It’s 5 am on the first day of school. That gentle terror that has been building in teachers for weeks is here with me as I write. No teacher I’ve talked to knows what to expect of Distance Learning and no teacher can confidently say those normal first day words: I’m ready.
What will happen is actually predictable and that is why today and these first days back to school require us all to dig deep and find our way to extend that jewel of a word: Trust.
This week and in the weeks that follow, as school districts across California and the country begin instruction, those five letters may be the most important to focus on. As we move into Distance Learning (DL), there are some things that are likely. Some schools will struggle; some schools will do things better than others; some teachers will be better at DL than others; some teachers will harness tech tools and manage to engage students; some will not be as successful; some students will be able to manage their school time, attend virtual school, and learn; some students will struggle mightily, find it difficult to organize themselves, and develop ZoomFlu. What will be critical is how we together consider all this, and ultimately how much we trust each other. If we can find the path to trusting that teachers will do their best, students will try, school administrators care deeply about their students, and parents believe teachers and schools are doing their best, then we have a chance; if we start picking the system apart, we will find the gaps, teachers who aren’t fully in the game, admin who don’t get it, students who are apathetic and unengaged, and parents who pile on with negative comments.
Schools play an enormous role in the community; often, academics will talk about “school and society” as inextricably linked. We can think of school as having at least five major constituencies: the students, the teachers, the parents, district and school administration, and the social/economic community at large. Let’s look at each one:
Students: We have about 58 million students feeling their own gentle terror this morning. What fears are at their doorstep? Maybe I’m starting a new year with new teachers; maybe I’m at a new school, moving up from 6th grade to junior high or 8th grade to high school; maybe I don’t have the right technology for all this; maybe my internet (if I have it) will glitch; maybe I don’t want to be in a Zoom class meeting like in the spring; maybe I hate being put on the spot by a teacher, spotlight view. Maybe I’m hungry and won’t get breakfast today.
What we all must do is trust our students. They are the most asea amongst us, even though teachers may think we have the toughest part to play in all this. Give your students the leverage to make mistakes just as teachers will make mistakes. Hold their virtual hands and empathize with our collective place. Listen closely to what the students say as a group. Most importantly, listen closely to what our students say as individuals, as he or she shares his or her own gentle terror about what this first day means and looks ahead to what Day 37 or Day 49 will mean. Because that’s when we all have our real test of DL.
Teachers: Almost 4 million teachers have returned or are getting ready to return. Most have sat through countless training sessions, learning new tools to connect, inspire, excite, and teach. Teachers have always known how critical it is to engage the student in learning. Building the class community is one of the pillars of engagement and today, it is part of my wonder. How will engagement look? What teachers must do is trust their students to put their best effort forth, trust that parents will be supportive, even those who fervently wish that today, that yellow bus was rolling, trust that school administrators and district staff are not incompetent and are trying their level best to meet the school’s needs, and trust that the greater community will manage to make it through somehow.
Parents: You have the toughest job of all. Your extension of trust is the most difficult because you know the individual student story like no other. It is your child, whether 5 years old on the first day of kindergarten or 12 years old starting junior high or 17 starting an unknown senior year. You are the one who has had to pick up your child’s spirits, tell him or her it will be OK, encourage best effort. And you are talking into the wind because really, today of all days, you just don’t know what will happen. How will I work while my children are Zooming? Can I trust that they will get their work done? What will six different teachers at high school look like on Zoom, all with different ways of teaching? How will I help my child manage all the “homework”? How will we keep everything organized? How can I keep my child motivated for 12 weeks or more of DL? What about making friends? What about sports? Clubs? My child’s IEP? 504? School lunch? Wait, I have more questions….
The task to trust the system is enormous. We inside will say we’ve got this because we are trained to say that. Part of our job in schools is to say it will all be OK and we have a good plan. Instilling confidence is what we do. Kindergarten teachers do this every year – I know there are tears now, but he will be fine. Trust me.
Remember that things will go wrong. It is how parents react when things don’t go as planned that will either keep the train rolling or derail the learning process. Remember everyone is actively trying to do their best. Remember that your personal fears about Covid may be the same fear felt by a school staff member. Remember that trusting in others allows them to feel they can reach their best.
Districts/School Admin: Ah, the gentle terror of a teacher of Day 1. Does it match the rising bile a high school principal faces? Or the attempt by the elementary principal to make everyone feel OK, even when he or she is wondering how it will come together? Or a superintendent trying to support every school in the district, even the one she knows has had problems before Covid and how on Earth will they manage this? Your jobs are perhaps the most difficult. Whatever goes south (and it likely will at some point), you get to listen to the complaint. You may have prepared well, trained school staff, communicated to all parties, done your level best, but school is school and some things will fall apart. At those times, you have to trust in the whole, trust that the people in schools together can make it work. Different, probably a lesser version of school than we wish for, challenging, but ultimately worthy of trust.
The Community: You are all of us. You get it. You see the Big Picture because it is your business that is struggling. You can’t see next week much less the first day of school. You may have employees you care for deeply. You may be an itinerant worker who can’t stay home with her children. You may be a banker whose loan portfolio is in the red. You may be a police officer struggling with a job that offers little solace. You may be a low-income parent who can’t figure out how to feed your children. You may be a single black mother with no place to turn. You may be older, have a pre-existing condition, hold a particular fear about Covid. You may be many of these things in one. Your trust is the hardest because it is truly a trust in the unknown. Remember it is not a trust that everything will work perfectly (because it will not). It is a trust that everyone is working to make DL work, to establish a bridge across which students continue learning and making progress.
Last Thoughts:
Trust is the heaviest lift. We have been used to ensuring students are accountable for their learning, that school administrators ensure that teachers are accountable for their teaching and professional development time, that district and county offices of education ensure the system is accountable to all students we serve. Today, we can use this moment of gentle terror to transfer accountability into agency: trust that students are trying to learn; trust that teachers are doing their best; trust that principals are running as hard as they can to keep it all together. Put your urge to blame others down for a few weeks and trust that somehow, together, we can do this.
Happy First Day of School, wherever you are.
David Stirrat 