Covid, Injustice and Masks, OH MY!

I've always been aware that I need to learn more about the systemic racial problems in our nation wide public school system. But it all just feels so big. The other day I was listening to Austin Channing Brown's YouTube show "The Next Question". The episode was called "Spoiler Alert: Segregation is Still Here". Nikole Hannah-Jones was the guest. NHJ is a journalist who won the McArthur Genius Award for her work chronicling the persistence of segregation in education. The episode focused on how racism is still a systemic problem in our country's public school system, While I was watching, my first thought was, "If you tell me the problem, I can help fix it." Wooooaaaaah. Slow down there Charlie. Not so fast.

She listed three big, and I mean BIG changes that would have to happen to tackle racism in the public schools: Get rid of all the charter schools in the country. Eliminate local property tax funding for public schools, and eliminate school districts that share a single county. Yeah. All that.

Getting rid of charter schools would essential force all students, regardless of social class, race or ethnicity to attend the public schools. The outcome to this would be more parents caring about what happens in the public schools. If their child goes to a private institution or charter school, there is no concern from those parents about what happens in the public school down the road. But if their kids is going there, it changes the playing field. Now EVERYONE has to care what happens in the public school.

Eliminating funding schools through local property taxes would essentially give all schools the same resources. If you live in a district where the value of your house is low, AND you have a high property tax, your school will still have less funding than the school down the road where the million dollar houses have a LOW property tax.

Lastly, she calls for eliminating school districts that serve a single county. So if there's a township, within a county, and you don't like the public school your child would go to, you can move down the road to that township to go to a school in a different district, inherently enabling white flight.

These ideas feel incredibly overwhelming to me, and I feel very helpless, having no idea how all that could possibly happen by the time school resumes in August. I know it won't, but I sincerely hope that it does. I sincerely hope that the protest and call for change that we are seeing now, will change the structure of the public schools to serve all children with fidelity and equity. But what can I do now, to serve all of my students equitably? How can we as educators effect change in our classrooms in a system that is so broken and so in need of an enormous overhaul? It starts with knowing how my words and behavior impacts the students in my classroom. I may not be able to do much about charter schools, but I can certainly think carefully about how my language and behavior can immediately impact the children in my classroom. And let's not forget, that as we enter into the fall, our friend Covid-19 will be waiting for us.

One cannot write about the fall of 2020 with out the acknowledgement of the stress and the changes that Covid-19 will bring about in our teaching. Stress about our personal safety, our students' safety and the safety of our families will be a constant stream of thought. We know that "behavior management" will look different, whether we are teaching on-line or in the schools. I'm trying to wrap my head around teaching 5 year olds who have to wear a mask, and not play with friends. Literally. How is THAT going to work? How do you share Legos while social distancing? Then there's the desk situation. Desks in kindergarten? I went to kindergarten in 1972 and WE didn't have desks! Let's add to that, the children not leaving the classroom except for recess. How will THAT work for them and us? Some of us will be teaching in school and on-line, or just on-line. The curriculum will look different, and we will need to learn a whole new way to teach our students. For me, the online thing worked for about two weeks. After that, the kids were done, and I was done. The platform was totally incompatible with interactive teaching and learning, I didn't know who was going to show up and who wasn't, and I couldn't even see the little lovies all at once. Thinking about all this leads me to the kitchen to eat cake, cookies, ice cream... maybe an apple, but highly unlikely. Remember the famous Saturday Night Live skit where Tina Fey is on the Weekend Up Date eating an entire sheet cake because Donald Trump was just elected? Unless I'm careful, that's me. Monday -Sunday. All the nights.

So back we go to paying attention to our own selves first. We should be sleeping 8 hours, eating 3 meals a day,and snacking on healthy food (as opposed to the Keebler Cheese Peanut Butter Crackers and Diet Coke that I often succumb to at 2 pm). Exercising, meditation, drinking half you body weight in ounces of water, and keeping it to 1 bottle of wine a week instead of a night (let's face it - the pandemic has brought out the best drinking in those of us that do so). We need face time with our families and friends somehow, and some damn good bad TV. That comes first. All of that. Our job is not to exhaust ourselves to go above and beyond. That just WON'T work when it comes to self-care. We just really have to do our best to take care of ourselves. However we can. Even if it's just slowing down your breathing and taking a beat before responding to someone or something.

If we are taking care of ourselves it is so much easier to be thoughtful about our words and actions with our students. Let's be honest - Covid-19 has done NOTHING when it comes to improving equity for our students and families. The elderly, Hispanic and black families have suffered greatly. We have learned about the people Covid-19 easily takes hostage. We know it LOVES poverty, because it can spread so rapidly when multiple families live in the same house. It loves that those in poverty have a more difficult time with living a healthy life style, both emotionally and physically overall. It ESPECIALLY loves illegal immigrants, and people who don't have health insurance so they avoid going to the doctor or hospital. Those families, those kids, will be returning to school in the fall. So will the kids of families who have literally quarantined for the last six months and have had little social interaction. So will the kids whose families HAVEN'T quarantined and have chosen not to socially distance or wear masks. All of the families. All of the things.

Knowing all of this, I believe the simplest thing we can do to address the issue of race, poverty and fear in our classrooms is to be conscious of our words. Words can do everything. Words can love and hate. Words can blame and shame. Words can help and heal. Words can't fix everything that's racial wrong with our school system. As Glennon Doyle tweeted: "We can't change the world, but we CAN take back our grocery carts." I'd like to suggest just three ideas that have changed the way I think about how I talk with my students. They can help get that grocery cart where it belongs.

1. When conflict arises, leave shame on the other side of the door. The difference between "Why are you so mean to everyone?" and "Why are you making mean choices" is vast. "Why are you so mean to everyone?" tells the child they are a mean person and cannot change from that. "Why are you making a mean choice?" gives the child the opportunity to talk and move through a mean choice. "Why are you so mean to everyone?" is shame. Separate the child from the behavior. So hard to do sometimes, but essential for our babies to become better people and make better choices. I know choosing words during stressful situations is hard, but we can do hard things.

2. Using Restorative Justice as a tool for righting a wrong can help create an emotionally safe classroom community. In my blog post "Sometimes it Takes More Than a Band-Aid, I break down Restorative Justice and suggest what it might look like in

the classroom. When we stand in front of the class, point our finger and yell, "Go to the Principal's office",we are serving up public humiliation without solving the

problem. Research shows that public humiliation will not change student behavior. However,"You broke it, you fix it" can be a way to teach empathy and how to make appropriate reparations. Restorative just can create more self/emotional awareness. It allows the child to work through the problem problem, heal hurt feelings,

and promote empathy towards others in our students. (caveat here - this assumes the behavior is not putting you and your students in immediate danger physically or emotionally.) I know that finding the time to problem-solve is hard, but we can do hard things.

3. If you don't already, teach positive self-talk. "I can try." or "I can't do it yet"are quick, easy mantras to start with. Some of your kids may be too overwhelmed to try new things that feel hard to them. If you teach kindergarten, try writing with your opposite hand than you usually do. But wait, don't stop there. Try to do that, using the Greek Alphabet, all the while learning the sounds each symbol represents. Now piece all of that together to try and write a word or a sentence. That's what it feels like to learn how to write when you are five. Picture books that emphasize resilience, flexible thinking, empathy and positive self-talk can make those ideas a consistent theme during learning time. Chris Rashka's, "Everyone Can Learn to Ride a Bike," and Kobi Yamada's What Do You Do With A Problem?", are a great place to start. You can find all kinds of lists of books that include culturally diverse main characters. Here is one of my favorites.

You may also want to give your read alouds and classroom library books a once over to make sure those story books represent as many cultures and races as possible. I know that taking the time to do that can be hard. But we can do hard things. Here is a great list for picture books that emphasize resilience and "can do" thinking.

So to recap a very long post: We can't do a whole lot at the moment to change the racial inequities in our public school system, but we CAN make a conscious effort to change it in our classrooms. The front lines pave the way for the cavalry.

Covid-19 will still be here in the fall. We can make an effort to physically and emotionally take care of our selves so we can be there for our students and families.

We can be thoughtful and precise in how we use words to talk with our kids. Shame and blame are things to be avoided.

We can reinforce positive self-talk and read books that encourage resilience and show ethnic

diversity.

We can remember this phrase: "Teach on, We can do hard things. We belong to each other. And love wins." It's a rephrase of a quote from my favorite author, Glennon Doyle.

And here's a page to color when you just need to take a break, from doing hard things.