HOW TO SUPPORT TEACHERS GOING BACK TO SCHOOL

Like most people who use social media and platforms to get their message out, I tend to have some rules: 1) Don’t drink and text; 2) Don’t anger-write; and 3) Don’t listen to #1 and #2.

I’m gonna do this third one.

Scene: It’s actually pretty late at night when I’m writing this. My eyes are starting to blur-over after being on virtual meetings and facilitating workshops for the past 12 hours. I ate jelly beans for breakfast — which, to be honest, was way more nutritious than the mint gum I just chewed for lunch. I don’t even know if there was a dinner time today.

But, I know it’s time to write when my stomach begins to feel queasy and my heart starts racing. After working closely in a Quaker school, I was taught to listen to that voice, to respond to that quivering, and to speak my heart. So, here it is:

“I’m afraid for teachers and school leaders.”

There, I said it.

I know … I know .. this global pandemic (absolutely f*cking absurdity can’t we just cancel 2020 enough with this virus already) is not what we expected. And, therefore, we have to truly get rid of this before we go “back to normal.” Reducing risk, deaths, transmission is the priority. And, yes, I say this as a 24 year educator, teacher, administrator, and school leader.

But, yet, here we are.

How quickly we, as a society, went from “Teachers are the real MVP” to “Shut up and stop complaining… didn’t you just get two months of summer vacation … you only have to teach a few kids a day …. do your job…” NOPE. Just NOPE.

And, yes, I have heard this from someone’s actual mouth this week.

Because we can’t seem to detangle our morals and our response to a global health pandemic with our desire to support capitalism, I know that some of our schools had to make decisions to go back in order to appease parents and caregivers a la “We pay $30,000-70,000 in tuition, you should (risk your life and the health of your family) just teach.” Or, “In order for people to go to work, we have to find a place for your kids to go.”

Where is my lunchtime gum? I’m starting to vomit in my own mouth.

Okay, so, I get it. All of our nation’s doctors, health experts, pandemic scholars and practitioners, and heck, the teachers themselves have said, “Do not open up school buildings”, but yet here we are. Opening up school buildings, despite the fact that we are beginning to understand how COVID impacts young people (remember when we thought it only affected older people). We are beginning to understand the way it impacts young people’s bodies, and we are getting ready to expose them all through our schooling system.

I’ll continue my equity-based fight. But, in the meantime, schools are opening. So, what, pray tell, can we do in the meantime.

Here is my anger-fueled-but-trying-to-be-productive list for all the families out there as your teachers go back to school. This is by no means exhaustive because, honestly, we’ve never had to come back to school from a global health crisis in our recent lifetimes, so I’m kind of winging it here:

If ANYONE in your home is sick, keep your child at home.
Teach your children how to properly remove their masks - from the ear elastics, and not by holding the mask itself, if they are taking a mask break during the day (which, is recommended because children aren’t meant to wear masks for 7 hours a day .. just sayin’).
“Sharing is not caring” — now is the time to keep your pencils, cute erasers, and Pokemon cards to yourself. You’ll share again soon… as soon as COVID is gone.
Come up with a fun “air hand shake” — remember all those viral videos of teachers who stood by the door and greeted every child with a unique handshake? Cute right? Not in the time of COVID. Greet your teacher with a fun — no contact — handshake.
At home, practice washing your hands but with the set up of your school bathroom facilities. How should kids properly turn on a faucet that 100 other kids touched that morning? How do they use the soap dispenser safely? How do they properly dry hands? Can they use a paper towel to touch the door handles? At home, the flush the toilet with their hand; should they do something differently at a public toilet? Teach them how things might be different at home and at school.
Be prepared to provide connection and emotional support for your child when they come home from school. Your nation’s teachers are doing the best they can - and part of that “best” is making sure that children are safe and distanced. Between this and teaching behind Plexiglass while simultaneously answering questions on Zoom because the other 1/2 of the class is learning virtually, there isn’t the same amount of time or even capacity for the level of emotional support that our students once had — mostly because, let’s be real, teachers are already coming to school worried (rightfully so!) about how to keep themselves safe too! That’s a lot. Help reduce some of that expectation by connecting with your child after school. This will be a major void given that the usual rules of socialization will not be at play.
Support your teacher if they are not in school by being compassionate and understanding. If your child’s teacher is not in school, it’s likely because they are not feeling well (thank you for staying home, teachers!) OR even that a family member, child, or loved one is sick and they have to stay home with them. It’s not selfish. It’s science. Be kind, caring, and understanding when this happens, even as it disrupts your day and schedule, too. Nobody wanted this virus; so, let’s make sure we are engaging as team to get rid of it.
Technology is a learning curve, and our teachers have been sprinting to try to catch up. By now, you’ve been on a whole lot of Zoom meetings for your own work. How long did you pay attention? At what point did you turn off your camera so you could get up and shake out your legs? Did you tune out at all or were YOU totally engaged? Now, imagine you have to run a meeting for 24 9-year olds. Folks, I run 6 hours of workshops all day to ADULTS - those who, for the most part, have the ability to focus. But, ask me to do this for a classroom of middle schoolers, and I just might last a week. It’s not easy. And, teachers thrive off of being in person, reading body language, and using their “teacher super hero listening” to hear a comment from across the room. The rules are different now. Everyone is on mute. They can no longer hear everything or be aware of everything. They didn’t train for this. And, even three months of Zoom training (on Zoom, no less) just isn’t enough time to be as great as they are in-person.
Remember, so many of our teachers entered into this profession because they love teaching. They love the learning that happens at school and the growth they see in their students. They chose a profession where they are proximate to emotions, tears, joy, challenge, and success. They chose a profession filled with struggle and heartache as well as excitement and energy. They chose a profession to be a part of making this world better by educating our nation’s future leaders. They did not choose to be experts in active shooter drills. They did not choose to be in the middle of a global pandemic. And, while they got into this field because they wanted to impact the lives of others …. it was never part of the deal that they would risk they own lives to do so.
Ya heard that last sentence, right?

To our nation’s teachers: You signed up for a LOT of things as a teacher — most of it not glamorous and much of it under-appreciated. Yet, here you are. Tens of thousands of dollars in debt for an undergraduate and graduate degree in education, and you work in one of the most underpaid professional careers in our nation. But, just like you, I chose this. I chose this path. And, I chose this passion. But, you did not chose a global pandemic. And, you did not chose to have your personal and professional lives go in this direction. As a parent of school aged children, I know that you are doing your best. I haven’t met a SINGLE teacher who was “on summer vacation” this year. I know … I ran workshops all summer that were filled with teachers from across this country who were trying to get ready for an unexpected Fall semester. You worked your @sses off. And, now you are starting the school year overwhelmed, tired, confused, anxious, and worried. You are exhausted, and you will begin teaching exhausted.

I am worried about your health, your wellness, and your emotional and psychological readiness for what lies ahead of you. We have put unfair expectations on you as a society, and yet, time and again, when sh*t hits the fan, we turn to teachers to solve the problems that were created by systems you have nothing to do with (e.g., lack of funding, lack of food security in one of the world’s wealthiest and resource rich countries, lack of access to mental health workers, lack of reliable child care, lack of green space for children to play safely with others, etc).

It is not enough to call you our nation’s heroes — which, to be honest, I don’t see you being treated as such. I see you as being treated as our nation’s expendables. Our nation’s test cases. Our nation’s placeholders and problem solvers. Some districts have plenty of PPE; others have enough to last the first three weeks. Our nation’s economic disparities are on full display. The sudden quarantine highlighted those; and the return to school put them up in Vegas-style billboard lighting. It still astonishes me that some folks still refuse to see the lights.

We are in the midst of a global pandemic. Teachers and school leaders, please take care of yourselves.

Maybe if we invested more time in our nation’s schools, more people would understand how important a critical education in science, math, language arts, social studies, history, physical education, health, and language would lead us to this one answer: our priority must be to fight this virus and to actually get our country’s numbers to decline so that we can fully reopen our economies, schools, buildings, sporting events, and activities.

Until then, teachers, please be safe out there.

You are at war with a virus armed with a 6 ounce tube of home made hand sanitizer and a pencil case.

Peace and power,

Liza

LizaAugust 8, 2020