stopped the second student, saying, “That’s ok. Let her struggle.”

Caren’s face went bright red. She wasn’t used to struggling at anything. But I let her sit in that discomfort. I let her struggle. Eventually she said, “Oh, I see what I did wrong.” She was able to explain how she made her mistake on the problem.

After school, in the parking lot, I talked with her father and told him what I had done. He laughed and said he agreed with my strategy.

On March 14 I showed my class a SlideShow of pie charts during math for Pi Day. They were all jokes. My class had a wonderful time laughing at all the visual puns.

Toward the end I put up the following slide.

Pie Charts Are Hard

One of my students, Edgar, said, “I don’t get it.”

Kids tried to explain, but I just said, “Look at the title.”

Edgar said, “There’s no red!”

I said, “Look at the title.”

He said, “There’s no red anywhere!”

I repeated, “Look at the title.”

Finally, he said, “The title, what? The title … I don’t get it … I don’t … oh. Now I understand.”

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Gifted Parents

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Parent Involvment

I don’t watch much sports, but I’m an Olympics junkie. I love the Olympic motto: Higher—Faster—Stronger. That’s how I want to teach, helping my kids as they always reach for the next goal.

This year one detail from an interview with Nathan Chen, the American gold medal figure skater, struck me. He said that his family didn’t have money for skating lessons when he was a kid. So his mom took him to occasional lessons. While he worked with the coach, she took copious notes, and—between lessons—she was the one who coached him, using what she had learned at the last lesson.

In this column I talk a lot about gifted students, or, as Washington State says, Highly Capable (HC) students.

It’s time to talk about gifted parents.

We had neighbors with a son Rafe who dug up their back yard to install a koi pond and a Japanese tea garden. Then he decided it wasn’t right, dug it all up again, and redid the whole thing. Multiple times. In the end they had a lovely back yard, but only after years of mess and chaos.

Rafe had a gift for gardening.

I thought his parents had a gift too. They were willing to put up with years of mess and chaos in order to support their son.

By the way, by the time he was in high school, Rafe started his own landscaping company that helped pay his way through college.

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Student Equity Summit

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This fall, all of our students had the opportunity to take perception surveys in their homeroom through a program called Panorama. The results gave us invaluable data that our leadership teams have been digging into for months.

The biggest take away has been, perhaps unsurprisingly, that we need more student voice in our equity and leadership work. As I wrote last year, students joining our staff equity team was a powerful experience and we’ve seen student leadership continue to grow from that first meeting.

This fall, we hosted a Student Equity Summit with speaker, author, educator, and consultant Erin Jones at the A.S.H.H.O cultural center in Tumwater. Eating food together, being in community, and learning from each other outside of school in a nonwhite space was eye opening for students and adults.

The last thing we wanted to do was lose the momentum of that day, so we hosted a second summit in February where we gave students a chance to dig into the Panorama data and have conversations about their experiences at school. 

We asked students from the Social Equity Club, which I advise, to plan the event and they chose the data they thought were the most interesting and gave input on our student edition of Speak up at School training. They were just as excited as we were to launch and to hear from their fellow students.

The morning of, donuts at the ready, we gave students the results and asked them: What do you notice about this data? Why do you think this is occurring on campus? Does this match your experience? 

Right away, their answers were insightful. 

The first question “How fairly do students at your school treat people from different races, ethnicities, or cultures?” had results that were 66% favorable and students were quick to dissect those numbers. Many wanted to disaggregate the results because as students of color, they definitely felt they didn’t fall into the 66%.

Next, we looked at the question “How often do students at your school have important conversations about race, even when they might be uncomfortable?” which was only 42% favorable. The overwhelming consensus was that students and educators alike are afraid to have these tough conversations. All teachers across the district have been trained with Speak up at School, but these students told us they haven’t seen a change. 

“People think their comfort is more important than someone’s safety,” one student wrote. “If you never talk about it or be in that uncomfortable place, you’re never going to grow or get out of your bubble.” 

Our third question had abysmally low results; only 23% favorable. “How connected do you feel to the adults at your school?” Students were clear that it’s obvious when a teacher really cares, (“when they have your heart” as one student put it) but many feel they don’t think teachers understand their experience outside the classroom, especially around issues of race or their cultural experience. 

We left the summit with piles of sticky notes, key insights, and a whole new set of questions like puzzles to solve. 

Before the summit, we adults had parsed through the data, but the morning clearly showed us that without student input, we’re probably missing the forest for the trees. Using the last question as an example, we’re now asking ourselves: What does it actually mean for students to feel connected to the adults in the building? How would they define connectedness? And, perhaps most importantly, is that even what they want? 

No one knows the student experience better than our students and while we want to solve problems for them, it’s key that we remember, they are our best problem solvers. 

On the heels of this event, the Social Equity Club is planning what they want to do next (board meetings and summit 3.0 here we come!) and they’ve been clear about the nonnegotiable changes they want to help enact. If we adults continue to ask students to show up, be vulnerable, share their experiences, and contribute their ideas, we’d better be prepared to listen, learn, and make real change.

Ready for Some Smiles?

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Current Affairs, Education, Education Policy, High School, Life in the Classroom, Middle School, Social Issues, Uncategorized | , ,

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

To Acknowledge History Is to Be Radical

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In December, I taught my students about the Great Depression. Factories and stores couldn’t sell their goods, so they paid their workers less. The workers then bought fewer things, so the factories and stores sold less, leading them to pay their workers even less.

Banks failed. People lost their savings.

Clothes wore out and were patched.  There was no money to buy new.  People moved to cheaper houses and then to cheaper dwellings that didn’t qualify as houses.  They bought cheaper food and then less food.  Finally, they weren’t able to buy enough food to keep up their strength.

At that point in the lesson, one of my students Aleesha raised her hand. She said, “Mrs. Kragen, I would rather live through five years of a pandemic than live through the Great Depression.”

Teaching history provides perspective.

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The Freedom to Read

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Current Affairs, Education, Education Policy, Equity, High School, Literacy, Social Issues, Teacher Leadership, Uncategorized | , ,

Censorship Gone Wild 

There have been a plethora of school library censorship and banned book stories lately. Unfortunately ,there are too many to list, but here are a few highlights that may have graced your news feeds. 

A school district in Tennessee banned the graphic novel Maus by Art Speiglman over concerns of profanity and female nudity. 

Another in removed Toni Morrison’s first novel, The Bluest Eye from library shelves for obscenity. 

Texas, perhaps unsurprisingly, has a whole host of books their officials want to ban, an overwhelming amount of which feature LGBTQ+ characters and themes. 

Librarians have been accused of poisoning young minds, buying pornography, and indoctrinating students. 

One of my favorite frequently banned books, Stamped by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi, prominently placed in our library’s Black History Month display. 

In the midst of all of this, it would be easy for Washington educators and librarians to rest on our laurels, grateful not to be working in one of these states with high profile cases. After all, Washington is liberal and progressive, right? 

But, when a colleague sent me this article on Book Riot, “LGBTQ+ Books Quietly Pulled from Washington State Middle School” I was reminded that issues of intellectual freedom and censorship in school libraries are everywhere. Stories like this one that don’t make national headlines are even more unsettling for their insidiousness.

In Our Backyard 

In Kent, The Cedar Heights Middle School librarian, Gavin Downing, was deemed to have “sexually explicit” books on his shelves. The principal pulled books from the shelves, insisted that she monitor all future purchases, and created a council at school to advise Downing on “age appropriate material.” 

It all started with Jack of Hearts by L.C Rosen about an “unapologetically queer teen” who “celebrates the freedom to be oneself, especially in the face of adversity.” If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo, an award winning novel about a trans girl, and All Boys Aren’t Blue, a memoir by LGBTQIA+ activist George M. Johnson, were also discussed at board meetings and removed. 

Kent has a board policy to “revolutionize school libraries” across the district but clearly,  censoring queer voices is out of alignment with the third phase of their plan which seeks to “reinforce equity and excellence.”

I can’t help but draw parallels to Texas where 59.95% of the 850 books on the governor’s banned list feature LGBTQ+ characters. 

In Defense of Libraries 

I am an English teacher, so it’s perhaps unsurprising that I take the freedom to read very seriously. I have also been unspoken about the fact that I think we need to update our curriculums to reflect a more accurate, diverse, and empathetic world view. 

Additionally, this year, I’ve been a librarian half the day, a move that has encouraged me to pursue my library media endorsement, with the hopes of becoming a full time school librarian.

In preparation for one of my classes, I researched Library Bill of Rights and the American Library Association makes it clear that the principles of the bill apply to school libraries. 

The American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights.

The ALA has a series of interpretations of this bill and there are a few principles that stood out to me in regards to both local and national censorship. 

Intellectual Freedom: School librarians are leaders in promoting “the principles of intellectual freedom,” and must empower students with “critical thinking skills to empower them to pursue free inquiry responsibly and independently.” 

In the Cedar Heights Middle School case, the removal of books from library shelves limits free and independent inquiry. Remember, we aren’t talking curriculum here, but simply books that students have the freedom to read on their own time. 

Diverse Points of View:  Collection material should “represent diverse points of view on both current and historical issues” and “support the intellectual growth, personal development, individual interests, and recreational needs of students.” 

Representation matters. Books by and about the LGBTQ+ community can be powerful mirrors into students’ own experience or windows to foster empathy. I’d argue the titles that were removed from Cedar Heights could have played an integral role in students’ “intellectual growth” and “personal development.” 

Political Views: The resources in the library should not be constrained by “personal, political, social, or religious views” and school librarians should resist efforts of outside groups to “define what is appropriate for all students or teachers to read, view, hear, or access.” 

It’s no coincidence that the books banned in Kent were all written by and about members of the LGBTQ+ community. As long as those individuals continue to face discrimination, their existence and their stories will remain politically charged. 

Rights of Minors: “Children and young adults unquestionably possess First Amendment rights, including the right to receive information through the library” and equitable library access should not be abridged by “chronological age, apparent maturity, educational level, literacy skills…”

Librarians are tasked with using their expertise in areas of literacy and adolescent development to fill their shelves. They are uniquely positioned to help their patrons explore those materials and think critically. Students are exposed to more than ever before online, and libraries are a safe place for them to explore a variety of resources with the guidance of a caring adult.

Parental Responsibility “Parents and guardians have the right and the responsibility to determine their children’s—and only their children’s—access to library resources. Parents and guardians who do not want their children to have access to specific library services, materials, or facilities should advise their own children.” 

While I can see why some content might be deemed too mature for young readers, all of the books facing removal at Cedar Heights are highly vetted, award winning, and deemed important young adult texts. As an educator who has, at times during this pandemic, felt more like a babysitter than a teacher, I very much appreciate the focus on families’ individual choices. 

What’s Next? 

I wish I had answers during these “polarizing” and “unprecedented” times. Maybe, some day, we can live in a more harmonious political climate and experience some mundane, precedented news stories, though I’m not holding out hope. 

However, as an educator, English teacher, and aspiring school librarian, it’s clear to me that the challenges we’re facing around intellectual freedom warrant our full attention. 

So, pay attention to your school library and the books filling it’s shelves. Does your librarian curate a collection that is representative of your students’ needs? 

Tune into your local school board meetings and contact the members. (The Book Riot article has contact information for Kent board members if you want to help the situation in Cedar Heights ). 

Have conversations with your principal and colleagues. Where do they stand on issues of censorship and equity? 

Our students deserve the freedom to read and we should never stop fighting for that right.

Identifying Students for Highly Capable Programs

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Assessment, Education Policy, Equity | ,

It’s hard to identify students for gifted—or Highly Capable (HC)—programs.

I just finished reading Malcolm Gladwell’s 2009 book What the Dog Saw. One chapter was called “The New-Boy Network: What Do Job Interviews Really Tell Us?”

Gladwell explained that people can give a terrific interview and be bad at the job. Why? Because people’s traits and abilities are task-specific. Someone may have the characteristics of a great interviewee and the ability to answer interview questions well, but that same person may not have the temperament or personality or skills to perform well at the job. An interview and a job are different situations, and the person will respond differently to the two types of situations.

How does that apply to gifted identification? Imagine that a district limits itself to a single test. You may have a child who delights in that type of test question and who is comfortable with that type of testing situation. On the other hand, you may have a child who finds that kind of test question boring or who is distressed at the testing situation. If those same children have identical abilities, the first child is going to have a higher test score.

A psychologist in New York state gave a 4-year-old girl an individual IQ test that took over an hour. When the test was over, the psychologist came out and said the child missed the cut-off score by one point. However, he added, the score wasn’t valid because the girl got hungry halfway through the test.

He never gave her the chance to take a snack break.

In a district in North Carolina, the means of identification was single creativity test: “Draw a person.” Of course, the more detailed the drawing, the more creative the student. One child barely drew a stick figure, so was not identified as gifted. His mother said they should have had him draw a map. He would have been working on it for over an hour. 

He needed a different prompt.

In Washington state, districts are required to use multiple criteria for identification.

  • The more points of information, the better. Having just three items is ridiculously low, especially if two of them are subjective.
  • The more diverse kinds of information, the better.
  • The more familiar the setting for data collection, the better. Assessing kids in their own school during the school day is the best.
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Resolutions for a Happy Teacher’s New Year

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Education, High School, Life in the Classroom, Middle School, Professional Development, Social Issues, Teacher Leadership, Uncategorized | , ,

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.



Native Mascots: Appreciation not Appropriation

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Tumwater Thunderbirds

In early 2021, the Washington legislature passed House Bill 1356 banning the use of native mascots in public schools.

Tumwater High School, where I’ve taught the past five years, has the logo of the Thunderbird and sits on Nisqually land, at the intersections of Cowlitz, Coast Salish, and Squaxin lands. 

 Part of the bill, aiming to build relationships between the tribes and school districts, specifies that mascots can be used, but only through consultation with and approval by the nearest tribe. So, when it passed, our school board formally met with the Nisqually tribe to discuss and reevaluate our use of the Thunderbird.

The most used mascot is what our admin affectionately calls “the fat chicken,” which has no visible ties to its native heritage. But, walk our hallways and you’ll find various nods to native art, including a questionable totem-esque logo and letterhead. 

As one especially observant incoming freshman said in passing during summer school, “The amount of cultural appropriation in this school is astonishing.” 

With several high profile public team changes, like The Washington Team, this student, and the members of our THS Social Equity Club are well versed in the inappropriate use of native mascots. They are more than willing to have tough conversations and explore necessary changes.

A student leader of the Social Equity Club, THS senior Sophia Ruiz explained the significance of the bill; “We are ever growing and changing, we need to honor the heritage that stems from the Thunderbird.”

However, alumni grumbled (“tradition” and all), and I was more than a little worried about backlash to the law. Righting wrongs isn’t usually comfortable and Tumwater has its fair share of negative press around equity work. 

Don’t Forget the Water

On December 16th, a new era of the Thunderbird, one honoring it’s Nisqually heritage, was born. 

Board members, district leaders, administrators, teachers, and student representatives were invited to the Nisqually Tribal Center for their official council meeting granting us use of the Thunderbird. 

As the advisor for the student Social Equity Club, I was able to accompany my students to this historic day. 

Willie Frank III, Chairman of the Nisqually tribe, who has played an integral role working with Thurston county schools around this issue, thanked us all for being there and said the chambers had never been so full. He shared the legend of the Thunderbird and its significance in the area at the base of Mt Rainier. 

He explained the story of Teqwu? Ma? (“Don’t forget the water” in English) and wrapped two students in blankets with Mt.Rainier and that saying to signify our continued relationship. 

Sophia was one of the students who was presented with a blanket, and I got goosebumps watching tears well up in her eyes. 

“That day struck me as powerful and emotional,” she told me. “I was ecstatic that they were getting the recognition they deserve and were finally seen in the way they were always meant to be; important and beautiful.” 

Our next steps as a school is to brainstorm ways to honor the Nisqually tribe and Thunderbird in more than just name and likeness. Should we say a land acknowledgement before every home game? Can we commission tribal artists to fill our spaces? Is our social studies curriculum inclusive enough of native history of our region? 

“I want the school to be socially appreciative, not appropriative,” Sophia said. “Their tradition and livelihoods are… unique and special and they deserve the utmost respect from those that still use the Thunderbird. They deserve respect from everyone regardless.” 

I couldn’t agree more. 

Your Turn: 2021 in Education- Back to Normal?

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Current Affairs, Distance Learning, Education, Education Policy, Equity, High School, Life in the Classroom, Middle School, Online Teaching, Professional Development, Social Issues, Teacher Leadership, Uncategorized | , ,

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.