Teresa Thayer Snyder was superintendent of the Voorheesville district in upstate New York. She wrote this wise and insightful essay on her Facebook page. A friend sent it to me.
Dear Friends and Colleagues:
I am writing today about the children of this pandemic. After a lifetime of working among the young, I feel compelled to address the concerns that are being expressed by so many of my peers about the deficits the children will demonstrate when they finally return to school. My goodness, what a disconcerting thing to be concerned about in the face of a pandemic which is affecting millions of people around the country and the world. It speaks to one of my biggest fears for the children when they return. In our determination to “catch them up,” I fear that we will lose who they are and what they have learned during this unprecedented era. What on earth are we trying to catch them up on? The models no longer apply, the benchmarks are no longer valid, the trend analyses have been interrupted. We must not forget that those arbitrary measures were established by people, not ordained by God. We can make those invalid measures as obsolete as a crank up telephone! They simply do not apply.
When the children return to school, they will have returned with a new history that we will need to help them identify and make sense of. When the children return to school, we will need to listen to them. Let their stories be told. They have endured a year that has no parallel in modern times. There is no assessment that applies to who they are or what they have learned. Remember, their brains did not go into hibernation during this year. Their brains may not have been focused on traditional school material, but they did not stop either. Their brains may have been focused on where their next meal is coming from, or how to care for a younger sibling, or how to deal with missing grandma, or how it feels to have to surrender a beloved pet, or how to deal with death. Our job is to welcome them back and help them write that history.
I sincerely plead with my colleagues, to surrender the artificial constructs that measure achievement and greet the children where they are, not where we think they “should be.” Greet them with art supplies and writing materials, and music and dance and so many other avenues to help them express what has happened to them in their lives during this horrific year. Greet them with stories and books that will help them make sense of an upside-down world. They missed you. They did not miss the test prep. They did not miss the worksheets. They did not miss the reading groups. They did not miss the homework. They missed you.
Resist the pressure from whatever ‘powers that be’ who are in a hurry to “fix” kids and make up for the “lost” time. The time was not lost, it was invested in surviving an historic period of time in their lives—in our lives. The children do not need to be fixed. They are not broken. They need to be heard. They need be given as many tools as we can provide to nurture resilience and help them adjust to a post pandemic world.
Being a teacher is an essential connection between what is and what can be. Please, let what can be demonstrate that our children have so much to share about the world they live in and in helping them make sense of what, for all of us has been unimaginable. This will help them– and us– achieve a lot more than can be measured by any assessment tool ever devised. Peace to all who work with the children!
Wow. This piece should head the education section of every major newspaper in the country.
Absolutely! Reposting it! I encourage everyone to do the same!
And thank you, Diane!
Huh? This is a manifesto of anti-intellectualism. Who cares if kids didn’t learn any academics? All learning is equal. They learned stuff like “pandemic” and “my belly is empty”. That’s good learning too! We don’t tell them things; they tell us things. Let’s listen to how they experienced this historical year. What could be more important than that?
What a brilliant piece!
Beautifully said! Things we also need to remember as adult-survivors. Everyone and everything has changed. Life, as we knew it, changed. Time to embrace, reflect, and grow.
I don’t see it that way at all, ponderosa. Is anyone suggesting, no matter that their academic learning suffered? That academic learning should be eschewed in favor of feel-good self-indulgent expression that has no relation to academic learning? Hardly.
The recommendation is that we use students’ personal experience of the pandemic as a pathway back into focused academic learning. Everything & anything they experienced can lead directly into related scientific, historical, literary study. The point is that after this unprecedented interruption, which in many cases may have involved econ/ soc/ psych trauma, it’s wise, initially, to elicit self-expression via writing/ journaling or other artistic media. A brief period of digesting experience, w/ teacher guidance helping connect it to other human experience/ knowledge, encouraging larger perspective.
Just starting back into std curriculum, ignoring a once-in-a-century experience– as some teachers will do, nor necessarily you—is alienating & suggests that academics are irrelevant to practical life.
Dear Ponderosa, as you know, I am deeply committed to knowledge-based education, and I greatly applaud your continued efforts to get that message across. I don’t see the contradiction between this and treating kids who have experienced this anno diabolus with kindness and compassion and engagement with their experience.
Bethree and Bob,
Technically you’re both right –processing the COVID experience with kids is not necessarily antithetical to learning the normal academics. But viewed in the larger context of teachers’ incessant denigration of what I consider real learning (i.e. stocking memory with important world knowledge) and tendency to view all kids as trauma victims perpetually in need of therapy, I fear Snyder’s message will be used as yet one more pretext for setting aside academics to engage in “processing” which, frankly, most kids don’t really need, and which will probably be of little value to the kids who do need it –we’re not therapists, after all, and I have my doubts that even many of the professional therapists really know how to fix what they aim to fix (there’s a fair amount of charlatanism in that field too). Better to just get on with learning the important stuff — by getting kids’ minds off the pandemic this would probably have more therapeutic value than any ad hoc COVID/ amateur therapy lessons teachers might devise. I am really worried for our country –our thinking about education has gone off the rails. Meanwhile in Russia, China and India, kids are actually gaining powerful knowledge (like how to penetrate a foreign nations’ computers, create vaccines, speak foreign languages, exploit social divisions in other countries, etc.), not rolling their eyes as a teacher tries to get them to share their feelings.
“But viewed in the larger context of teachers’ incessant denigration of what I consider real learning (i.e. stocking memory with important world knowledge) and tendency to view all kids as trauma victims perpetually in need of therapy, I fear Snyder’s message will be used as yet one more pretext for setting aside academics to engage in “processing” which, frankly, most kids don’t really need, and which will probably be of little value to the kids who do need it –we’re not therapists, after all, and I have my doubts that even many of the professional therapists really know how to fix what they aim to fix (there’s a fair amount of charlatanism in that field too). Better to just get on with learning the important stuff”
These are important points–thank you for expressing them. I work with 48 first and second grade reading intervention students each week in small groups and 24 students in a third grade class one day a week–two whole group synchronous sessions and four small group sessions with these third graders on Fridays. We are doing both: processing trauma and getting on with learning the “important stuff”.
A few years ago, I ran across, in a library, some translations of Russian high-school math texts. I was floored by how advanced they were.
Absolutely!! Every educator AND parent needs to read this!
And Administrator!!
Agreed! I love the line, we should greet the children where they are, not where we think they should be.
As an educator AND mom, this essay spoke volumes . It is paramount that our children can move past this pandemic and strive forward to accomplish great things in this fast paced world..
🤗
I Agree!! So beautifully written. A perspective often lost in today’s competitive and fast paced world.
Wow! Such wisdom regarding the real needs of our children. They are not vessels needing to be refilled; they are hearts and minds that need to be touched and nurtured with compassion and love. Then the rest will follow within the laws of how human development truly works.
Thank you for posting this. So many are asking what will happen when the children return. I hope all listen to the children and take time to understand what they have been through. It has not been easy for any of them either. They hear their parents concerns, they listen to their teachers worrying about them submitting work and sometimes are worrying when they can be with their family and friends again. The best gift we can give our students is to let them talk and for us to listen.
Unfortunately, the tendency in most states will be a return to test and punish policies. Politicians will push to get students back on the data collection treadmill so they can once again try to scoop up all the low hanging fruit and send them off to privatized schools of questionable value. Texas, in its infinite stupidity, has already announced, it intends to inflict the STAAR Test on its young people this year despite the pandemic and the disruptive school year.
My grandson in Texas has been home schooled this year. During the pandemic he also had to move to El Paso. While he is happy with the change, the social isolation is getting to him. Our Christmas gift to him is a trampoline. For now he can get some exercise and burn off some excess energy by himself. After the pandemic having a trampoline is a good way to meet some of the neighborhood children. It is important that children get to exercise during isolation.
“Being a teacher is an essential connection between what is and what can be.” One of the great joys of teaching is watching students grow and develop over time. Being the sole ESL teacher in a school meant that I had the most of the same students for at least three consecutive years. It was amazing to watch the students transform during that time. Being in a relatively small community meant that I got to see how they continued to grow as they moved through the system. Being part of that transformation was one of the biggest rewards of teaching during my career.
My sentiments exactly. Children need time to ease back into school and not be pushed and pressured into “testing” to access their knowledge or skills post pandemic. They need acceptance, encouragement and time to be children in this new normal.
“I feel compelled to address the concerns that are being expressed by so many of my peers about the deficits the children will demonstrate when they finally return to school.”
“Deficits”–the “banking model” of education. Have not many read any Freire?
That guy sounds French. Can we trust such a person?
Brazilian. One of the fathers of “critical pedagogy,” and the notion that teaching should foremost be considered a disruptive, political act. These are the roots of the notion of teaching as political activism.
I assume he’s been canonical reading in ed schools for decades.
Chuckle, chuckle, made me laugh out loud!
Nope, not French! Probably worse in that trusting part in that he was Brazilian. Can’t trust those tropical types, eh! Especially when they propose socialistic education ideas!
“Pedagogy of the Heart”
“Pedagogy of the Oppressed”
Freire’s basic concept is that education should be toward liberation of the students’ minds from the mental/soulful oppression that schools have traditionally inculcated into students, especially those that pound into a student to know their place in society. That indoctrination of oppression sadly is still very much alive and reinforced with the standards and testing malpractice regime currently in place in America.
When will we learn, when will we ever learn?
Flerp!
I doubt that hardly any schools of education use Freire’s works these days. Most, it seems to me are “technique” oriented and lack in the philosophical underpinnings of what education should be. I hope I am wrong, but what his critiques of education from almost a half a century ago, sadly, still hold true. At the same time his suggestions for a different focus in education still hold true as a more humanistic guide to practices.
Duane,
Freire may be perceived as “socialistic”, but that sounds like the kind of education that children of privilege get in private schools.
Frankly, I think that those who fight ed reformers make it too complicated.
ALL public schools should be like the private schools attended by the most privileged children. Small classes. Humanistic. If the rich billionaires think that is so bad for students to have, then they shouldn’t be sending their own kids to private schools that embrace it.
NYCpsp,
While I tend to agree with you on the truly personalized learning that can take place with small class sizes and competent teachers, not all private schools actually provide that scenario. And many actually do have an oppressive pedagogical attitude.
If anything the compliance of the students, who have absorbed the “pedagogy of the dominant” (kind of the flip side of the oppressed coin)-in which they learn to be compliant in order to become the future dominant with little questioning, can indeed, be quite all the more oppressive for the individual.
I believe that Freire probably condemned the oppressive nature of that pedagogy of the dominant (my term) as much as that oppressive one which was thrust upon the poor masses, that is when they even got an education. I don’t remember reading him distinguishing between the two, both are oppressive. (I make no pretense of being a Freire scholar. I’ve read a little.)
And I’d say that public schools were doing a better job of a Freirian liberation pedagogy than the private schools who very much provide(d) an oppressive pedagogy of dominance. . . before the pedagogical nightmares of NCLB and RttT were mandated. Twenty years of “Pedagogy of the Oppressed” is what has occurred for all students.
Again, not being Freire, I’d say that he’d be fighting mightily against the standards and testing malpractice regime as being an ultimate form of oppression-oppression on steroids.
Duane,
I agree with this, but I wasn’t talking about all private schools.
I mean the private schools like the U. of Chicago Lab School (where Obama and Arne Duncan sent their kids) and the elementary school that Bill Gates sent his kids to. I think a close look would show they encouraged kids to question and explore in a way that few public schools did even before the repressive ed reform changes. But I do agree with you that many private schools were no better. Although I think the very expensive private schools that cater only to the most privileged and wealthy were often less oppressive and more humanist.
I was just trying to be satirical. I never heard of the guy. Thanks for the education , my friends.
Old paradigms die hard. The banking model of which Freire spoke has been supplanted for the most part with a medical model of diagnose and cure of those supposed “deficits” as defined in the standards and testing malpractice regime.
What has been needed all along is teaching and learning process that focuses on the child and his/her specific needs and desires and how those two things come into play in having a student learn the grade level/subject curriculum and which allows for the student to learn in the manner that best suits him/her. It is not a matter of diagnosis, but one of drawing out and drawing in the student to the learning at hand. The art of teaching implies that a good teacher understand where the student is in learning and how to get the student motivated to continue learning what the curriculum proposes-what society deems necessary for all to learn.
My poor students from around the world were never suffering from “deficits.” Most of them were packed with lots of potential. They simply needed lots of education and opportunity. I agree with Paulo Freire as well.
It shows that you understand Freire well with your statement! And your students are all the more lucky to have had you as a teacher.
When you mention,”oppression of the mind,” I was reminded of a news story about the Georgia election. Black folks are continuing to understand their electoral power along with the Democratic party. Democrats are registering seniors in high school that have turned 18 since the November election. Black folks are knocking on doors to get people to register. One woman said she never voted because she never thought her vote counted. That is the definition of “oppression of the mind.” After the November election, she finally understood that voting can make a difference so this woman registered to vote for the first time.
Paolo Freire is dead wrong and a pernicious fraud. I reread his lame book recently. It is an embarrassing assemblage of beautiful sounding but utterly unsupported claims. I was shocked at how flimsy his argumentation is. Hey, I want to liberate the oppressed too, but Freire’s methods won’t accomplish this; in fact, they do the opposite. His famous line (that my ed school professors taught me) that “the banking model of education has been discredited” has been discredited. We now know that long term memory is the dominant feature of our cognitive ecosystem. Stocking it with knowledge is the only way to empower a mind. Freire’s prescription is poison; it disempowers. He is a charlatan like Trump, albeit a well-meaning one.
Ponderosa,
I know that you firmly believe in a pedagogy, a teaching and learning process that indeed does supply facts, that does want the learners to have a wide background of knowledge based upon what is considered to be desired social information. And that memorization of that information should be encouraged.
I thoroughly agree, for without those foundational bases of knowledge one cannot truly understand the nature of the world. It’s hard to do math without having a good sense of what the basic functions of math are, without having a good sense of whether the numbers being examined are actually feasible both mathematically and logically. And that applies to historical “facts” also. . . and all subjects actually.
But, from my reading of Freire, he was not advocating not learning, knowing and using those foundational facts. What he was getting at with his “banking” model is that to be able to spit forth, regurgitate bits and pieces of facts and knowledge-put em in the mental account and take them out when needed to satisfy the authorities is a very stilted, limited and lacking type of pedagogy.
It is then what one does with those facts that matter. To stop at that point (regurgitation point) of the teaching and learning process was/is a disservice to the learner. And stopping at that point was a very common pedagogical practice in the 40s, 50s, 60s, especially for the poor, just as now it is the stopping point in the standards and testing malpractice regime. Freire was arguing for, emphasizing that it is the next step, the next level that is more important and it should be imperative that all schools/schooling get to that point and beyond, not just that the upper class private school students should have that opportunity.
But only stocking the mind with bits and pieces of knowledge doesn’t necessarily result in a mind that knows how to correctly use that knowledge. Hell, I know a fair amount about the ingredients that go into cooking, where those ingredients originated, the historical uses, current uses, what goes with what might go best with whatever else but that doesn’t mean I’m a chef. I can cook, bake, and do fairly decent in the kitchen but I would need more formal training to be a chef. What Freire is getting at is that every student should get that “gourmet” training.
View at Medium.com
Duane, I think if you read the Medium article that FLERP posted you’ll see that Freire didn’t want to transmit cultural heritage, he wanted to extirpate it. His attack on the banking model of education was an effort to prevent learning anything old to make way for revolutionary consciousness. This accords with the tenor in my ed school where it was pretty clear that anything Western Civ was toxic and ought not be taught. The education professors and Freire have succeeded. Ignorance of Western culture is almost complete amongst our teachers and even more so amongst our students.
Ponderosa, I think you are attributing far too much power to Ed schools. They don’t mold the culture. The mass media—television, the Internet, films, music—do. In the 1930s, Samuel Goldwyn thought it was his responsibility to bring great works of literature to a mass audience. So did other filmmakers. So we got “Great Expectations,” “Wuthering Heights,” “Mutiny on the Bounty,”and other literary classics on the big screen. While we do have occasional efforts to do the same today—Jane Austen in the late 20th C, and “Little Women” reimagined—mostly we get commercial drivel.
Hollywood knows its audience. Ergo Marvel Comics movies.
I was thinking the same thing. A familiar concept. I was a teacher for almost 30 years. Same idea, different terms.
I think we will be very surprised to find that the children will do fine if they have opportunity. School does not cease when students go from one grade to another. It does not stop at the end of high school or college. Rather, it lingers or dissipates according to the lives of the people who experience it.
A person who earns a degree in history and becomes an investment advisor keeps some of his history about him as he studies investment opportunities. If he has time, he reads history. If he gets too busy with life, he carries his experience but does not enlarge on it until he has time. We do not, in our society, wring our hands over the loss of education among those who are too busy to keep stirring it up in their lives. Indeed we might reward these people with more money, that great American arbiter of self-worth.
So let us not agonize over losses during the pandemic. Let us open doors for the continuation of all of our educations. We could fund extra classes at community colleges for people who just want to learn more about world history but could not attend their world history class when the pandemic was on. Topical study of all sorts of information used to be funded at our community college, and businesses who wanted to be good citizens would often pay for their workers to get associates degrees. Let us take our money out of the stick and give it to the caret.
Bien dicho mi amigo. Especialmente “So let us not agonize over losses during the pandemic. Let us open doors for the continuation of all of our educations.”
The gnashing of teeth, the rending of the fabric over those supposed deficits are just one more way of teacher, and by extension the community public schools, bashing.
I find the whole “children are hurting” meme to be more a reflection on what the adults do and say that negatively effects children. Adults project their irrational fears and concerns onto the children. But the children will survive far better off than most think. Children are very resilient, unlike many, if not most adults.
“Adults project their irrational fears and concerns onto the children.” True dat. And even more of it going around during the pandemic (predictably).
Fabulous article.
Agree.
We are learning ALL the TIME.
If our young and teens put together scrap books, write in journals, and read, read, read, as well as record their observations and develop hypotheses … BIG LEARNING happens.
Now is the time to open our minds and our students’. The test and punishment model doesn’t work.
This is the perfect time to abandon the testing punishment model COMPLETELY. I would say we need to take this opportunity not to REstructure, but to DE-structure our classrooms. Children and teens can guide you to what they want to learn and teachers should develop their lessons of math, science, history, writing, speaking, investigating, art, music around children’s interests so that the students remain engaged and excited about learning all the time! I know it works. Convincing administrations, politicians of that is a different story entirely.
Oh my Lord. Brought tears to my eyes.
This!
I had tears also.
My niece is a teacher in junior high. She teaches science. Several hours a day she has students in a class room. But she also has ro do virtual learning. And she is teaching several grades. She is stressed to say the least.
Wonderful post. Learning loss is pushed by people who think learning is tracked by scores on state standardized tests. Job one. in addition to supporting all students and staying healthy, is getting rid of ESSA, the federal policy distorting education.
No learning loss is a concern of people who don’t want to see less advantaged children be illiterate. Nothing to do with test scores.
And excellent writing, no doubt!
This piece is deeply heartfelt and desperately naive. As a reading specialist, I am working with 48 struggling first and second graders remotely each week. I weep for them as well as the well-meaning well-wishers who simply don’t understand that the kids who are left behind—who don’t have pandemic pods, professional parents tutoring them or paths to recovery paid for by those parents—will need a lot more than a song and a dance to bolster their chances for future success. Black linguist John McWhorter knows what I know: success for our most vulnerable students hinges on effective reading instruction. Now, more than ever. Of course we will process their pandemic trauma, as we’ve been doing since school has started. But our society no longer revolves around oral tradition, and if we deemphasize the depth of the learning loss related to reading and writing, which is real and rapidly increasing—we will be magnifying the blows to children already beaten down by this pandemic. They don’t need bleeding hearts—they need a bloody good education! Don’t magnify their losses by denying them this right.
—
“Struggling” first graders? They are 6. Reading is developmental. And as anyone who has a kid who struggles with fine motor skills at age 6 can tell you, so is writing. When I was 6, my classroom was learning how to print letters, not “writing” about what we read.
I have no idea why you assume anyone here is talking about de-emphasizing reading. But I weep for you if you don’t understand that a 6 year old should not be excoriated for not being a better reader or writer and your belief that you should be forcing them to do double the work when they return to school to make up for this loss so they can be at whatever place your “expertise” tells you that every 6 year old must be in order to satisfy you.
I support at-risk kids getting lots of extra one or one attention when schools return because public schools will be funded to have the same class sizes as private schools and extra aides in every class. That is what money should be spent on. Not giving children a standardized test by a teacher who believes she “knows” exactly what level every six year old should be reading and writing at and “knows” that if those kids are not at that level, they should be labeled as failures as should the teacher who failed them.
I wonder if I gave you 48 severely at-risk first graders next year, some with academic and emotional struggles, and told you that you alone were responsible for their progress next year (with no help from anyone else), if you’d take that challenge or try to blame someone else if all 48 of them were not on or above reading level when I gave them the standardized test that I decided they all had to pass to prove that you were a decent teacher or a failure.
Reading is not developmental. Speaking, walking are developmental or biological. As a recent development in history, reading is a secondary skill and must be taught to vast majority. The teacher knows exactly what she is talking about.
I am a Canadian retired grade one tchr. so it is not about endless standardized tests for me. My American colleague does know that it is the difference between a life of literacy or illiteracy. And it is as stark as that.
“Black linguist John McWhorter knows what I know: success for our most vulnerable students hinges on effective reading instruction.”
What does McWhorter being black have anything to do with the price of tea in China?
Why connect tea and China, Duane? Tea is available it just about any country. 😂
And I agree that the fact that McWhorter is black is irrelevant. More relevant is the fact that he’s been able to make a career as a “serious academic” by peddling his pedantic sophistry.
To answer your question: Exactamundo.
Dear Ms. Janetos: I tried to sit on my hands, but I just cannot let this post go without a response. I am somewhat flattered that you think my writing is heartfelt, and probably a bit surprised that you think it is “desperately naïve”—truthfully, I haven’t been desperate or naïve for many decades! I have spent my life in the company of students from prek-through graduate school, and I stand by my passion that they have much more going for them than we give them credit for. Perhaps you have 48 struggling first and second graders, not because of their issues, but because of the methodology. I have worked with children in every socio-economic setting, from elite private schools to the most deprived; I have worked in private, parochial, public, and charter schools. I find that the children in each setting have much more in common than one might imagine. They are curious; they are interested in big ideas; they are willing to engage in the hard work of learning when they know that they are valued for who they are. As I said, they are not broken—regardless of the level of impoverishment they might endure. Indeed, some of the most impoverished children I have met have had the most compelling stories to tell—they need us to provide the framework, they need us to be the support. Providing an eclectic array of tools for children is more likely to elicit engagement from them, even on complex tasks. Peace to you.
Thank you so much for your thoughtful response. I have reread your piece, and I discovered all over again how genuine it is–which I appreciate–but also how misguided it is in its overall message.
Like you, I have taught the full range of students, kindergartners to high school seniors–Playdoh to Plato. In addition, just like many of my students I grew up with the ‘triple threat’: low income, single parent, immigrant household. When I look into the eyes of my students’ parents–as I did last week during parent conferences–I often see my own mother’s eyes looking back at me. Like my mother, these parents want their children to get the same education as their middle-class peers.
One mother attended her conference from her bed, sick with covid and gasping for air. My co-teacher and I immediately expressed our concern, asked what we could do to help her family NOW and reassured her that of course she didn’t have to have her conference there and then–this was not the time for a parent conference. This was a time to heal. But she insisted. She insisted on expressing her concerns that when her third-grade daughter reads to her, she hears the difficulties she has, not just in understanding the words but actually reading them, basically at a first grade level. She thanked us for what we are doing and asked what else she could do at home to help so that her daughter doesn’t start fourth grade even further behind.
I have been accused in various responses over various threads on this blog of being “uncaring”, a “failed teacher” who has “drunk the kool-aid” and is “beholden to billionaires.” By contrast, I consider myself an advocate for all students, a teacher who wants to give her students what my teachers gave me: the skills to pursue my goals lockstep with peers who come from more advantaged backgrounds. This is the naivete I see in your piece and in some of the responses to it: that prioritizing the need to process trauma negates the need to make up for learning loss.
My younger son spent his junior year abroad teaching improv to prisoners in South Africa. As you may know, improv is steeped in storytelling, and this is one way these prisoners processed their trauma. Over the years and the many improv shows I’ve attended–as well as participating in my son’s improv activities with my students–I have implemented these storytelling techniques in the classroom, much to the delight of my students. Perhaps the two most important words in improv are “yes/and”. When someone makes you an “offer”, you don’t negate it, you accept it and add to it. So I am accepting your offer. YES, absolutely YES, we need to provide social/emotional activities to help students process their pandemic trauma. AND we need to teach them with the urgency necessary to make up for lost learning so that they can pursue their goals, whatever those goals may be.
Clearly, your piece speaks to many. I hope it is placed in a larger educational context because our children depend on it.
Thanks again!
Of course they are like other children. Literacy or illiteracy. Simple as that. If I didn’t get every grade one in my class reading they faced illiteracy. There was zero help and that was precovid.
Sure they might get to an adult literacy course one day,. Imagine the toll that takes on a human.
Beautifully and eloquently said.
Beautifully and eloquently said Harriet. [That’s where this comment should have been nested.]
Thank you, Wendi. In general, I am concerned that the rhetoric on the left can be as damaging as the rhetoric on the right since it can leave our must vulnerable children caught in the middle without a viable path to the education they need and deserve. While I want to recognize the sincere intent of Teresa Thayer Snyder’s piece, I also want to point out its unintended consequences.
I don’t think Teresa Thayer Snyder is on the right or the left. She is on the side of childhood.
Brilliantly stated! So insightful and true!
Well printed, as grandparents my wife and I have been working with our grandchildren mostly my wife, but we are doing it
I agree with your essay. I would also like to say that children should be able to repeat a grade with no penalty, if they or their parents feel it would be beneficial. Particularly, here in NYS children start school according to birth year. Unlike in most other states where children start kindergarten if their birthday is in the fall. So we have 31/2 year olds in 4 year old classes and 41/2 year olds compete with their 5 year old peers. Change the rules in NY. Let the children be in ungraded classes. No grades or expectations. Little ones should spend a lot of time playing. We have down graded 1st grade to 2nd, kinder to 1st, prep to kinder. We don’t need more school. We need age and need appropriate school.
Thank you for this insight. I taught children for 40 years and often got caught up in “what was supposed to happen” instead of enjoying the unique perspective children bring to life. Thank you
Allow the students to share what they learned while off the grid. Their lives have expanded in multiple ways as the mind is always learning. Having had little mandated curriculum, students will have had a variety of learning experiences. Spread it around!
Wonderful
Thank You
AMEN
How can we make sure you are our next Secretary of Education?!!!!
Amazing!
I applaud you . The system is broken by too many running the show that aren’t there on a daily basis.
Too much money concerns. Even in life for us all we want to be listened to, heard, loved, touched gently on our shoulder, hugs if allowed. Children are an amazement. Parents of children need to be aware and involved. It is not always an easy process, but for a better life and a better world we need to listen and meet them closer to where they are.
Hi! Thanks for this important article. A book of potential interest, set during the pandemic & retelling Dickens’s “Christmas Carol” for 2020, is just out and it’s called: “A Spooky Tale of Spring, Or, How the Grumpy Mom Got her Cheer Back.” Maybe a start?
Warmly,
Julia
this is very sweet but also extremely naive. i cannot agree. there is so much privilege in this piece. i can’t bring you to speed on that if you aren’t already aware of how this will decimate the lives of millions of children all over the world
Say it again. Truth not being heard. Nothing to do with standardized tests.
And in rich countries, the difference between literacy and illiteracy piled on top of everything else child faces. Doesn’t preclude compassion for difficulties of lockdown and need to talk. Do both.
This should be a mandatory read for all educators and parents!
Well said. A lot to think about.
Well said. A lot to think about.
The premise of not needing to fix children because of the pandemic but more importantly being prepared and ready to listen and absorb what our students have gone through are powerful words. May we all adhere to this insightful advice.
I hope this message finds its way far and wide !
It is so true .
Well stated, Diane Ravitch.
I believe these pandemic concerns need to be discussed with students on their return to in person learning. Teaching to benchmarks and standardized tests has a place but is not the most important part of educating our children. Their ability to learn how to process life events and think critically will serve well in all aspects of their lives.
I am happy to say that I was one of the trustees that hired Teresa at Voorheesville . I was tired of the STEM / 21st Century Learning standards and wanted something more for our wonderful community and stellar schools. It may not of gotten where I would of liked – think IEP’s for every student (hey in a 1200 student school district I think its doable) but I was very proud of the hire
Thank you, Kevin, for your wisdom.
It took all of us collectively to implement that wisdom. I had wise and experienced partners in selecting Teresa.
Thank you so much for writing this piece. I have been a teacher for fifty years, and I completely agree. Listen to the children’s stories about the year they have survived. Let them write about it. Find wonderful stories and literature that talks about loss and resilience. Give them space and time to metabolize their experiences. Gratefully, Debbie Willis
Teresa: Please contact me. I would like to interview you on my radio show.
on Voice of Vashon, program, “ISABLED” 206 463-5344
Thank you for this. A friend forwarded it to me as I have an 8 year old grandson who is very unhappy with his “at home schooling “with another child and an aide.
He is so creative with his drawings and enjoying reading a bit more. I can’t drive the 95 miles and drop in for the day, hugging him and telling jokes and trading stories about being a kid.
His parents are attentive and caring and they will be there when he gets to be back in school. I too anguish over the losses that children have suffered for months, with food worries and schooling lapses. Give them time and attention .
Best wishes.
Myra
Thank you for this insightful piece. We all need to hear it – parents, educators, and decision makers alike.
Such a wise and thoughtful perspective.Thank you.
I am hoping this situation allows us to change focus to what is truly most important in education: the children’s needs, not the system’s.
Thank you so much for these words!
From a k-2 reading and math intervention teacher
Great letter that may be a template for your community of educators!
This issue has plagued my heart since since watching my two-year-old granddaughter playing at home by herself. That’s important, but where is she learning all about play and social interaction with her peers? As a teacher of 3-year-olds to ninth graders for 32 years in public schools, I am worried most about the lasting effects of our youngest children who have missed learning all those social cues and ways to interact and how to play and make friends! Those fundamental skills are so important to how they succeed in school. I am very concerned that being isolated from their peers at such an important stage of their development is going to be detrimental to their continuing education and wellbeing.
Should the students be grouped by ability Instead of by birthday? Learning is built upon basic skills and levels knowledge. Not by how old they are… education system was designed off an assembly line…. it should be off the basic skills they have mastered. Then build on from there. Each subject is very different and should reflect subject matter/ skills know for each. One student may be in various levels depending upon their knowledge on each subject. Students need both leveled and intravenous leveled experiences to learn best. Socially, emotionally and physically.
Should students be grouped by ability Instead of by birthday? Learning is built upon basic skills, level of knowledge and levels of understanding. Not by how old they are… the USA education system was designed off manufacturing… an assembly line…. it should be off the basic skills they have mastered. So each student builds their understanding of knowledge from there. Each subject is very different and should reflect subject matter/ skills know for each. One student may be in various levels depending upon their knowledge on each subject. A likely scenario for many. Students need both leveled and multi-leveled experiences to learn best. Socially, emotionally and physically. The whole child.
Spot on
My 7-year-old learned almost everything a kid could learn about WW2 during the pandemic. That’s where his interest took him. I just followed. He watched the film Dunkirk twice. His favorite. He missed the ABCs but got the D I guess.
Let’s listen to this advice!
Absolutely true! We are facing interesting challenges teachers and students need to be heard. Preparing remote lessons reaching out to childrens’ needs and learning styles has all together a new demention. Technology dominent learning style has also changed our way of thinking and our creative thinking. Hands on is really click on and find out. Let us think positively and flexibly to find our path towards novel learning in our new world.
The students’ brains have, indeed, not stopped. They continue to soak in everything around them. And that is valuable learning. They are soaking in the coping skills of adults they admire. They are witnessing behaviors displayed by adults in positions of power, including some behaviors that they learned not to do in Kindergarten. They are sharing stories of their experiences at Black Lives Matter protests during a global pandemic, missing their development of interpersonal skills through in-person interactions with their peers, and they are witnessing the stark disparities that exist in society between people from different social identity groups. They see, they watch, they observe. And they are learning lessons we will know nothing about, because as you say, there are no metirc for this. Our children are exceptional and we need to follow their lead.
I have thought about this too. This is very well written. It will be very important to meet kids where they are and bring them back to speed at their own pace. Blessing to you all!
Thank you so much for sharing this. I will share on Facebook and I deeply pray that this rational and true critical thinking will spread! With love, SKW, Ca.
Well said.
Both children and adults are experiencing trauma, whether directly from illness or indirectly through lifestyle disruptions due to unemployment, food insecurity or simply working or learning from home. Any trauma specialist would say these massive changes require cutting everyone some slack, especially children. This will be especially true when school resumes. Together, kids will release all the emotions built up during lockdown. This can either be an opportunity to help them process their feelings and build tighter school relationships. Or else it will be an unmitigated disaster if academic pressure outweighs healing and exacerbates outbursts and depression. For the best approach, let’s ask psychologists, pediatricians and child development specialists. I seriously doubt they’ll recommend immediate standardized testing and academic ranking.
So well said of the reality our children are living in! Thank you.
This is extraordinary commentary and advice by someone who knows. I am a 45 year veteran educator who is surviving this year along with my ESE students and parents. Your advice , if heeded, will do so much to heal our world. Thank you so very much.
This is such a great message. It needs to be heard by all
Dr. Ravitch, we meet again, discussing our cherished field. Thank you so much for sharing this piece and thank you to your friend for forwarding it to you. I am truly humbled by the response it has received. I am hopeful that we educators can welcome children back into receptive learning environments that focus on them and their needs, not artificial benchmarks. Stay well, Teresa Thayer Snyder
Teresa,
Thank you for writing it. It is being widely shared on Twitter.
Diane
Teresa,
In case you are reading the comments, I want you to know that your article has been read 80,000 times on this blog.
Thank you!
Correction:
Teresa, your post has gone viral. It has been opened 170,000 times!!
Thank you so much for this profound wisdom! ❤️
Wonderfully stated. I would hope that every administrator in the country has this in their hand as we continue this “ new normal “
I totally agree and support this letter. Thank You!
I want every teacher and parent , principal and superintendent to embrace and sink into this , immerse themselves in this knowledge . and just maybe , we will save some lives and enrich others . not to mention , taking pressure and stress off of sooooo many people !
thank you for your wisdom !
Very true, grest article to share everywhere
From an art teacher of 170 kids online:
We are more resilient than folks think. I think the effort to compare this school year to the past is a way for many to try and strive for some normalcy and control in a time where there is little of that. The amount of pressure on these kids is immense and therefore the teachers as well. To be working this hard and to hear almost daily that it’s still not enough is discouraging. Thank god for this break. Hopefully our minds won’t all turn to mush without school! Lol
It is so discouraging to continue to see the statements and opinion pieces by mainstream organizations on the need to resume standardized testing so we can learn “how far the kids fell behind.”
They should read this article
I so appreciate seeing your comments.
My own experience has been rich with learning about myself, in my altered reactions to this different world. Your comments encourage me to explore what I’ve experienced, to capture it in words. In 79 years, I’ve learned that all of life’s experiences are integrated & that good emotional health & creativity
rely on making use of the “happenstances” of our life. Thanks for your affirmation to me.
Wow, I love it. I’m dealing with a 14 year old boy, my grandson. I don’t like being constantly on his back to make sure he gets his school work done. He’s behind. I took him to his pediatrician because I was worried about depression. She seems to think he’s ok. But I’m watching him constantly. I email his teachers and they email me back stating that a lot of kids are depressed. Why wouldn’t they be. Can’t go anywhere. Can’t see friends which at this stage in their lives is so important. I could go on and on…….But I totally agree. They are not broken.
“Being a teacher is an essential connection between what is and what can be.”
Yes! Thank you for sharing your perspective. I love the line above.
I’m in total agreement! They’ve continued to learn during this unprecedented time, just not the curriculum we’re used to. A good idea would be to let them relax once they return. FIND OUT WHERE THEY ARE! They’ll be hungry to learn! It might even be easier for educators with people happy to be there.
Outstanding understanding of children, their needs and how they learn.
Good perspective on kids returning to school post pandemic.
AWESOME!!Everything she wrote
Are you interested in being US Secretary of Education?
Now on video, all six Mr. McSymphony’s music programs, cCheck out website “TeachersPayTeachers” and include “mrMcSymphony” in the search bar
The elementary schools in the district where I teach came back in August with the understanding that we put relationships before rigor and grace before grades. The students were behind, but they brought their best selves. We actively work on their social emotional health, as well as their academic growth. When you put children first, you can’t go wrong.
I’m a retired teacher blogging a free story meant to help children cope during and after they experience an upside down world. The Secret Prince is a metaphor for these times. It is usually used as a read aloud story for children age 5 through 12. The people in this story are cut off from each other due to a long lasting flood . The children have to learn to entertain themselves. Mandy parents and teachers have told me about how Prince Ronduin and his friend Mirabel have inspired their children. Once the pandemic is over, this story will help children in the way literature is often helpful. They will see themselves in an uplifting story featuring social isolation and followed by healing and this will help them process their own experience. https://childrengrowing.com/2020/03/15/stories-for-children-in-times-of-trouble-storytelling-help-for-parents-in-the-era-of-covid-19/
Bravo. So well said. Some of my students have written personal narratives about what they have been through. They are full of emotion and clearly reveal how much they miss school. These are primary source documents that tell their history. Let us focus on the whole child not test data.
This resonates volumes fir so many of us – it would be beyond magical if our schools across the entire country adopted this beautiful philosophy, thank you Diane
Well said!!! Our governors need to read this! As a retired elementary teacher I couldn’t agree more with you.
Thank you for writing this!
Well said. I know each of my three children have expressed concern about the needless race to catch up. I assure them that nobody has missed anything. Instead of worksheets they learned fractions from baking, instead of writing “sample papers of outdated regurgitation” they wrote opinions of what BLM means and how to stay safe in the face of armed uneducated officers wielding the power to kill.
Instead of going to a school social gathering they learned to remote conference, instead of eating at their favorite neighborhood restaurants they’ve learned that the US government does not protect small businesses.
Our children have mentally and emotionally aged well beyond their years, not by choice but by the need of survival.
The
Your children are extremely fortunate to be in a home environment suited to schooling. And what about those children who are not so fortunate? The achievement gap is, to a great extent, an opportunity gap.
After reading Ms. Snyder’s article and all of the responses to it on the dianeravitch.net page, I was reminded of the best advice for all teachers, and what seems to me the best advice for teaching, always, regardless of social circumstance or historical situation. It comes from Chaim Ginott, (1922-1973), teacher, psychologist, theorist
Dear Teacher,
I am a survivor of a concentration camp. My eyes saw what no man should witness:
Gas chambers built by learned engineers,
Children poisoned by educated physicians,
Infants killed by trained nurses,
Women and babies shot and burned by high school and college graduates,
So, I am suspicious of education.
My request is: Help your students become human. Your efforts must never produce learned monsters, skilled psychopaths, educated Eichmanns.
Reading, writing, arithmetic are important only if they serve to make our children more humane.
For those of you who know this quote, I hope this isn’t perceived as either ‘trite’ or too idealistic. This passage has guided my teaching for over 30 years, including this year, my last as a certified public school teacher. For those of you new to either teaching/learning, or ‘education’, I hope you take this quote to heart as you engage with young citizens in every interaction. Peace.
What a beautiful, insightful article. How can the focus be on “greeting children where they are” be the guide through out our hurt country?
I am a grandmother and want that awareness to greet all the children.
[…] What Shall We Do About the Children After the Pandemic – This is something that was shared with me by Kelle and Dana. Once we bring kids back to school we need to be really sensitive to what they have been through. We definitely will have some academic needs to address and we’ll need to prioritize our time wisely. However, we must be aware of what they’ve gone through over these many months and help them through this. […]
[…] What do we do after the pandemic?! – This is an incredibly important read! […]
Oh my goodness!! 1000 times yes!!
Great article
Thank you for writing this!
Wonderful article! I’m glad to know that so many have read it.
Such wise words. Our children truly need to be accepted where they are and how they are. This is a persinal experience that can not be described with generalities.
Well said. Two of my grandchildren parents are teachers. I have seen all that you have stated. I ask God to guide, provide peace and walk along side of the children and the teachers when they work their way back to some normalcy.
Amazing insight into child centric inputs for all educators to dwell upon.
“Greet them with art supplies and writing materials, and music and dance and so many other avenues to help them express what has happened to them in their lives during this horrific year. Greet them with stories and books that will help them make sense of an upside-down world. They missed you.”
Yes. Thank you for this. Most of all, forget the absurdities of meeting the thousands of standards written in the last several decades and treated as if authoritative for all subjects and grade levels. And specifically untether art, music, dance, theater and media arts from their standards, pontifically offered up as CORE National Standards complete with grade-level sequences. UGH.
My deepest hope is that this has taught us what is truly important in education and continue from there. Let’s get rid of the unnecessary testing and common core craziness. Let’s go back to basics and grow from there, teaching essential content without a dog and pony show. Of course differentiated instruction is important, but with and within reason.
Thank you for putting into words the feelings in my heart that that should have been on every administrators lips.
School children of all ages should have been encourged and supported in playing out doors, exploring nature, growing food, dancing, swimming, going to gyms exercising, going on virtual fieldtrips, painting murals…
As the semester progressed, was it any real surprise that students were not engaged?
You can’t talk about health and wellness out of one side of your mouth, and push rigor and standards via the internet that have no connection to our current reality.
With a heavy heart I have chosen to take an early retirement.
Interesting
This is brilliant and everyone should read this – everyone!
This is so positive. Thanks for sharing. I posted it to Facebook.
I think every teacher -& school official should read this. Going back to normal will be a big adjustment for all children and should be handled with kid gloves!
Fantastic article with magnificent insights. Wish I knew her personally.
Wow! So we’ll said! Thank you!
OMG!! I as just saying this to my hubby this week! Thank you for saying it “out loud”. As a high school teacher we need to hear the kids and not worry about the human-created standards. Love. Listen. Bring joy.
No, students are not broken and do not need to catch up on the content of standardized tests. But to whom is this plea by Snyder & Ravitch directed? Classroom teachers have opposed these absurd & counterproductive tests for a decade, while it fell to policy-makers, administrators, and superintendents (like Snyder & Ravitch) to do the job of implementing this testing.
But Snyder’s plea also implies the other bad idea in education of the last decade besides high stakes tests: the idea that children are wonderful “just as they are”. It’s the idea that all adults need to do is stand around being nice and helping students to “tell their stories” and naturally develop into… being themselves. I disagree with that. Children need guidance and training. They need adults to present to them a world that, yes… has standards, responsibilities, and skills to be mastered.
Yes, let’s take this opportunity to finally ditch these “invalid” and “arbitrary” tests; I and every classroom teacher I know opposed these tests 15 years ago. Let’s re-formulate schooling, not by abandoning standards and “listening” to children, but by making schools places where children can develop into the people they have the potential to become… if they work at it.
Thank you. It is so true. It will be hsrder with children with severe special needs.They process differently! But, they did not understand this pandemic either.
Thank you for your wise words. . Yes, we need to listen to the children. We must meet them where they are not where we expected them to be.
Thank you so much for this Very Insightful piece.
Thanks so much for posting this!
I’m writing to ask for help, specifically, for examples of best practices – preferably in NYS – from schools which have put this philosophy into practice.
Here’s why.
I am the parent of two daughters in elementary and high school, respectively, in the Vestal school district in Broome County. What the district is doing is nothing like what this wise educator is counseling districts to do. My 14-year-old daughter, who was on the honor roll all three years in middle school, failed her first class in the first marking period and will undoubtedly have worse results at The midterm. She has ceased taking private violin lessons because she’s too stressed out and depressed by school, which she hates. She is (was) very social, and Her friends feel more or less the same.
My 10-year-old daughter is faring better, in part because the fifth grade curriculum is less demanding, and in part because the elementary school in the district is doing much more to support kids during this difficult time.
The district has not been open to making changes of this kind and when I’ve tried to involve other parents through social media, the few that are actually interested in doing some thing feel paralyzed because they don’t have anything specific to recommend and are overwhelmed as we all are.
As you know, When imagination fails, seeing an example coming from a similar situation can be just the thing to jump to whether that be for parents that are at their wits end dealing with a broken system, or administrators and teachers who are doing their best but, with some modifications, going through the motions.
I am an educator myself, first in a college setting and for the last decade doing community education, and it seems to me like the height of insanity that the triple crises of the pandemic, the economic collapse and the political situation we find ourselves in are barely discussed in school. Rather, they are just going through the curriculum as written and attempting to do the impossible – get children of these ages to learn the same things that they would’ve learned in person through endless hours of zoom meetings. Even before the pandemic, our model of public education, as you have written about for many years, was profoundly broken. And like all the other broken systems in this country the pandemic has laid bare it’s deficits, but there’s been nothing automatic at all about change.
I would be most appreciative if you could assist me in this matter by providing examples, and for preference, contacts who I could talk to who are taking a different path. Then I feel like have the tools I need to make change, at least in my district.
Sincerely yours,
Adam
Adam,
I asked the writer of this post to respond.
Thanks so much!
Dear Adam: I am sorry it has taken me so long to respond to your queries. I have been recuperating from some very minor surgery which impeded my ability to type for a bit. I am going to respond on two levels here. I fully understand the concern you have for your fourteen-year-old daughter. My thirteen-year-old granddaughter had been an excellent student until the first quarter of this year. Her interim grades were a bit of a shock to her parents. She told me she felt overwhelmed by the volume of the work that was expected. I told her that these were not normal times and it certainly was not normal for an eighth grader to be home trying to manage all that work without social interaction with her peers. We all know that young teens crave the peer group even as we, who are older, are aghast at the drama that the peer group frequently causes! It is a part of normal development and that has been interrupted. I would be candid with your daughter. In the scope of human events, especially when those human events are so significantly unprecedented, what happens with the curriculum is an infinitesimally small part. I would remind her of the old adage: How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Tackle the work a bit at a time. I told my granddaughter that letting it pile up was a source of the anxiety—rather like not cleaning your room or letting laundry go. That said, I would talk to her teachers. I am sure they are as stressed as their students. That is why I framed my piece as a plea. I suspect your daughter is worried that now that she is in high school, there are no excuses and the competition is serious business to get the best grades, to prepare for what lies ahead. However, those pressures are moot right now—we have no framework for post-pandemic academics. Many schools, and teachers, are trying to use a framework that they are familiar with, that worked for them in pre-pandemic times, that even if the kids were not enthusiastic, many were at least compliant, moving through the hoops, taking the required assessments, etc. One of the reasons I asked my colleagues to greet the students with as many tools as possible to express themselves when they return was precisely to engage children about their experiences coping, but also to give the teachers a new framework to launch a new beginning. The arts, in the many forms they represent, are a portal to pretty much every other discipline. Your daughter, as much as she is struggling, is very fortunate that she has a family that supports her. I worry so about the children whose parents are struggling with subsistence, itself—and the pressures those children will experience to “catch up” –all the more reason to offer them tools to express themselves—to open the door for a different way of leaning and knowing. I believe your child will be ok, but I urge you to help her resist the pressures, to not worry about the future. I once read a story that claimed Abraham Lincoln didn’t learn to read until he was fourteen—which means your daughter is not behind, but doing very well! None of us is finished yet and we are all swimming upstream a little right now. Time for us to re-think, re-commit, and to try hard to relax. Mental health is much more important and life-changing than a Regents score. We parents and grandparents need to remember that–and we educators do, too.
Greetings and thanks so much for your thoughtful response. I would like to ask you some follow up questions. Could you please share your email with me, either here, or by send a message to me at aflint@binghamton.edu? I hope that you are feeling better.
Dear Adam,
I would like to strongly second Ms Snyder’s advice above on how to “be candid with your daughter.” This resonates very strongly in my life.
Anecdote: I was a rather anxious child. Once, as a 5th-grader, I got in trouble on the playground for imitating the (much-disliked) fourth-grade teacher. Soon I heard the dreaded words, “___, stay after class and see me.” My own teacher could be forbidding and I expected the worst. But when we were alone, she simply explained, gently and briefly, her take on the teacher I had mocked—a speculation on what lay behind her haughty manner with students. The advice was custom-tailored: she knew I’d respect her confidence and learn from it. I emerged ashamed of my mockery, with new insight, encouraged to think about where the other person may be coming from before reacting. Was she somehow under my mother’s skin? For that was my mother’s approach lifelong when I went to her with a problem: what are the roots of the conflict, what’s generating it, what might be the motives behind those bringing it to you—all preliminary to determining action/ reaction.
14yo is absolutely not too early to have a conversation on what’s motivating the counterintuitive, overweening push from her schools at this time. There may be little she can do about it, but that’s the point: it is when you feel powerless (as kids often do) that it’s most helpful to glean a bigger picture, look at it from more angles than just your own, and from a longer perspective. This gives one more control, if ‘only’ over one’s own response—which is everything, really.
I am not a teacher but I run Evansville Art Center in MN. I have 3 educators on my board. We are planning some early-learning events this winter. I will share this with my board. Perhaps we can encourage this attitude in our area.
There is always another opinion. But, the children need to know they are well with the world, not behind. If they feel they are defeated they will be defeated. They can’t become the discarded, no longer competitive learners that need to become the leaders in the future. They need to be recognized for the best we have. We can’t afford to loose them to abusive treatment that will guide them be failures.
Thank you so much for this very eloquent post. I work in the school system. Not a teacher. Have children n grandchildren. I. Hope this is what happens when the children come back to school but I fear not! In our family we are doing artwork n baking cooking besides their school work trying to find creative Ways to express ourselves n makes for easier ways of discussion about what we all are feeling
God bless the children
Thank you for writing this! As a teacher who works with small children, many who are considered at risk, this is absolutely what they need. All children need this as do the teachers and support staff.
So now all the benchmarks and testing used in the past are arbitrary and should be thrown out the window? The loss of educational progress for students due to remote learning needs to be measured.
Students also lost social interaction, free/reduced meals daily, sports participation, musical/theatre participation, in person therapies etc. This is all needs to be measured.
How do you measure learning? How do you measure loss of social interaction? How do you measure lack of the arts and sports?
You do it through personal observation and discussion, not standardized tests.
Thankyou for such an insightful diagnosis. You’re absolutely right. Things are, and will be, different. There is no returning to normal.
I’m thinking we should go back to the basics, if we learned the basics growing up they would be okay as well. 1+1=2 Teach them the real/ honest true History, science. Talk about the pandemic. This will bring about a change. Let’s be real.
This was excellent!! I’m sending it to myself so I have it on paper to show a elderly neighbor who was a teacher for years.
Love this!!!
A very sensible approach. I hope many teachers will read this.
This is awesome! Thanks for sharing!
Absolutely wonderful
What an excellent reflection!
Wonderful, child-centered thoughts and ideas. After a year without proper music and art and dance, and theater, let’s give that back to them! I can’t wait to hear a school chorus, band or orchestra performance or go to an art show, a dance recital or a school play. These activities will help them express their feelings about this past year and so much more. Can’t wait for all the hugs! Bravo to all the front line teachers!
Very thoughtfully written and showing the empathy that has been missing for too long. I will share.
Oh spot on! I’ve been waiting for someone to write something like this – absolutely true. They will all have learned so much, & that will need attention and assimilation. Brilliant bit of writing and insight.
Agreed. It took us the first 4 weeks of school to be reminded of strategies, focus and completing task with technology mixed in and poor internet connections to boot!!
Some 7th graders, among others probably, are helping younger siblings with school and meals, while juggling class time, assignments and emotional struggles.
Some are thriving and others are truly struggling for survival.
Excellent writing, hopefully teachers will appreciate and provide thoughtful teaching when the students return to the classroom. Social interaction is so important and the students need to express their feelings and opinions of what they experienced.
As teachets and parents we need to hear this..
Outstanding letter Teresa!👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
It is my hope that many decision makers will read your insightful piece and set aside assessment tools for a time and instead use the Arts to help our children process their experiences during this pandemic!