TL;DR: Generational poverty and general helplessness are very real. Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE), poverty, mental health, and learned helplessness all connect. Educators should embed hope in their lesson plans and schools should make it a part of the culture. Educators know that to truly overhaul our educational system, we must overhaul our focus: psychology is greater than pedagogy. Psychology Is … Read More
The Future of Education Post-Pandemic
TL;DR: The ending of this school year will bring up many questions about the future of education post-pandemic. Consider what you would like to leave in the past from pre-pandemic times. Reflect on what you’ve learned through teaching in the pandemic. Then, use these reflections to decide what you’d like to continue doing in a post-pandemic world. As you read … Read More
The Three Stages Of The Pandemic
TL;DR: We can develop multiple scenarios and begin to recover from the devastating effects of COVID-19 on education. Use surveys, focus groups, SWOT analysis, and questions to drive the work of educators during all three stages of the pandemic. As teachers and students continue the second semester of the 2020-21 school year, there is uncertainty about the learning environment, student … Read More
Education in a Post-Pandemic World
TL;DR: To prepare for education in a post-pandemic world, there are a number of questions that school teams should consider. These questions range from reflecting on how schools will look in the future, what we have learned about equity and the needs of our students, trauma-informed schools and classrooms, master schedules, social-emotional learning, and more. Uncertainty and disruption are two … Read More
Post-Pandemic Mental Health: Is Stigma Staying in 2020?
TL;DR: To end the mental health stigma, we must provide space to talk about ALL mental health/mental illness without judgment. Mindfulness is only one of the many tools teachers and students can use as a way of fostering emotional regulation. We must recognize the various types of mental illness and normalize the treatment process. Since March 2020, anxiety has become … Read More