Almost Time

It’s the end of July. The start of the school year is looming ever closer. We’ve done our best to rest, to prepare, to not overthink it all. But I still feel like I’m missing the mark on so many things. 

I was asked yesterday by a parent how the teachers felt about the start of school. While it was just a natural part of the conversation I paused. I was overwhelmed with thoughts. How should I answer? I’ve been asked about teacher(S) - so I’m now representing us all! This is a chance, maybe my only, to set the tone, calm a parent, express my concerns, excitement...see that overthinking thing. But I did pause, because as simple a question as it would normally be, nothing about this year seems simple. 

Plans for where we will teach and how we will teach are still being adjusted and likely will be everyday. My school has a plan. Our administration has spent countless hours adjusting and readjusting, but no plan is perfect in the current pandemic. Keeping kids apart won’t be easy. Teaching at a distance doesn’t feel right. So many of the natural processes of teaching have to be adjusted to adhere to safety guidelines, but nonetheless we are heading into August. 

So I hope my answer conveyed all my feelings, calmed a parent, and helped set the tone. I want “my kids” back. I want to be able to teach. I want to be able to interact, be genuine, supportive and encouraging. I want to calm their fears (remember they’re just kids), I want to support and be supported by parents, and I want the education my kids receive to be engaging and rigorous. I want normal back. 

But in reality, nothing will be normal for a while yet. So we head into August and do what educators do. We make the best of the situation at hand. We adjust, we help each other, we make a plan, and then another, and somehow when we look back we see how much we’ve grown and we are better for it. 

So to my fellow educators - whether it is your first year or approaching your last - be true to yourself and your profession. We wish you the best, and remind you to give yourself the grace to not be perfect, to take a few moments each day for yourself, to remember that some of the best lessons aren’t part of the curriculum, and to remember that you are enough!

Why So Uninformed?

In preparation for the 2020-2021 school year and whatever it brings, we’re trying to plan for every possible instructional method. Just the number of possibilities is exhausting. We’re still about three weeks away from when our students are scheduled to return to school. We have a rough idea of what to expect, but we know that is very likely to change several times. So we’ve spent our summer reading and learning. We’ve tried to correct the misinformation we have learned over our lifetimes, look closely at the current events and make connections to historical situations, and build a path that will allow our students to start the year asking the difficult questions. 

We know that the first few days will be critical, perhaps more than ever. We have to set the tone of a safe space from day one. We have to ask the hard questions on day one. 

In this process of reading, I (Terri) am amazing at the amount of misinformation, usually by omission that occurs in our textbooks. I’ve always taught using primary sources, media, current events, but have found that my students like a textbook. It makes them feel comfortable with the content, but history textbooks are riddled with errors, implications, and just plain failure to address the issues directly. As I’ve looked more closely at history from a variety of sources I see it more clearly, and I see that it leads to a large amount of history that is being misunderstood at best by our students. 

So from day one this year we will be looking at history more directly, settling in with the uncomfortable. This year our first week of school lines up with the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th amendment to the US Constitution. It seems to be a natural place to begin tying past to present. We will look at the process of women’s suffrage, the protests, the hesitation, and the inspiration for the women’s movement. We’ll use this topic to springboard to present day to identify groups still unequal. Yes, we’re going to talk politics - then and now. I will admit, political discussions make me uncomfortable, but in this election year combine with this anniversary and current state of the country - I will do my best to remain non partisan as a teacher, to encourage students to think critically about a multitude of issues, to let them lead discussions, and to learn with them.

AMI and the Pandemic

It’s been a while since we’ve posted, far too long really, but we’re still here. Like every
other educator in the country, this year has been one to remember! We’ve been asked
to flip our classrooms with very little notice. We sent our kids home thinking we would
see them again before summer. We embraced the change and even thought it was
nice for a while. But the sustainability of AMI was difficult. We felt the distance between
work and home slip away, we struggled to find ways to keep our kids actively engaged
without seeing them face to face, to keep the academic rigor strong while having to
explain everything virtually, and we balanced ever-changing directives and expectations.
I’d like to say we managed it all with grace, kept every ball effortlessly in the air, and
sailed through it all, but in reality, it was a messy business. We tried new things, some
worked, some did not. We learned very clearly the value of just seeing our students,
and how important that morning greeting is to them and us. By the end, we were
exhausted! 

Now, we are in the midst of summer. Somehow the exhaustion seems still just a breath
away, but we are preparing for an uncertain fall. Daily the number of COVID cases is
rising, causing us to doubt the plans for reopening while longing to return to normal.
We are balancing the desire to plan with the uncertainty of how we will need to teach
in the fall. 

To add to all this we are in the midst of a crisis in our country. The news is overwhelming
us with news every day of another protest, violent crime, inadequate civil or political
response. This fall will be a challenge like none we have ever experienced as educators.
the moment we set foot in the building or post our first virtual lesson our students will
once again be looking for us to set the tone and help them make sense of the world
around them. In a time where the good news seems often a distant hope, we need to
be prepared to help them live in the present, understand the past, deal with the
uncomfortable, and still maintain hope for the future. This is no small task! 

So how? How do we prepare for the ever-changing landscape before us? We have
to learn. Read, analyze, question - all the things we ask our students to do. We have
to do the difficult work of self-analysis and not be afraid to be real first with ourselves
and then with our students. We have to share openly our presumptions, shortcomings,
and bias, and we have to encourage and participate in uncomfortable conversations. 
These conversations need to present a more accurate historical account of our country.
They should empower students to question things they don’t understand. Is it easy?
No! Is it necessary? YES! For their future and ours.

So our goal is to be more consistent with reflecting this year and making a stronger
effort to document our thoughts and results by posting here to not only help ourselves
make sense of the uncertainty that surrounds us but hopefully to help our readers as
well. We have some ideas for some new cross-curricular units that will of course
highlight social justice, but we will be bringing more current events to the forefront
of our lessons. We will have to adjust our tried and true Refugee and WWII/The
Book Thief units because we have found some activities that work better since we
last posted about them and because the state of education will be different this fall.
We will have to accommodate for social distancing/virtual learning, and whatever
else may surface as a result of this pandemic. So, stay tuned . . . more will be
coming your way as we attempt to plan and prepare for a school year that will have
to be one of the most flexible and changing years that current day educators have
ever experienced!