A blog post? What happened? Blogposts are in December! Did I fall asleep for all of 2021? Is the COVID over? Have they finally confirmed the 2020 election? Is HE gone? Please, tell me that HE’s gone!
If we want 2021 to be different, then we have to be different, so I thought a good resolution for the coming year would be to write a blogpost every week. I suspect there will be plenty of activity for comment, and I hope it will keep me thinking about new things during our endless winter of discontent, and the seasons that follow.
Today I was speaking (via Zoom, of course) to the teachers from a school in Sacramento. They, like many teachers, are returning to school this week while not returning, as the students will stay home for the first weeks. These courageous educators are asking the big questions about the time that has past and the time that is yet to come, and though it is difficult in the middle of the crisis to see outside of it (one can’t re-engineer the Titanic in the middle of sinking), people brought real ideas and real hope to their discussions and to the day.
Though I’m hesitant to come to conclusions about this, particularly as my COVID path has been different from theirs, still I think there are a few things that we can use as a framework for the what comes next.
- We MUST stop talking about children “falling behind.” Whether students mastered the same amount of standards as previous years is largely irrelevant, because no year is like this year. “Falling behind” has such a judgmental quality that it seems like throwing an anchor to students, many of whom are already sinking.
- I know that we all live in hope for the day that this is “over.” However, the immediate effects of this time will not be over for years to come and the larger effects will never be “over.” To use the term I have used in several other places, COVID is merely an accelerant for things that were already happening. There will not be a “flip the switch” day that will return us all to March 2020.
- Finally, just as we have to look out for the physical and mental health of students, teachers must be recognized and applauded for their efforts during this time. If I had planned for the type of transition that took place in March, I would have said it would have taken five years. Instead, for many places, it was done in a weekend. Many things did not go well, and that is entirely what should have been anticipated. However, what was done, as incomplete as it may be, was something done, and it’s better to light a lamp than curse the darkness
During my presentation today, someone sent me the picture that I used for this post. This is my wish for these great teachers, for myself, and for all of us this year. May we bravely move forward and boldly suck at something rather than safely stagnate. Work with hope, not always adeptly, but always earnestly.
As the song from The Who’s Tommy says, “ So you think that 21 is gonna be a good year?” (My friend David pointed out that actually a murder takes place in the middle of this song…but let’s leave that for now). Let’s make it a good year.
Be safe, be strong