First day of school Reflection
After the final bell rang and the children had safely loaded on their buses for the journey home, the halls experienced a different conversation. Teachers had emerged from their classrooms to digest the day, the very first day of the 2022-2023 school year. Five teachers leaned up against the walls to recap the woes they faced over the last eight hours. The nation has heard from thousands of teachers that last year was the most challenging school year educators have faced so naturally, the question begs to be asked, what will educators encounter in this school year?
On this day, students entered into new schedules. Schedules that were different than what they experienced all summer. They were inundated with new routines. New expectations from new people. New experiences with these new people with the possibility of new relationships forming.
It is my belief that the beginning of the school year is about human connection. As former educator, Rita Pierson so famously said in her TEDTalk, “kids don’t learn from people they don’t like.”
So with this moment, I challenge us to reflect on when was the last time we adults began a new relationship with someone else? When was the last time we adults began a positive, new relationship in a forced situation?
We hear from students the common response of requesting a schedule change, but what they are really saying is, I haven’t connected with you on a personal level. While I have no idea what the 2022-2023 school year will look like for educators across this state, what I do know is this…we have to provide that safe experience for students to open their hearts to a new relationship that has been scheduled for them for the next nine months. Before we can share all the content knowledge we have gained in our pursuit of learning, we have to connect.
While I fully support the digesting of the day with fellow educators, I also encourage us all to not wallow in the woe. It’s easy to look back at the trials of the day, but these five educators didn’t stop there. They started problem-solving for tomorrow. They collaborated on ways to connect and ways to streamline routines in their realm of control. They began to write their own narrative for what the 2022-2023 school year will look like for them. How have you? Remember that education is a human experience and we must address both parts - the human side of education by building relationships while providing our students an experience to deepen their learning to help prepare them for tomorrow. In other words, Maslow before Bloom.
On this day, students entered into new schedules. Schedules that were different than what they experienced all summer. They were inundated with new routines. New expectations from new people. New experiences with these new people with the possibility of new relationships forming.
It is my belief that the beginning of the school year is about human connection. As former educator, Rita Pierson so famously said in her TEDTalk, “kids don’t learn from people they don’t like.”
So with this moment, I challenge us to reflect on when was the last time we adults began a new relationship with someone else? When was the last time we adults began a positive, new relationship in a forced situation?
We hear from students the common response of requesting a schedule change, but what they are really saying is, I haven’t connected with you on a personal level. While I have no idea what the 2022-2023 school year will look like for educators across this state, what I do know is this…we have to provide that safe experience for students to open their hearts to a new relationship that has been scheduled for them for the next nine months. Before we can share all the content knowledge we have gained in our pursuit of learning, we have to connect.
While I fully support the digesting of the day with fellow educators, I also encourage us all to not wallow in the woe. It’s easy to look back at the trials of the day, but these five educators didn’t stop there. They started problem-solving for tomorrow. They collaborated on ways to connect and ways to streamline routines in their realm of control. They began to write their own narrative for what the 2022-2023 school year will look like for them. How have you? Remember that education is a human experience and we must address both parts - the human side of education by building relationships while providing our students an experience to deepen their learning to help prepare them for tomorrow. In other words, Maslow before Bloom.
Comments
Post a Comment