LEARNING RELATIONSHIPS IN THE NEW NORMAL
This post is sponsored by WE Teachers, made possible by Walgreens. All opinions are my own.
The last conversation I had with students before the official end of the school year was between me and a few of my seventh graders. We talked about summer plans over Cardi B and Juice Wrld. We shared a snack together. The boys jockeyed for position as “best” virtual game player. The girls talked about the ways they’d miss school and their least favorite teacher. I didn’t participate in that one. As I ended the phone call, I winced at having to hang up. What does it mean to have an unofficial, face-to-face, end-of-school back in March then have an official, virtual end-of-school hangout in June?
One thing’s for sure: that episode wouldn’t have been possible without the relationships I had already established from September to March.
In different circles, I proposed that schools shouldn’t start classes with some of the usual routines we’ve seen and heard. Schools should take a good inventory of the people and things we’ve lost, the ways our relationship to school changed, and what’s drastically changed since our last set of interactions. As the majority of school districts opt to start school virtually, schools have to shift their relationships from the technocratic headquarters for academic learning of the recent past to the child-centered hubs for well-rounded growth for the present and future.
A trauma-informed school has been important to children’s nurturing prior to this moment. A CONTINUE READING: Learning Relationships In The New Normal | The Jose Vilson