2020: What DID we get right?
In a year with many losses, we can still look for the small wins.
It’s funny how the end of the first half of a school year coincides with the end of the actual calendar year. Both times are a cause for pausing and reflecting. Both times find us asking ourselves, “What did I do right this year? What do I need to do more of?” or more accurately, “What do I need to stop doing?”
This year, especially in the education world, these questions are even more daunting. With the state of schooling still unclear for the foreseeable future, it’s hard to figure out what actually went well in these first five months. Yes, teachers showed up and students received thorough lessons and tasks, but our educators are more worn out than ever. This exhaustion doesn’t simply come from the amount of work or grading they had to do each week, but it stems from the amount of stress that comes from working all night to create “the perfect lesson,” only to have 60% of their students show up online. It comes from stress associated with logging onto Zoom and only seeing three out of 30 students with cameras on, knowing your coaching is observing you. It comes from worrying about how you are being evaluated on something that no one in our lifetime has ever done before.
Our teachers are usually tired right before the holiday, but this year the holiday-fatigue is something different.
And what do we have to show for all this pressure? The truth of the matter is we still don’t know. Our typical assessments aren’t accurate in atypical situations. Our students aren’t receiving the typical dosage of schooling, they aren’t living through typical times. We could say that the dips in achievement will be “disappointing”, but what else can we expect? Why are we keeping the metrics the same when the game has completely changed? Why are we pushing to look at everything normally when there currently is no normalcy?
The two words that need to be in our schools this year are patience and grace. This goes for teachers, students, and their families. Everyone, I believe, is doing the best they can with what they have. It’s easy to point a finger at a school, teacher, or child and say, “they could be doing more,” but the truth of the matter is we don’t know what we don’t know, and this year has pushed us all to our edge in ways we never could have foreseen. As an administrator, I could easily blame a parent for not doing enough to ensure their middle schooler is online, but I also know the stress of this year, this virus, this election, the constant killing of Black and Brown lives – it's enough to make it harder to do any job well. We are doing the best we can. We need grace, not strict evaluations. We need patience, not reprimands. If we all adjust, maybe the losses of this year won’t have to result in such dire outcomes.
There are a lot of things that don’t make sense right now, but amidst this there are a lot of beautiful things happening as well.
Six and half years ago I pivoted from being a seasoned elementary school teacher and taught my inaugural class of sixth graders. I went from feeling like I was finally getting a hang of this “teaching thing” to being ceremoniously flipped-turned upside down. It was one of the hardest teaching years of my career, and those students are, to this day, truly a part of my soul.
This week a few of them started receiving their college acceptance letters. Many of them will be the first members of their family to attend college.
To their young hearts, this last year has been just as crazy, but the possibility of the future still holds much excitement, much intrigue, and much hope. Everything that has happened in the last few years came at the beginning of their consciousness, and with positive changes on the horizon (a vaccine, a new president, a Black, female Vice President!) they have no reason to feel anything but calm and hopeful about this upcoming year.
And we can learn a lot from our children in this way.
Yes, the older we are the more of these shifts and changes in society and culture we have seen and experienced in our past. But when I was in middle school I didn’t realize the impact my voice could have in this world. I wasn’t aware of the atrocities happening all over my city and I was sheltered from that reality because I didn’t see it on my feed everyday. I didn’t hear about it from the influencers I admired or even from my own family. Our kids today don’t have that luxury. But with that burden, they are also learning what it takes to make change. They have witnessed the start of movements and know how to reach large audiences to address causes they care about. They know how to quickly bring a large group of people from all over the world together to share messages and put forth ideas. The youth of today are seeing more people who like them in all spaces. All these shifts are gradual and slow, but they are happening, and they will keep happening as long as we keep working for progress and showing our youth the way.
My inaugural sixth graders are graduating high school this year, and in another four years they will be able to vote. With the (painfully gotten) success of this year’s election, I can only imagine how excited they will be to fully participate in the process.
And who knows, by then everything may actually be A.O(C)K. :)
Reading family,
I can’t say enough about what your consistent support of this writing project has meant to me. When I started this back in August I simply wanted to cultivate a regular writing habit and had no expectations that anyone would ever read or share it. But your comments, love, and support have pushed my writing to improve and have pushed me to pursue even more in my own development as an educator, writer, and human. Starting in January my newsletter will move to once a month as I embark on my writing my first novel. Even as I type those words my heart skips from excitement, anxiety, and fear, but it is your encouragement and love over the last few months that gives me the strength to push through all of that and work on my dream. I look forward to continuing to share this journey with all of you in the weeks to come.
Hope you and your loved ones have a happy, healthy, and safe holiday. See you in 2021!
- C
The small wins are very important, and are what will keep us motivated during this time. Thank you for sharing your gift of writing with us! Looking forward to what 2021 has in store for you.
Your words and wisdom has inspired us all🙏🏾🙏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾😎