This Wasn't Back-to-Normal
Remember last August when we thought this school year was just going to be great? "The past 2 years was so hard, but the pandemic is over, all that political strife seems to be muted for now, so let's just dive into the school year as we return to normal and have the best year ever!"
Remember that?
For a lot of educators, it sure hasn't felt like the best year ever or anything close to normal. Getting students who had grown so used to being at home in virtual classrooms and living by their own schedules and their own rules and their own motivations, getting them to not only work in school but actually be passionate about it and engaged has not been normal.
Shutting out all of the external noises, the clueless politicians, the guy from high school on Facebook, the people who have no idea what it means to be an educator but are trying to tell you how to teach and lead students, hasn’t been normal.
And leading a school or a classroom with constant disruptions, half of your class out on quarantine, teacher shortages, sub shortages, Tik-Tok challenges that destroy bathrooms- all these disruptions and more have kept on coming.
Meanwhile, trying to care about the health, and safety, and well-being of students while simultaneously trying to preserve your own has not been normal.
This hasn't felt like the fresh start we were hoping for.
So do we get our hopes up for next year? Are we setting ourselves up for disappointment if we dare to believe, if we have the audacity to think there is a normal school year on the horizon?
I don’t know.
But I do know that despite all of the loud voices, and disruption, and the pandemic, my little girl learned to read this year. And I mostly have her Kindergarten teacher to thank for that.
And I know that over 3 million hopeful seniors walked across the graduation stage this spring.
And I know my friend Lauren, who’s a school nurse, took the time to answer every single question a family asked her during this pandemic, and she did it with an immeasurable amount of patience.
And I know that group of teachers I met in Detroit who lost one of their students to a car crash last October, were a bedrock in their community during that tragedy. And that the teacher whose class that student was in, let his older brother come sit in her room every single day because it brought him comfort. That still happened this past year.
And I know lots of teachers who have said student-behavior has been worse than ever, but for some reason, whether it’s coming together during a hard time or a hopeful sign from this generation, building relationships with students has never been better.
I know my son wants to be an author when he grows up because his teacher this year told him he already is one.
And I know all this talk about learning loss is real, but I also know without a doubt how much worse it would have been if there weren’t millions of teachers committed to adapting to these times and circumstances and still finding ways to educate.
And I know kids in science class were still made curious.
Kids in ELA learned to communicate beautifully,
I know math classes still showed students different ways to think and solve problems.
I know the future is brighter because social studies teachers helped students learn about where we’ve been to inform where we’re going.
I know some kids fell in love with books for the first time this year in their school libraries,
I know school leaders made impossible decisions to lead staff and students through a very dark season.
And I know artists got to practice their craft in art classes.
Music filled hallways and hearts from band rooms.
Kids were listened to by counselors, motivated by gym teachers, transported safely by bus drivers.
Assistants and specialists did everything they could to serve teachers and their students.
And those teachers still made a lasting difference in their students’ lives.
None of this is meant to slap a silver lining on anything. It’s been hard. But it hasn’t been without fruit. And so as we move towards another year, that I’m sure will have its own challenges, hopefully easier ones, just know that the work of an educator is never in vain. In the tough times and the peaceful ones, growth, success, progress, breakthroughs, magic, it still happens.
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