Friday, December 24, 2021

Lessons Learned

I started this school year with such great hopes. 

I know I was ready to take what I learned from a year of distance learning and help my future students feel successful again. Things like new tech tools to help make mathematics more interactive and creating lessons to center my students rather than the math.  So many students kept repeating: "I learn better in person." I took it as they were looking forward to being back in the classroom and being excited to learn. 

I was wrong. I made so many incorrect assumptions.  

I should have known better.  I assumed that the transition would be easy and only take a month or two - maximum.  Not so.  It was clear my students had lost more than time.  They had lost the necessary social skills to interact in an educational setting. They had a tough time undoing bad habits made during distance learning.  The struggle to self-regulate they had before had been magnified.  They were completely attached to their cell phones as if that was their security blanket. So many things I should have seen coming. But my excitement and eagerness to be back face to face over-shadowed all that.

I wish I had spent more time on helping my students transition back. I wish I had researched more about how to help my students deal with the trauma and isolation for over a year. I wish I could go back in time and restart this school year.  

I have learned that I need to take a step back before I help my students step forward.

2 comments:

  1. Amen and amen. Thanks for sharing this. It is exactly what I am experiencing and feeling.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Welcome to Yule Blog challenge! I'm glad that Shelli created this challenge for us to participate in.

    After reading your blog, I realize that both of us learned the same lesson this year -- that it's going to be harder than we imagined to engage our students. While we both had trouble engaging our students this year, I had extra trouble keeping the girls in one class motivated. (I explain this fully in my own Yule Blog today.)

    I enjoyed reading the rest of your blog, all the way back to your very first post, as well. And I look forward to reading your next 11 posts for Yule Blog. Happy holidays!

    ReplyDelete

Lessons Learned

I started this school year with such great hopes.  I know I was ready to take what I learned from a year of distance learning and help my fu...