BLOG POST BY 2020-2021 PA TEACHER OF THE YEAR AND PTAC MEMBER JOE WELCH Each May, my middle school holds an awards ceremony for our 8th grade students. We celebrate their accomplishments, highlight their kindness and contributions, and hear from administrators, teachers, and students. At the end of it, we roll the annual reflection video with Jason Mraz’s “Have it All,” amongst others, serenading us in the background. And, even though I may have seen the video cut dozens of times before airing live, I always get that lump in my throat. Lyrics like “Here’s to the lives that you’re gonna change” or “May the best of your todays be the worst of your tomorrows” ring true. But, really, it’s the line “I want you to have it all” that captures the sentiment I - and so many other teachers - have for students as they begin the next chapter of their story. We want them to all to have the access, the opportunity, the support, the confidence, the resilience, the inspiration, and the character to experience all that life has to offer them. But right now, they can’t. As full disclosure, I opened the school year teaching in a semi-hybrid format, then virtual, then live hybrid, and then back to virtual. The yo-yo that is the 2020-2021 school year has put students in a position where they just cannot, as Mraz writes, have it all. They should have the experiences and opportunities that others before them have had in year’s past. Teachers want them to have that - and more. But, we, as local communities throughout Pennsylvania, need to be better at adhering to health officials’ recommendations and guidance so that our students can get back to having it all. It is beyond time to acknowledge that. Are teachers and students coming together to do amazing activities to foster learning? Absolutely, we are. And, we’re doing a great job in the situation that we have had dropped in our lap[tops]. Trust me, teachers across the state [and nation] are doing their best to innovate and inspire. After four months of collaborating, training, planning, and adapting, educators have, once again, shown their resolve and are proving that their dedication to students will not waver but grow stronger, especially in the face of adversity. I have had the opportunity to experience this first hand. As the year opened, a small, but diverse group of educators from different schools and communities throughout Western Pennsylvania collaborated with their local PBS Affiliate, WQED, to produce high-quality lesson content to serve students throughout the entire viewing area of the network. This collaboration led to recording over-the-air lessons and units, producing engaging activities that can be implemented with or without technology resources [which leads to a greater conversation about educational equity]. Colleagues and I have worked to broadcast live lessons from historic sites around Pittsburgh as well as day trips to Fayette County and Washington, D.C. Teachers are willing to literally go the extra mile for students. Again, we want our students to have it all, to best experience it all, and to know throughout it all that they are our priority. I am also proud to be part of a group of teachers that filled their hybrid classrooms with historical figure cut-outs, social justice leaders, entrepreneurial role models, and local heroes to fill the physical voids students may feel in their classrooms when desks were left vacated due to social distancing and hybrid models. This is all part of what it means to do what is needed to connect with our students, and teachers are rising to the occasion and then some. We all want students back in school, experiencing everything, with everyone, as soon as it is safely possible to do so. Students have been working under difficult circumstances as well. Some are trying to attend class while caring for siblings, some have family members who are sick, and some students are victims of a lack of equitable technology resources. We have seen some of the best that our students have to offer over the last four months, and, on the flip side, a spotlight also now shines on the need for equitable reforms now and in the future. Students’ resiliency, their perspectives, their positive attitudes as changes are thrust upon them, certainly are helpful fuel to press forward. However, the fatigue of students and teachers is setting in. The sustainability of this marathon that is 2020 is in question.
I’ve been putting off writing this for weeks. I wanted to make sure to have a positive spin on what I wanted to write. A feel good story, if you will, about what I had mentioned above. About how it is all working out for everyone, with a clear narrative that teachers are working harder than ever [and we are], and are sacrificing and risking more than ever [and we are], and will continue to be able to sustain it. But, that is just more of the toxic positivity that is detrimental to moving forward. In stressing about this recently, a colleague I consider to be a mentor shared, “Joe, some situations just aren’t all positive.” So, let’s have the conversation. Unfortunately, despite all of the innovating, all of the collaborating, all of the inspiration that teachers, students, and communities are making happen in our schools, schools are slowly being forced to close physical spaces yet again. As scientists and doctors have predicted, not following safety recommendations has led to a rise in community spread. I, like hundreds of thousands of teachers across Pennsylvania, want students back in school. I do my part to make sure that this happens, like hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvania teachers. And, like hundreds of thousands of teachers across Pennsylvania, I am willing to make personal sacrifices and make the decisions in my own life, in and out of school, to put us in a better position to be able to do this safely. Making these choices so that a kindergartner has a better chance of in-person reading instruction? A no brainer. A middle school student has a better chance to participate in their first musical? Sign me up. A high school senior can hug their friends at graduation? Who wouldn’t pick that? These are personal decisions that keep me and my family safe and keep others safe. These are decisions that teachers and so many others across the Commonwealth are wisely making. But they are also the decisions that are necessary if we want to return to normalcy as we await the cavalry in the form of mass vaccinations. But, until that point of widespread distribution, we need your help now more than ever to make this a realistic possibility. I want the students to have it all. I want to sit in a full auditorium in May surrounded by students and have that annual lump in my throat. Put simply, I want students to be in school. Please, help us make this happen.
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BLOG POST BY PTAC MEMBER SUSAN MATTHIAS After taking part in a workshop, “Developing a Growth Mindset in the Middle School Math Classroom,” I began to understand that it is the classroom culture that could positively impact the manner in which students approach their work. Although this workshop focused on math instruction, the concept of developing growth mindset in students can be applied to any content area on all levels.
If you have ever heard statements such as “I have never been good in math”; “I will never be able to write an essay”; “This science experiment is too difficult”; “This math problem has too many steps”, you are most likely working with students that operate using a fixed mindset. These students see their personal qualities as fixed traits that cannot be changed. Students with fixed mindsets do not recognize the connection between effort and success. With a fixed mindset, they believe that skill and intelligence are qualities you are born with and cannot be improved upon. A growth mindset classroom culture can teach students that they are in control of their learning. Once students begin to understand, and most importantly, believe they are in control, an empowering mindset begins to creep in. My classroom culture begins with me. After I adjusted the manner in which I responded to students,I began to see change. My responses to students began to communicate my confidence in them as the learner. In the past, when students came to me with questions and problems, I would be tempted to jump in and fix it for them. I stopped doing much of the work for them. What I realized is that learning stops when I respond in that way. I began to change how I responded. I began to ask more questions such as “Tell me what you do know about this problem,” or “Tell me how you got to this point.” The questions I began to ask and the discussions that ensued began to empower the students. I heard students say, “I got this!” or “I will work on that.” Yes, a growth mindset is all about empowerment. Students need to understand that learning takes work and effort, and often, does not come easily. When students begin to experience success after doing their work, they begin to feel empowered. In a growth mindset classroom, students understand that a response such as “I don’t know” is not accepted. When students are not sure of how to respond, they learn and practice other responses such as “Can I phone a friend?”; “Can you come back to me?”, “I need a few minutes to think about that.” If teachers refuse to accept “I don’t know”, they promote a classroom culture where learning can happen, even if that learning does not appear to happen immediately. It takes time and patience to develop a classroom culture that promotes a growth mindset. Educating students about the difference between a fixed mindset and the benefits of growth mindset opens doors they once thought were closed. It takes a strong teacher commitment to develop a growth mindset classroom. Discussions and responses to students must encourage students to do the work. At first, students may push back, as it will feel uncomfortable to them, however, if done consistently and with compassion, the culture will change. Although results will not be immediate, when promoting a growth mindset culture, I assure you that they will begin to try harder and reach deeper. They begin to be more accountable for their work and become more independent. Students will then be in charge of their learning! Blog Post by PTAC Vice-President, Mike Soskil Today I embark on my twenty-third school year journey. Each one has been exciting, difficult, rewarding, and unique. As I look forward to this school year, I can’t help but reflect on the incredible challenges I faced during my first year teaching. There were times it felt like I didn’t have a clue what I was doing and others when I didn’t think I’d make it. When I look back, though, I realize that it was the greatest year of professional growth of my career. Most importantly, despite all of the difficulties, I know I made a positive impact on my students that year. Three days before the 1997-98 school year began, and less than 24 hours after arriving in the Sonoran Desert after a cross-country drive, I met the Program Director of the Mesa, Arizona school in which I had landed my first teaching position. She welcomed me. She laughed at me because I was wearing khakis, long sleeves, and a tie on a 115 degree day (I was trying to look professional and make a good impression). She showed me my classroom. Then, she handed me three photocopied teachers manuals: an old math book, a phonics book, and a spelling primer with a copyright date of 1898 (really). These were to be my only curriculum or teaching guidance for that entire school year. I was terrified. But at the same time, I was so excited that I couldn’t sleep. Finally, after all of my university courses, my student teaching, and my dreams of making a positive impact on the world through teaching, I was going to get the opportunity. I made a lot of mistakes that year. Sometimes I wish I could go back in time and talk some sense into the relatively clueless first-year teacher version of myself. I learned a lot, though. And, with each mistake, each new experience, each new challenge, each colleague that I connected with out of necessity, I grew as a professional and a person. In a strange way, I was blessed at the time with the humility that comes from knowing I was clueless. As a first year teacher, I didn’t expect to have it all figured out. I did my best, all the while knowing that my best was going to continue to get better. I’ve come to understand that the incredible challenges that I faced that first year were the groundwork for the innovation and experimentation that has allowed me to be successful in my career. If I could figure out a way to find resources and to teach with almost no guidance or mentorship provided by my school, I could figure out a way to teach anything to anyone. Now, like many of you, I’m right back here at the beginning. As I begin this year, I’m once again clueless. I’ve never taught concurrently - online and in-person at the same time. I’ve never had to worry about the physical, mental, and emotional health of my students, my colleagues, or my family in the ways that will be necessary this year. It’s harder because I know now - much better than I did back then - what effective teaching looks like. So, I’m giving myself permission to make mistakes, learn, and grow this year. I’m not going to be as effective at first - because none of us are. Our students’ needs are different, our challenges are different, and our restraints are different. But, with each new challenge comes and opportunity to grow, and an opportunity to model for our children how to learn from mistakes. I’m giving myself permission to focus on the social-emotional health of my students more this year, and to be at peace with the fact that it might mean there is less time for academic content. After all, all of us have been impacted by this pandemic, and we can’t Bloom unless we Maslow first. I’m giving myself permission to innovate and experiment, because the only way to the other side of this pandemic is through it. And, for those of you who need someone else to tell you, I’m giving you permission to make mistakes, to focus on your students’ holistic needs, and to innovate as well. This school year will be different than any other you’ve ever experienced. As teachers, we tend to be perfectionists, believing that our value is measured by our ability to teach the curriculum. When we have quiet moments of reflection, however, we all know that our value as educators is much more closely tied to our ability to connect with our students and help them see their value. As the inevitable uncertainty unfolds this year, carve time and space for you to remember, honor, and focus on that. Surround yourself with other educators (virtually if needed) who inspire you and help you do that. You aren’t alone. PTAC’s network of outstanding, inspiring teachers will be working with you to ensure narratives from our classrooms are informing the decisions in Pennsylvania that impact our students. Experience tells me that they will also be coming together to help each other, me, and you build networks of support and collaboration. The challenges may be new, but the solution in education remains the same. Relationships will get us through this school year. With colleagues, and with the students that we love. Teachers have a capacity to empathize and show compassion on a level found in few other professions. It’s never been more important for our students or our fellow educators. If we get those relationships right, at the end of this year you and I will look back at all of the struggles and know that we had a positive impact on our students. Decades from now, our current students will be asked by their grandchildren, “What was it like to live through the Pandemic of 2020-2021?” My hope, for my students and for yours, is that they begin telling that story by saying, “There was this incredible teacher…” Fox Chapel Area High School Music Department students welcome faculty, staff and administration back to a new year!BY PTAC MEMBER COLLEEN EPLER-RUTHS, Ph.D Inspired by a conversation during a recent meeting, I set out to find out what my students felt about their new experience in online learning with me and overall. In some ways, I was driven by my fear of the future. What if we are online next fall? Would students flock to a virtual school? Is there a place for a brick and mortar teacher in this COVID world? Can I craft working relationships with a new set of students in a digital environment?
For context, my school district is considered rural but we do have one town and one very small city included in our population. We have 48% free/reduced lunches and about 10% minority (mostly Hispanic and/or Black). We are one of the districts in the state where a portion of our population has no internet access due to either poverty or location (rural without internet providers). For that reason, our spring semester was considered “enrichment.” We held online classes and office hours, provided online work (or packets), and provided graded feedback. However, the students were not held responsible or accountable for the assignments. Second, I teach computer science and physics, so I was already using technology in my classroom. My students were used to using Google Classroom, Documents, and Sheets. I felt my students would easily make the transition to online learning. My anonymous 16-question survey was split into three parts - questions about them, questions about my online classroom, and questions about school overall. I had a mixture of scaled questions and open-ended questions. First I asked what they valued in education. Then I asked questions about their engagement with my classroom and what I did that was good and where I needed to improve. Finally, I asked them what they miss about brick and mortar school, and what they liked and didn’t like with online school. My final question was “any other thoughts?” I was humbled by their perspectives and thoughtful considerations. While some of the feedback was something I could correct right away (“get a better camera, I had a hard time seeing in class” and “slow down”), some of the feedback spoke to my heart and what I am beginning to understand about the student COVID experience. So today, I am going to focus on what my students valued, what they need and what they miss and don’t miss about the brick and mortar school. The first set of questions were designed to help my students first focus on the learning context and their educational values. My first question was “What do you value in education?” 67% of my students suggested that gaining knowledge and skills was valuable to them. “I do not want to take a class just to pass and advance to the next level. Instead, I want to understand and grasp the topic at hand. By understanding what I have learned, I can take this knowledge and become a successful adult. “ 22% of my students valued the teachers: “Learning challenging material, but with the help of my teachers.” “A teacher who is always ready to help and makes themselves available. I also get a lot more out of in person teaching, but I understand that it isn’t an option right now. “ The rest of the students valued having fun, learning for the real world, and for humanity. “I value anything that benefits the welfare of humanity. Mainly, I value education that makes me better than I was the day before, not only intellectually but makes me a better human. “ The students’ answers about educational values generally made me feel that our students are engaged in learning and do care about how we teach. My second question was “I wish my teachers knew…” I normally ask this same question as a test question during the first semester in the fall. I am often blown away by the variety of personal information and insights students will reveal. I was just as impressed by the candid responses and different perspectives I got in my online class survey. Three general themes ran through the survey answers: 1) students struggle with a lack of motivation, 2) online learning can be hard, time consuming and not as good as being in person, and 3) being stuck at home is taxing on mental health. Students gave genuine answers. “I wish my teachers knew that we as students do not understand the topic as well as the teacher does. Students do not like the feeling of being downgraded because "the topic is easy" or barely teaching us because the teacher thinks we understand.” “I wish my teachers knew how much pressure I put on myself and how grateful I am to them for being patient and kind.” “I am infinitely gracious to those whom teach with respect, and whom understand they are still very similar to me, as I am human and so are they. “ “While I try to do most of my work for most of my classes, if I did absolutely everything for all 7 of my classes and went to every Google meet, I wouldn't have time to do anything else.” “How my motivation to learn has been diminished more and more since being stuck at home. I try to stay busy, and for the most part I do stay pretty active, but I do have some days (or weeks) where I can’t bring myself to do much at all. “ Reading candid thoughts from my students helps me to tailor my classroom to their needs and be more reflective on my goals for them. I started to include information on my classroom announcements about social emotional learning, reaching out to guidance if they find themselves overwhelmed, and getting outside to hike and enjoy the outdoors. I also encourage them to contact me directly through email or office hours. Finally, I made sure I talked with each student as they came into the digital classroom to see how they were and how they were doing with physics content. At the end of the survey I asked my students “what do you miss about coming to the brick and mortar high school?” There were no surprises in that many students reported missing friends, teachers and interactions with people (47%). Interesting enough, students also missed motivation and the routine (23%) and hands-on learning (17%). “ I miss seeing my friends and teachers. I also miss being in the classroom because I feel like I learn much better that way.” This is good news for those of us concerned with brick and mortar schools going the way of horse and buggies. Interactions with people, routines, and hands-on learning are our strongholds in physical schools. Only a small percentage (12%) suggested that they didn’t miss much. “I do not believe I would have grown as much as I have if I had continued going to brick and mortar school. Education is so much more than a grade.” Next, in comparison, I asked the students “What do you like about online learning?” The most common answers were the ability to set their own learning pace (24%) and have a flexible time schedule (24%) and sleeping in (12%). “You can do it in the comfort of your own home and at any time you want.” But a significant group of students (18%) said they like nothing about online learning. Only 6% of the students liked learning without receiving grades. Overall, I am not surprised by these results. Online learning does offer flexibility and freedom. But, I was surprised more students didn’t suggest lack of grades being a good thing. As an educator, I have always dreamed about a world where grades didn’t matter, but the reality is that our society values putting a number to effort. Is there a place for curiosity and learning for the joy of learning in the high school? My last question was “What do you not like about online learning?”, Students had a wide variety of dislikes about online learning too. Many of the complaints had to do with the lack of schedule or accountability. “The lack of real schedule, to me it didn’t feel like a school day, just a day where I did some extra work.” “I don't like that work isn't mandatory, that we don't get grades. Even if I do all of the work, I feel like I'll be behind next year because of how long it has been since I've had an honest test, or actual grades.” Other students felt overwhelmed, unorganized, and unable to communicate: “Sometimes hard to keep on track with work” “It's harder for me because I like to be able to physically write things down on paper, and I would like to be able to ask questions in person because I feel like I get more out of it that way.” Overall, online learning is just not the same as in person. Students didn’t like staring at the computer all day, not being pushed, feeling unproductive and were concerned about falling grades. “I believe that myself and others have lost motivation ...Online learning is not the same as physical, real life learning.” Many of these complaints about online learning are going to be hard to overcome. But we must put thought into these shortcomings if we have to continue with virtual school into the fall. As educators, we have to help our students build a consistent schedule, get organized and become self-motivated so we all can find success in this new digital world into which we have been thrust. At the end of the survey I asked my students if they had other thoughts. I was encouraged by the general positivity of my students and their resilience. “I enjoyed your class while it lasted” “I think online learning has potential, but I'm still not ready to go all in.” “Thank you for doing all you could to make this year better through all the horrible events that have occurred.” “I am very happy with your transition to online learning. Even with this big change I am still able to learn and hear your silly jokes during the meets. Thank you for truly caring about my education along with other students, it really shows.” And understood their sense of loss: “I'm going to miss my high school, believe it or not, and all the teachers that believed in me when I couldn't believe in myself. I originally thought that when I would leave high school, I'd coming running out cheering and happy to get away from it, but now I'd give my left leg to attend one more in-person class, to bump into someone in the hall, to hear other kids laughing, to see my teachers in person, to have my ears attacked by the sounds of slamming lockers and the loud, boisterous teachers in the school, and to say goodbye to the lunch ladies in the cafeteria.” *Sniff* So what have I learned from my survey? First, I found that my students really do care about education, learning and working with their teachers. I also now know that they carry a great load - school, work, family and activities - and the COVID lock down has made motivation and mental health even more of a challenge. I also believe that there is still a future for a brick and mortar school where we can help students one-on-one, give them a routine and time to interact and learn with other people. But, we also must learn to embrace this digital world and think outside the brick-and-mortar box. Online learning does have many benefits including pace and freedom to follow your curiosity and passion. While my survey will not help me predict the future for the next school year, I know the future will be in good hands with the students who have learned to thrive in our new normal. BLOG POST BY 2014 PA TEACHER OF THE YEAR FINALIST AND PTAC MEMBER TRACEY FRITCH AND Julie MIKOLAJEWSKI
In her 2018 New York Times bestselling book, So You Want to Talk About Race, Ijeoma Oluo states,“You have to get over the fear of facing the worst in yourself. You should instead fear unexamined racism. Fear the thought that, right now, you could be contributing to the oppression of others and you don’t know it. But do not fear those who bring that oppression to light. Do not fear the opportunity to do better.” So You Want to Talk About Race grew from Oluo’s experiences in attempting to personally unpack and explain challenging issues related to race and racism, then realizing she had a knack for helping people figure out how to engage in conversations about race, with the hope of making progress and creating change. Now, more than ever, in spite of the challenges inherent in facing and discussing important social issues, including the challenges encountered during conversations about race, public school teachers must cultivate culturally responsive teaching in their classrooms. They must strive to model the process of creating connections with others, especially those who are different from themselves, all the while working to participate in and foster authentic classroom conversations about social issues, thus encouraging and teaching students to do the same. This past June, the Pennsylvania Teachers Advisory Committee (PTAC) issued its “Recommendations for the 2020-2021 School Year.” Inside the first recommendation on student well-being was this statement: “We recommend every school district embrace culturally responsive teaching and learning. This should incorporate history inclusive of marginalized perspectives and literature that represents and celebrates diverse cultures and individuals.” Though many people, including many well-meaning educators, avoid what they perceive to be challenging conversations about race or other social issues for many reasons, including fears of making mistakes or being perceived negatively, it has become increasingly clear that, for many, the choice to avoid these conversations is a privilege. Given recent world events, this is a privilege onto which we can no longer afford to hold. As Maya Angelou famously stated, “When you know better, you do better.” Each day, our students look to us for guidance and leadership regarding both their academic and their social-emotional learning; as we foster culturally responsive classrooms, we provide safe spaces in which a diverse range of individuals feel included, supported, and able to thrive. Identity Work In order to be culturally responsive and to fully prepare our students for the mutli-dimensional world in which they live, teachers must choose to address recent events of racism, discrimination and bias in the news, as well as acknowledge that events like these are not new occurrences. Students are keenly aware of the current socio-political climate and are looking to the adults in their lives to offer guidance in both processing it and in discussing it openly and respectfully with others. Taking time to foster conversations about identity, diversity, and character development are not only best practices in literacy learning, but these conversations also foster classroom community development and prepare students to be educated and engaged citizens in a democratic society - hopefully a society that is inclusive and promotes understanding of equity and the strength of diversity. This diversity includes diversity of race, ability, gender preferences, and sexual orientation, among others. At a middle school in a Philadelphia suburb, Tracey begins each year with her students by asking them to create “identity webs,” a ritual learned from the professional book Upstanders: How to Engage Middle School Hearts and Minds with Inquiry, by Smokey Daniels and Sara Ahmed. Students spend time, in class and at home, examining, listing, and discussing the various aspects of their “identities.” This list includes, but is not limited to, student reflections upon age, grade, gender, hobbies, passions, culture/ethnicity, languages spoken, favorite foods, personality traits, and family composition. Students share whatever information feels comfortable as they use the webs to introduce themselves to classmates, and learn about the ways they are both similar to and different from others, as they build classroom communities. Similarly so, Julie begins the year with students creating identity portraits that depict both visible and invisible aspects of her students’ identities. This activity was borrowed from Gary Gray Jr., an educator in Singapore. Initially, these conversations about personal identities can be tentative and even awkward, but they gradually evolve, with encouragement and guidance, into frank, empathic conversations, and set the tone of these classrooms as - this is a place where we respectfully discuss important matters, even when it sometimes feels initially uncomfortable to do so. Inevitably, discussions about students’ personal identities lead to literary discussions of the identities of the characters in the novels they read, and the ways those identities shape the characters’ perspectives and choices. Later, as these middle schoolers compose poetry, they often choose to reflect upon various aspects of their identities from a social justice standpoint; they consider the way their identities shape their lives, impact their choices, and guide the ways in which they hope they can impact the world. As well, when students create characters for their fiction stories, they first envision the characters’ identities, and the way those identities will shape their characters’ responses to, and solutions for, the conflicts in the stories. What begins as highly personal work leads to cultural awareness, authentic opportunities for personal growth and self-expression, as well as participation in respectful discourse about identity and social issues. Diversifying Classroom Libraries & Fostering Diversity in Student Independent Reading Alongside the crucial nature of open, respectful classroom conversation, students also need to be offered authentic ways to explore a wide variety of cultures and perspectives, including ones not directly represented in a classroom community. Though students of color currently comprise more than 50% of U.S. public school students (Public School Review, October 2019), according to the School Library Journal (in 2018) only around 23% of children’s books published had a main character that was a child of color. This startling disparity underscores not only the need for culturally relevant pedagogy, but also a need for increased diversity in the composition of classroom and school libraries. In 1990, Rudine Sims Bishop coined the now-famous metaphors of books serving as windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors. In a video interview published by Reading Rockets in 2015, when asked why children and schools needed diverse books, Bishop answered: "We need diverse books because we need books in which children can find themselves, see reflections of themselves… children need to see themselves reflected. But books can also be windows. And so you can look through and see other worlds and see how they match up or don’t match up to your own. But the sliding glass door allows you to enter that world as well. And so that’s the reason that the diversity needs to go both ways. It's not just children who have been underrepresented and marginalized who need these books. It’s also the children who always find their mirrors in the books and, therefore, get an exaggerated sense of their own self-worth and a false sense of what the world is like, because it's becoming more and more colorful and diverse as time goes on." As we live through these times of dramatic social change, it is imperative that teachers and schools provide students with texts that incorporate the full complexity and variety of human beings who exist in the world - and include protagonists that represent the full diversity of the human experience. The idea that books can, and should, be windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors for students is not a new one, but, now more than ever, this concept needs to move to the forefront in order for educators to ensure that not only are the students seeing themselves in the books that they read, but that students are also grappling with the complex nature of human identity, particularly related to individuals who have different lived experiences from their own. By cultivating the practice of reading texts that offer opportunities for students to perceive others in the world more authentically, students gain empathy, cultural competence, and can then more adeptly engage in the work of equity, empathy, and anti-racism. Diversifying classroom and school libraries is an ideal first step for educators seeking to develop cultural competence in their students. At times, as teachers begin to think about taking on challenging conversations, many wonder if certain topics are “too much.” While it is, of course, essential to consider developmental appropriateness of texts for various ages, most children and young adults have natural curiosity and deep empathy for others’ lives, and are eager to learn about and discuss others’ experiences. Newbery Medal winner and past National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature Jacqueline Woodson is often asked about the ways in which she takes on what some might consider challenging topics in her books. To answer, she notes that her work as an author, particularly one for tweens and teens, has taught her that children are acutely aware of issues in the world and that they truly want the important stories of their and others’ struggles to be seen, heard, and understood. In addition to the way that reading books about diverse characters promotes empathy and understanding, these books also provide natural and authentic ways to open necessary discussions. In an author appearance in fall 2018, Woodson noted, “There is so much history in this country around the way people were and continue to be mistreated - and the challenge is, always - how do I tell this story in a way that’s not didactic? How do I tell this story in a way that’s respectful and loving? And how do I tell this story in a way where I can show the hope in it? And that’s always timely, that need for hope in a narrative.” Reading and discussing well-written, engaging children’s books affords teachers a natural and authentic opportunity to talk with kids about race, bias, and discrimination of all kinds, as these topics arise. Because of the presence of a beloved character and engaging narrative, the conversations are not, as Woodson says, “didactic,” but instead, thoughtful, thought-provoking and empathic. If a teacher or school librarian is at the beginning of this journey in diversifying a library, they should begin with what they have, inventorying their libraries to look at the types of books which are (and are not) there. Educators should first eliminate outdated books with stereotypes, identify the themes and identity groups that are somewhat lacking or not present, and then begin to purchase well-written titles based on recommendations from others further along in the journey; following thought leaders in the field on social media is an excellent way to find new favorite authors. Students and families often enjoy helping with this work, noticing trends in a library and making suggestions for improvement. Thrift stores, online yard sales, and library sales are excellent, inexpensive resources in quickly adding numbers of books, as are used booksellers such as Better World Books, which donates a part of its profits to causes that bring books to people in need. Donors Choose and First Book are also helpful in raising funds for building libraries. Scholastic book orders and book fairs yield “points” with which teachers may purchase books. When asked, friends and family members who have finished with books in their homes will often happily donate them to a school. In addition, in many districts, some curriculum funding in schools can be successfully redirected toward adding authentic literature choices, and away from more traditional textbook/workbook options, often for far less money and with the result of far greater student engagement. For more information on diversifying classroom and school libraries, including choosing diverse authors for addition to (particularly middle school) libraries, click here. Please feel free to share in the comments if you want to suggest someone we’ve missed! Once the new books begin to arrive, it is important to get them into students’ hands. Simple routines that create a “buzz” around particular novels or authors often have immediate and significant impact - teachers and students can create “book buzzes” (or author buzzes), in which they describe aloud or in writing what aspects of particular books/authors they enjoyed, and to whom they might recommend them. This also works by placing books on a white board ledge with a quick note jotted above it. Typically an early-in-the-year routine, Book Tasting (like wine tasting) allows students to quickly peruse and “sample” a teacher’s library, noting titles of interest and discussing them with others. These routines result in what is known as “blessing” of those books and authors - and circulation of them increases dramatically. In these times of social distancing and virtual learning, these procedures would likely need to be adapted, but can still take place. It is important to include both widely-relatable books about everyday experiences such as friendship that happen to feature a diverse variety of characters, as well as to include books focused on “social issues” related to those characters - lest we give students the impression that children of color, children with disabilities, and/or children with differences in gender identity or sexual orientation (or other ways of being diverse) only have lives fraught with upheaval related to those identities. Over time, we need to find ways to continually track the balance of texts in libraries - many students enjoy sorting and categorizing books and helping with this work (though perhaps this will be a more appropriate activity once our current pandemic ends); it can also be helpful to use the free web tool, Booksource Classroom Organizer, which, once set up, will not only perform library audits to check for diversity, but also offers a free online platform with which to manage no-contact book checkout. Delving into Deeper, More Courageous Conversations After the initial “buzz” over these books and authors is created, teachers can begin to delve into the deeper conversations naturally inspired by the literature and identity work. While facilitating these conversations can be a complex task requiring effort and care, it remains an extremely important one. Despite the fear, discomfort, or reservations that teachers may have, we are long past the time in which it is appropriate for these conversations to be avoided; thankfully, there are many excellent resources to support us in doing so. Teaching Tolerance offers a guide titled Let’s Talk (2019) that can be an excellent springboard for teachers just starting out. Two other helpful resources in framing and structuring this discourse come from the work of Glenn Singleton (Courageous Conversations About Race) and Diane Goodman. Among other ideas, Singleton’s “four agreements” help to foster spaces that eventually allow for deep dialogue about race, racism, ethnicity and privilege. Participants are encouraged to “stay engaged, experience discomfort, speak your truth, [and] expect and accept non-closure” (70). On her website, Diane Goodman offers resources on building cultural competence for promoting equity and inclusion, and also shares sentence frames for crafting responses to the microaggressions and bias which will arise up in fledgling, honest conversations about culture and race. Unavoidably, conflict, discomfort, and non-closure will occur in these conversations, however, teachers must encourage children to continue to engage in the conversations, despite these difficulties. Singleton reminds his readers that ‘mistakes” and misconceptions will happen, but by staying engaged, students’ communities can become places of healing and change. In his best-selling 2019 book, How to Be An Antiracist, Ibram Kendi advises his readers to eliminate the term “racist” as a slur or pejorative about a particular person. Instead, he asks us to use the word descriptively, as “the only way to undo racism is to consistently identify and describe it” (9). Once we can observe, describe, and discuss racist actions, thoughts, statements, systems or policies (or classist, sexist, ableist, or homophobic ones), we can then begin to go about the work of unpacking and dismantling them. Both authors of this blog post, though they teach in different school environments, one large urban and one suburban, utilize reading and writing workshops as their adopted literacy curricula. This allows us a fair amount of curricular freedom in adding diverse texts to the curriculum and encouraging our students’ independent reading of a wide variety of diverse texts. However, even teachers whose curriculum is more scripted or laid out on their behalf usually still have some agency in choosing short mentor texts for demonstrating teaching points, in choosing more diverse whole-class texts for longer-term study, and/or in encouraging and guiding students’ independent reading lives. The more that, through diverse texts, students are exposed to a greater variety of lived experiences and challenges, the more they encounter identities different from their own, the easier it will be to broaden horizons in a way that fosters greater cultural competence, and, hopefully, eventually, inspire positive actions for creating a fairer world for all. Moving Forward Recently, Newbery author and current National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, Jason Reynolds was featured as a guest on the “On Being” podcast with Krista Tippett. A Newbery winner, and passionately devoted to children’s well-being, Reynolds has most recently published what he calls the YA “remix” of Ibram Kendi’s powerful and ambitious historical text, Stamped from the Beginning. During the podcast, Reynolds noted that creating “fortitude in the minds and bodies and spirits of young people” is his calling. The topic of Reynolds and Tippet’s podcast conversation was “Fortifying Imagination.” He says this about culturally relevant pedagogy and talking with students about antiracism: "They know. And so, if they know and we’re not helping them process, now it’s become more dangerous than you’ve ever imagined. So, we have an opportunity to lean into the discomfort of having to talk to kids about this, in order for them to find language around it... But how does one keep an imagination fresh in a world that works double-time to suck it away?... I think that the answer is, one must live a curious life. One must have stacks and stacks and stacks of books on the inside of their bodies. And those books don’t have to be the things that you’ve read—that’s good, too, but those books could be the conversations that you’ve had with your friends that are unlike the conversations you were having last week. It could be about this time, taking the long way home and seeing what’s around you that you’ve never seen… What if you were to explore the places around you? What if you were to speak to your neighbor and to figure out how to strike a conversation with a person you’ve never met? What if you were to try to walk into a situation, free of preconceived notions, just once? Once a day, just walk in and say, I don’t know what’s gonna happen, and let’s see. Let me give that person the benefit of the doubt, to be a human… There’s no finish line...It’s a muscle that has to be developed...antiracism is simply the muscle that says that humans are human. That’s it. It’s the one that says, I love you, because you are you. Period. That’s all." This beautiful conversation was reminiscent of the way that Woodson, in her bookstore appearance, acknowledged the need for “hope in a narrative,” and of the way Oluo asks us not to “fear the opportunity to do better.” In these turbulent times, educators would do well to begin the process of cultivating culturally responsive teaching in their classrooms through literature - leading to conversations that are both authentic and sometimes uncomfortable - but the sort of productive discomfort that leads to growth and systemic change. Our children are watching us - and waiting for us to provide guidance - they need to hear our (and each others’) voices as we do the hard work of guiding them toward the hope in our nation’s narrative. Not surprisingly, the best way for educators to find “hope in the narrative” is when we see the way that culturally responsive instruction inspires students to consider and share their own identities in the work they create - both in writing and in classroom projects and conversations. Two talented and introspective seventh graders, Gurnoor, a young woman of color, and Justin, a young man working to learn to manage his anger more effectively, wrote the following poems after studying mentor poems and poets in a middle school writing workshop, while learning virtually in the spring of 2020.    Sources Cited
Daniels, Harvey “Smokey,” and Sara K. Ahmed. Upstanders: How to Engage Middle School Hearts and Minds with Inquiry. Heinemann, 2014 Goodman, Diane. www.dianegoodman.com. “Responding to Microaggressions and Bias.” https://dianegoodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Responding-to-Microaggressions-and-Bias-Goodman.pdf Goodman, Diane J. www.dianegoodman.com. “Cultural Competence for Equity and Inclusion: A Framework for Individual and Organizational Change.” 20 April 2020. https://www.wpcjournal.com/article/view/20246 [Summary at: https://dianegoodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/CulturalCompetenceforEquityandInclusionDianeGoodman.pdf] Institute for Educational Leadership. “Courageous Conversations About Race Protocol Overview.” https://iel.org/sites/default/files/G10-courageous-conversation-protocol-overview.pdf Kendi, Ibram. How to Be an Antiracist. One World, an imprint of Random House, 2019. Oluo, Ijeoma. So You Want to Talk About Race. Seal Press: 2018 Public School Review, online. “White Students are Now the Minority in U.S. Public Schools.” 14 October 2019. https://www.publicschoolreview.com/blog/white-students-are-now-the-minority-in-u-s-public-schools Reading Rockets. “Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Doors.” [YouTube video] 30 January 2015. https://youtu.be/_AAu58SNSyc Reynolds, Jason and Ibram X. Kendi. Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You: A Remix of the National Book Award-winning Stamped from the Beginning. Little Brown Books for Young Readers, 2020. School Library Journal, “An Updated Look at Diversity in Children’s Books.” June 19, 2019. https://www.slj.com/?detailStory=an-updated-look-at-diversity-in-childrens-books Singleton, Glenn E. Courageous Conversations About Race: A Field Guide For Achieving Equity in Schools. Corwin: 2015. Style, Emily. “Curriculum as Window and Mirror.” From National Seed Project, published in Social Science Record, Fall 1996. http://www.nationalseedproject.org/images/documents/Curriculum_As_Window_and_Mirror.pdf Teaching Tolerance. Let’s Talk: Facilitating Critical Conversations with Students (online resource, revised Dec 2019) https://www.tolerance.org/sites/default/files/2019-12/TT-Lets-Talk-December-2019.pdf Tippett, Krista with Jason Reynolds. “Fortifying Imagination.” On Being [Audio Podcast]. 25 June 2020. https://onbeing.org/programs/jason-reynolds-fortifying-imagination/?fbclid=IwAR0ioB9ZwIBvOXRf9gaYDI4prtyXnOM-gX755oe8WEI51bOhpjiAm99mT28 Woodson, Jacqueline. Personal Video Recording. Author Appearance at Barnes and Noble in Union Square, New York City, October 2018. BLOG POST BY PTAC MEMBER Dr. JESSICA D. REDCAY I have a lilac bush in my yard that no longer blooms after I transplanted it. I researched why it would not bloom, and I learned that sometimes lilac bushes stop blooming after being traumatically transplanted. It was necessary that I transplanted my lilac bush, but I still miss seeing it bloom.
I feel like my second graders were like my lilac bush during the pandemic. They had to quickly be uprooted for their own safety. I had to be creative with the approaches that I used virtually to help my little lilacs bloom during remote learning. I didn’t want to just provide students with worksheets to complete. Rather, I wanted to find ways to spark their curiosity and interest as they continued to learn remotely. Also, I didn’t want my students to feel like they were completing a To-Do list to earn a participation grade. Rather, I wanted my students to create things, learn, connect, and have fun. This blogpost will highlight some of the key elements of my remote learning journey that might help you as you work to adapt teaching during the pandemic. Virtual Reality (VR) Tours Since the students had to stay home and never got the VR goggles, we had to use VR in a different way to explore the world. My students went on virtual field trips to places like: Grand Canyon, Hawaii, San Diego Zoo. The students used Google Earth to explore different places in the world, and they could move around within the different places. Within the zoo, students were able to watch live animal webcams. Students used these experiences to act as writing prompts. These shared experiences helped the students connect with one another, and increase student engagement levels. We used Google Virtual Reality Tours, San Diego Zoo Live Cams, American Museum of Natural History, etc. However, our favorite tour was the one I created using a 360 degree camera and Google VR Creator of our physical classroom. The students wrote about things that they learned from the Virtual Reality Field Trips. Information was embedded within the virtual tours. Students had the option to write with paper or pencil or the students could use Primary Writer. We displayed their writing in a media file within Schoology. Digital Breakout Experiences My student teacher (Tina McDaniel) created a digital breakout experience to match the content we were teaching. This helped increase student engagement levels because the students were learning content for a specific purpose and wanted to complete the breakout activity. Miss McDaniel designed a Google Site for the escape room experience to provide students with ease of use and one resource for young children to follow. Thinglink is another great tool that you can use if you do not want your students to get confused by clicking into multiple sites. I created a States of Mater Thinglink as a reference for my students with embedded information. Within the digital breakout, my student teacher created fake text messages and newspaper clippings. The students had to solve different e-puzzles too. Here are the different tools that were used to create a digital breakout. Also, Breakout EDU has different free digital breakouts to use in the classroom, too. Digital Scavenger Hunts Digital Scavenger Hunts are wonderful because it gets students moving. There are different platforms that can be used to create this type of activity. You can use other platforms like: Padlet, FlipGrid, GooseChase, GoogleSlides. We used FlipGrid to create our own FlipHunt. We gave students a prompt to find different things. Then they had to respond with a video showing what they found. The prompts I included were short video prompts. For example, my students had to measure the average length of different animals with sidewalk chalk. My students had to take pictures of different 3D shapes that they found within their home. Here are some more examples of the digital scavenger hunts that we used during remote learning. Give it a Try Remote learning has been challenging for everyone, but we are all in this together. One of PTAC 2020-2021 Recommendations stated “We recommend teachers receive training on relevant new technologies. If remote learning must occur, teachers should have access to professional development on effective remote teaching practices and technologies for their content areas.” Virtual Reality, digital breakout experiences, and digital scavenger hunts are excellent ways to leverage technology in the classroom. However, teachers need training. Schools need to provide training and proper support. When possible, school district leaders should ask teachers about what they would like to learn more about, and they can provide teachers with options. Differentiated professional development helps teachers hone their craft of teaching while accounting for different experiences of teachers. When teachers are willing to try new things, they can help foster creativity and learning for our students. It is tough, but we know that we can do it together because we want to find the best way to help EVERY learner bloom! BLOG POST BY 2020-2021 PA TEACHER OF THE YEAR AND PTAC MEMBER JOE WELCH Students, families, and teachers share the same goal. We want to safely return to school as soon as possible. In our Recommendations for the 2020-2021 School Year, we highlight many of our core beliefs to make this happen in effective ways. Whether this means safeguarding and supporting our students’ wellbeing, ensuring access to curriculum offerings with a foundation in the arts and humanities, or embracing those uncomfortable conversations that come along with embracing learning that is inclusive of marginalized groups, teachers are at the forefront of making these happen.
Now, we have all heard the joke. You know, the one that makes teachers cringe every single time. The one that is far from the truth about teachers’ three favorite months of the year. Summer months provide teachers with a time to learn, to refocus, to decompress, to reignite passions or to spark new ones to continue to be at our best for our students. And, just as the summer months offer students a well-deserved mental health break, the same is true for teachers. Maybe your break includes attending a conference to learn from and connect with like-minded colleagues. Maybe you reconnect with friends and family. Perhaps you take an extended vacation. Maybe your “dog days of summer” are spent with your kids and neighbors at the community pool. Regardless of how you have typically spent your summers in the past, you probably head back to school in August feeling refreshed, recharged and ready for the year ahead with a sense of growth of your craft and commitment to your students. At the end of the past several summers, I have been physically exhausted from trying to soak as much in professionally and personally as possible, but mentally inspired, grounded, and focused. But this summer is different. Conferences, at least the in-person sort where you network with those who challenge you to be better, are cancelled. You’re probably visiting fewer friends. Vacation plans have likely been rearranged or postponed. The pools, museums, and parks that you used to frequent in the summer months? Those trips likely look different, too. As will the start of the 2020-2021 school year, as the traditional school year kick-off events may be placed on the back burner, too. As schools prepare to welcome students and staff back into the buildings after five months of stay-at-home orders and distancing recommendations, administrators, principals, and counseling staff are preparing to respond to students’ mental, social, and emotional well-being - and rightly so. We live to better the lives of our students, to be there for them, to pick them up when they are down, to be a reason to smile on the rainy days of life, and to inspire them to find the greatness that already lies within themselves. It’s our identity to be more than “just a teacher” for our students; we are a foundation of support. But, like any foundation, how much earth-shifting events can we withstand before small cracks begin to appear? How many small cracks can continue to be hidden under the surface of a seemingly strong exterior facade? Teachers’ mental health is an equally important piece of the return-to-school-puzzle and, in order for educators to be ready to resume “business as usual” in August, we need to provide and encourage access to quality mental health services that we advocate for our districts to provide to students and families. It’s why you are trained to put on your oxygen mask first on a plane before helping others. Because mental health has been looked at as a “personal issue” and not a “personnel issue” for so long, many school districts may not know where to start when it comes to encouraging mental health services for employees. And it needs to go beyond the well-intended suggestions of taking a walk, reading a book, or sharpening your colored pencils to complete an adult coloring page. Those may be great in the short term, but we need to take a long, hard work at strengthening the mental health supports available for educators - and not just in 2020. While I appreciate the efforts of schools to send daily minute minders and suggestions, these band-aid solutions actually made me question myself. If I do not have time for reading a new book, coloring, or learning a new recipe, I thought, “What am I doing wrong as a teacher?”. Undoubtedly, our interactions with support systems in school, namely our colleagues in our building, will be limited. Personally, it’s my teacher friends “down the hall” that know when I am not having a great day or two and know how to bring a laugh, a moment of wisdom, or a nudge, and vice versa. That worries me, especially as we enter a school year that will most likely be the most challenging of our professional lives, with plans circulating of mixing in-person and virtual instruction, having long held school traditions altered, and preparing to teach in a world of staggered student days. Let’s add in days that will see a substitute teacher shortage, meaning teachers will be covering additional classes. It creates a cocktail of anxiety, guilt, and pressure that could cause any teacher to display mental health fatigue. For good measure, we can also add local budget cuts and ambiguity about supplying masks and sanitizing products for classrooms. Oh, and let’s mix in the worry that will come from doing our best to keep our students and our own families healthy during a once in a century pandemic. So what can we do? Quick phone calls or texts from our administrators: “Hey, are you faring okay? Anything I can do to help out?” A good start. Altering whole group faculty meetings to small learning community groups to support, ask questions, and to share what’s going on between the ears? Better. But, there must be the opportunity for outside counseling during these tough times, and let’s drop the stigma of weakness at the door. Professional athletes seek the support of sports psychologists during rough or pressure-filled spots in their careers. Wall Street investment firms have mental health performance coaches on staff. It has been the last five months, though, that has shined a light on how vital personalized access to mental health professionals is for teachers. A 2017 study by the American Federation of Teachers found that more than 60 percent of teachers found their work “always” or “often” stressful. 2017? Seems like forever ago. This is an alarming statistic under any circumstances, but must be taken seriously as we resume teaching in the era of COVID-19, when we’ll be working even harder to meet the needs of our students while balancing our families’ needs and, of course, our own personal needs. We cannot be a strong support system for our students if we are struggling ourselves. Let’s encourage conditions that fix that. BLOG POST BY PTAC MEMBER MARYANN B. MOLISHUS Many years ago, after starting my family, I returned to college to get my degree in elementary education. I graduated in 2000, and I got my first teaching job. Soon after, I needed to return to college to complete my requirements for my permanent teacher certification. As I investigated possible graduate programs, I asked myself, “What are the needs of my new school district?”
Where I landed was a master’s program in applied technology. I had observed a need for our staff and students to learn more about how technology can improve teaching and learning, and I wanted to be able to support my district in improving technology integration. It has been twenty years since I first began advocating for technology integration in my district. While much of the technology has changed, the need for professional development has not. Through my graduate work and time as a technology mentor and by facilitating technology-focused professional development, I have seen the benefits of providing training and guidance to teachers as they build their technology skills, which ultimately benefits the students. In late March and, with only a couple of weeks to prepare, teachers, administrators, and support staff had to redesign the last three months of the school year to allow children to learn at home during a global crisis. No one was fully prepared for this challenge, and many were pushed to their limits as they tried to figure out how to navigate distance learning. It’s still not a given that all teachers are proficient with technology. However, what the Covid-19 pandemic crisis has exposed is how crucial access to and proficiency with technology tools and resources are to a quality, modern education. If teachers lack technological proficiency, it becomes nearly impossible to provide a quality education for students. If teachers are not yet proficient with the technology, they need to learn fast. Through much collaboration, creative thinking, and with access to many new online learning tools being offered free of charge, staff and administrators stitched together a temporary fix to the problem of how to teach children during a pandemic. Our district’s distance learning committee created tutorials for teachers and families. Teaching teams met virtually to plan and share ideas. Resources were shared and modified, and modified again as teachers learned what worked and what didn’t. Our district’s technology integration specialists arranged group and one-on-one training sessions to support teachers. Technology is ever-changing, as is the world in which we live. That’s why we need to continue to offer teachers professional development that provides guidance as new tools and scenarios emerge. Our students and families deserve well-trained teachers who are able to provide quality learning experiences, whatever the school year brings. The Pennsylvania Teachers Advisory Committee emphasizes the need to support the wellbeing of teachers in its Recommendations for the 2020-2021 School Year. Supporting teacher wellbeing includes providing “training on relevant new technologies,” and, “access to professional development on effective remote teaching practices and technologies.” We know from the experiences of the last few months how crucial it is to have teachers who are trained and prepared to use effective tools and strategies to teach in-person and remotely. During these summer months, we have the time to reflect and to continue to work together to plan for a new school year fraught with uncertainties. We need to be sure that access to professional development is part of the planning that takes place. From my first year as a teacher jumping into a technology integration graduate program, until now, I continue to see how important it is for teachers to be given the time and guidance to develop proficiency in using technology to guarantee a quality, modern education for all students. BLOG POST BY PTAC MEMBER LISA PICKETT, Ed.D. Every year I have students in my classes who have been exposed to traumatic experiences that influence their overall ability to function.
Student #1 found their father lifeless in the basement. Student #2 hides the fact that their brother is a heroin addict. Student #3 hears gunshots every night. Student #4 fears that they may be racially profiled while catching the bus to school. Student #5 is a motherless child because their mother died while giving birth to them. Student #6… Student #7… It never stops—NEVER—because every student has a story to tell. Most importantly, their stories influence how they show up in the classroom academically, socially, and emotionally. As such, many of my students have reported that the experiences that have carried the most weight are not the academic lessons. They are the subtle onstage and offstage experiences that encourage my students to communicate, practice active listening, develop interpersonal skills, adapt, problem solve, research, and employ conflict resolution. Consequently, if there is one truth that I know for sure after 21 years of teaching, it is that when students return to school post COVID pandemic, the academic, social, and emotional well-being of our students will continue to be influenced by their stories as well as new experiences influenced by COVID-19 - not to mention recent experiences connected to the Black Lives Matter Movement, racial oppression, American government, politics, economy, and social injustice. In addition, many students will not yet know how the aforementioned experiences have affected them let alone how to best mitigate the effects. In response, school districts must prepare to provide teachers with support to promote “social-emotional learning, identify and meet the needs of children who have experienced trauma, and create inclusive classroom spaces protective of all children” as indicated by the Pennsylvania Teachers Advisory Committee’s 2020-2021 School Year Recommendations. Schools will need to have clear systems in place not only to train teachers how to best support the socio-emotional needs of students but also to support teachers. These systems will need to reflect trained trauma experts, social services, counselors, trauma informed pedagogy, and culturally relevant practices that promote student wellness. Such support will be essential as it will provide a lifeline to many of the social-emotional needs and competencies that influence the educational well-being of students during what has been pegged to be one of the most historical times in contemporary American history. BLOG POST BY PTAC MEMBER LARRY CIARELLI I am an educator in an urban environment in western Pennsylvania. I teach first grade ELA. This is my 25th year of teaching. I have experienced many challenging situations in my career. After teaching online and adjusting to the new normal of teaching due to the Coronavirus, I have a few topics that I would like to address or share.
I feel that all students in Pennsylvania that return to school in the fall are going to need basic foundational skill review from the prior grade more than when addressing the usual summer slide. These skills were possibly only provided for half of the year leading up to the closing of schools due to Coronavirus. My first graders had a solid foundation, participated in online learning, but clearly did not close the year as I would have liked. Some of my first graders were still cracking the reading code, and others were almost there. I am concerned that frustration levels will run high next year. I don’t want my students feeling that in their second-grade year. Educators like myself will need time to individualize instruction based on their students while providing grade-level standards. There will be times where I will need to take a step back and address unfinished learning with my new students that were not addressed. Modifying and scaffolding will be needed to address unfinished learning the students need. I have had multiple students in my classroom in the past that closed their learning gaps after using small group instruction with targeted skills based on assessments. I used centers throughout all my years of teaching. This allowed me to meet with fewer students daily. Two important steps for me will be gathering data and holding discussions with teachers from the prior year to get an idea of where to start with my new students. I believe a growth model that adjusts for students’ specific contexts is best suited for next year, not a standardized evaluation, or a hard focus on rigorous prescribed curriculum models. This will require creativity with time and a lot of flexibility. I do not feel a “business as usual” approach is going to be effective. Districts need to understand that teachers are professionals, know their students best, and have the tools to make remediation successful. In some of my years of teaching my opinions were highly valued, and other years I was told to follow directions. We need to voice our opinions, recommendations, and be allowed to move forward with covering the unfinished learning in our own creative ways. There have been so many changes in education since I started in 1994. It seems as if there is less flexibility and fewer freedoms given to teachers in our nation as a whole. I hope that districts across Pennsylvania understand educator concerns, and take in the valuable recommendations and feedback that teachers have. Because we must look to those who best understand the learning needs of our students, I ask that decision makers consider Pennsylvania Teachers Advisory Committee’s Recommendations for the 2020-2021 School Year. I know in my heart that everyone is trying to do their best in decision making, but I feel the teacher’s voice is not being heard enough. |
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