This I Believe
They are not just “learners,” they are human beings.
The bell rings and you are mentally running through the millions of items on your to-do list. Take attendance. Did you write your learning target on the board? Remember today is that band rehearsal, so half the kids will be called out in 30 minutes. And now… let’s get that smartboard fired up for the mini-lesson. We’re introducing Bend 2 today! Uh-oh, where is the remote to the projector?
But even in all those hectic moments, you notice that Johnny has been wearing those same clothes now for two weeks and he never has a snack. You remember that next week is the 6th anniversary of Danny’s mom’s death and that the only real thing he has left of her is their old cat, whose days are numbered. You check to see if Andy is here as you take attendance, but you see his chair is empty again. You wonder where he slept last night, if his mom showed up to her court date yesterday — you wonder how many days you might have left with him before he is removed from the home or even the school district.
We trudge on through curriculum, testing, staff meetings, report cards, and RTI meetings all in the name of student progress. But what are we really teaching them? Are we indirectly teaching them to bury their secrets, to go through the motions each day, pretending that their experiences are secondary to finishing that project on early immigration? We talk about the WHOLE CHILD being at the center of everything, but what I see around me often tells me different.
Don’t get me wrong, we are here to teach, to keep our expectations high, but equally important is the mental health of the children sitting before us. They are not just “learners,” they are human beings. Every one of them needs to have their basic needs met, feel loved and feel safe before they are open to learn.
Food & Supplies
To begin with, food should be available at school for students for free and this is not the case throughout the state, our country, or world. We know how difficult it is to concentrate when our bellies are growling. The slang word “hangry” has become popular for a reason — it is no secret that we become cranky when hungry. So let’s remove these barriers in our classrooms. Let’s not exert power over our students by controlling who gets food and when. Our students should have access to snacks/lunch and the freedom to determine for themselves when they want to eat their snack in our classrooms. I, for one, cannot guarantee that everyday at 10:05 am that I will be hungry for my snack. Can you?
Every month schools across the nation participate in food drives, donating generous amounts of food and supplies to the local pantry. We can use this generosity to increase access to food and needed personal hygiene supplies at schools. Each school should have their own pantry of food and personal supplies, including showers, for student access. This way they can independently seek out the things they need and not have to rely on family or others to get them. All students should know where the school pantry is and have equal access to it. We cannot pick and chose who should have access to these things because we have no idea what their personal lives are like outside of school. Just because Sally always looks immaculate, you may not know that she has been living at her cousin’s house for the last month, sleeping on the floor, and that she ran out of deodorant two weeks ago.
Love & Belonging
Beyond food & supplies the students before us need our love. When you start teaching, you believe that you will always see the very best in each child that passes through your door, but the reality is that sometimes students have been dealt a shitty hand and the world is their enemy and you are part of that world. It can seem nearly impossible to see the best in a child when they spit in your face during a fit of rage. It takes a tough skin to be on the receiving end of an angry child but it also takes a tender heart to remember that they are a child navigating some pretty rough waters and in their perception, navigating it alone. We need to reach out every day, even if the day before they wrote to you that you should, “Burn in hell bitch and be faced humped by maggots.” They need to see your human compassion. They need to see that you believe in them when they don’t believe in themselves. We need to show them that they are not alone and that fear, hate and anger can be overcome. This is not easy. We have to dig deep some days to find that compassion. Curse like a sailor, cry on the way home, drink a few glasses of wine when you get home, but come back with compassion the next day. Reach out to others — teachers are also not alone. When we can’t help, reach out and find some people who can help. It takes a village. Because if you don’t come back with compassion the next day, are we really teaching them anything at all?
Safety Needs
Safety. These days we think of shielding our students from shooters or safely getting them into the tornado area quickly. These things are relatively rare, but we do have the opportunity to provide safety to our children every day. The environment and relationships we create in our classrooms and schools should promote a safe and welcoming environment for everyone. EVERYONE. Work hard every day to be that teacher your students can trust. Listen to your students, ask questions, and recognize that you don’t have all the answers. That is ok, you are not supposed to. Be willing to be honest and vulnerable with your students. Recognize the strengths within your class and build upon them. Use these to create a safe environment where your students will be able to grow and learn.
In essence, our classroom is a family. We care for each other. Look out for eachother. We see the good, the bad, and the ugly but in the end we love, accept, and some days, honestly, we just tolerate each other until tomorrow… but we always help each other along. We need to foster this classroom family, so it is a safe place to grow, to try, to fail, to succeed, to share…to be ourselves. Schools and communities need to work hard to provide our children with food & supplies. Our teachers need to create a culture in the classroom full of love, belonging, and safety. Because when we feel safe, when we feel loved and when we have the resources we need, we can learn. We learn from each other, we learn about life, about strength, about weakness, and somedays, we even learn how to write a really good lead paragraph.
