A Complete Restart

 


Tuesday is the first day of school. It's always a fresh start and this year will be the biggest shift imaginable.

Some of our students haven't been in a school building regularly since March 2020. 

I will greet many 8th Graders that haven't been in school since they were in 6th, many 6th Graders since they were in 4th. The typical newness and excitement will be multidimensional. More than likely, so will the possibility for anxiety and stress. A colleague reminded me that many kids stayed in bed during remote learning, so procedures and schedules are going to be completely redefined.  I would be kidding myself if I thought this would be easy for any of us. Instead of looking at this as a monumental challenge I view it as a new beginning--a complete restart.

Let's take the best of school in 2019-2020 and make it work for us in 2021 and beyond. Let's also take the best of school in the 2020-2021 school year and make it work for us in 2021 and beyond.

The bulletin board in the hallway near my classroom needed sprucing up before Tuesday. I decided on a "Seize The Day" theme. New year, new day, new start--what will YOU do with it? This should hopefully give us (all) a starting point.

I refuse to think in terms of learning losses. I know my students learned last year. They definitely learned a lot about life, for sure. I will meet them where they are at now, and, with care and determination, help them redefine Middle School this year. I was thrilled to hear that Middle School sports and clubs are all, as of this writing, reinstated. 

We can and will weather the newness together and make learning as fun and student-centered as it's ever been. 

I'm proud to say that social-emotional learning and character education has been a major part of my educational philosophy for years now but I'm still refining. One new addition this year is to more formally recognize student birthdays.

A section of my bulletin board is now dedicated to birthdays. I will post 2-3 months of student names and birthdays at a time (remembering Half Birthdays for summer birthday kids). I decided to buy birthday pencils for them, too. Teaching 150 students means that I need to plan ahead a bit more so that all are remembered. It will be a great way to strengthen our community.

A complete restart can be the best way to reinforce what we do and why we do it.

Happy New Year!



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