With students experiencing profound mental health struggles because of the pandemic, I’ve taken a different approach to teaching this year.
And I hope you’ll join me.
Yes, I’m still following my classroom management plan. I still expect every student to meet the standards I set for the class. I still push for continual daily improvement.
After all, Covid or not, children need purpose. They need direction and responsibility and a metaphorical kick in the pants.
Building grit is key to good mental health.
Still, for many, hope is losing its grasp. When you can’t see to the end of the tunnel, discouragement bears down on you like a runaway train. It nips at your heels and threatens to take you down, down, down.
So my focus has shifted.
Since the start of school, I’ve drenched my students in a downpouring of hope. In the midst of so much uncertainty, fear, and isolation, I believe it’s our primary duty as teachers.
What I’m doing is nothing specific. I don’t have a three-step process for you to follow or a list of the perfect things to say. Nor do I have any particular strategies.
I let the message guide me.
As soon as the green light flickers on, I sprinkle my lessons with talk of present joys and future dreams. I share the books I’m reading and the perspectives they offer.
I talk about my dogs and the sunshine and the first divinely bite of an apple.
I show them the art on my walls. The too-heavy kettlebells I’m swinging. The journal I write in. I describe the smokey green tea that gives me more enjoyment than it should.
I reorient them toward simple pleasures, those that must be savored, appreciated, and cultivated or else will die dry and withering upon the vine.
I show them short motivational videos and play music that stirs the heart. I talk about getting back to school, meeting face to face, and the fun we’ll surely have together.
I tell them to hang in there, that I’ve got their back, and that life can and must be lived in full.
I tell them that this too shall pass.
I bring up goals and ambition, love and beauty, hope in the unseen and grace for us all. I acknowledge frustrations and sadness and the reality of 2020.
Most of all, I laugh. I joke. I find humor in the mundane and glee in the absurd. I model joy in spite of it all. I show that you can choose a positive, determined existence no matter the circumstance.
There are days, however. There are days when feels as if it’s all closing in on me too.
So I sit and I breathe. I close my eyes and prepare for class by thinking of them, my students, and what it must be like in their shoes—confused, lonely, life on hold.
And I soften.
It’s my job now to guide them through, to help them navigate the forest dark. To convince them that though we can’t see the light, it’s there.
Just around the bend.
PS – The next Facebook Live Q&A is set for Tuesday, October 27th at 4pm PST. I hope you’ll join me.
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Brilliant. I do all this, it’s in my nature, but it’s good to know that other professionals legitimate, even encourage that too. Thanks 🙂
Gundel
I am a 1st grade teacher and we are in-person 4 days a week. I do have a few virtual students since parents were given the option.
What I notice the most this year is the lack of confidence that the students are returning with. I know that part of this my students is that they are 1st graders and are still learning what school is all about and are still not able to work totally independently. But I also see and additional aspect present this year. Most of my kids are so hesitant to try things that they don’t absolutely know how to do. After instructions are given, if they don’t know exactly what to do, the hands go up and nearly all of them are asking for individual directions and/or verification that they have the direction correct before they start. They are literally “deer in the headlight”. As a teacher, it’s both sad and overwhelming to acknowledge where they are at the moment. We (my student teacher and I) are working on moving them to be a bit more independent each day but it is a really slow process.
I am also discovering that, at least at my level, that I am not dealing with the Covid Slide, since in my mind this indicates that they had the knowledge and lost it in the time we were out of school. I am discovering, sometimes in the moment as I go, just what skills the students weren’t taught last year because their year ended so abruptly. Virtual teaching at all levels is hard, but I can only imaging how hard it is to do with a Kindergarten student. Thus, there are time when I have to ask, “Did you learn about this last year?” and if not I give a short explanation in order to get through the current lesson and tuck it in the back of my mind that that needs to be a focus.
So far the year has been exhausting, but when I see videos and posts about empty classrooms, etc. I am so grateful that I live in an area where the Covid numbers are so low that it is safe for us to meet in-person. The days are long, but seeing them everyday makes it worth it!
Very inspriational Michael!
Thanks so much!
Thank you for this! On Monday we are discussing a reorganization that is happening this coming week in which students will find themselves in new classes with new teachers (due to many students pulling out of in person leaning). Your words will help give me words to tell my kids on Monday as we face this reorg. together. Thank you!
Most of my kiddos are in class, only a few are virtual. I always start by asking, “How are you feeling today from a 1 to 10?” Quite a few 10s the other day and the question came up from one student, who wasn’t a 10, how do you be a 10 all the time? The question was aimed at me. I explained how I think about all that I am thankful for, all that I am happy about, and I try not to focus on the things that bother me or make me mad or sad. This kid has really had a rough life and he’s only 10 years old, so I hope I can help him have more days where he feels like a 10. Positivity rubs off in a good way! Thanks for the reminder Michael. Your posts are one of my highlights each Saturday.
I like the quick “meter” to give you a sense of where kids are! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you, Michael. I appreciate your thoughtful, useful, hopeful advice! I have just come out of 4 months online teaching (in Australia) and one thing that really helped was sharing funny moments/memes/stories with my students for a few minutes at the start of each class. I heard the novelist Barbara Kingsolver speak in Sydney a while back, and she said that in her opinion, adults being openly pessimistic in front of children was a form of child abuse, and I agree!
Since the start of this year I have been showing my 8th grade students (all virtual) an inspirational video each week and asking them to respond to it daily. The first day we answer: what surprised me; confused me; reminded me? The second day we answer: what is the theme and how could you tell? Then we write a paragraph response to a prompt geared to that video. We have seen videos about Jennifer Bricker, Inky Johnson, Will Wheaton (the nerd question), Nick Vujicic, and one from Kid President about Heroes. The students are doing lots of personal reflection and I hear the “hope” factor grow from week to week.
Just what I needed to hear!! Thank you!!
Loved the article. A ray of hope, a bit of sunshine, a pinch of fairy dust on us -this attitude – is what it will take for all of us to heal with hope and happiness and then opening our wings of progress we will see each one of us is flying higher and higher with the joys of life.
Thank you. We all need to look at how to connect with students and all stakeholders during this challenge. Educators have the power to inspire and foster life changing resiliency
Thank you for the insight. Which videos do you show them?
This is absolutely beautiful! Thank you for reminding us that it is sometimes the intangibles that are very needed and very tangible for our students! Hope being one of the greatest and most needed of those intangibles! Bless you!
Good! Make a plan for success. Crises, conflict, and destress are not new. Even in Bible time you learned of Boils and Blindness. COVID-19 should be no greater. I don’t say it is easy nor easy to control. Thanks! Keep sending messages for choices as how to control.