Good Morning! Here’s the Monday Morning Blog!
How did everything go last week? Did you check in with that teen or young adult in your life? We went as a family to a Minnesota Twins (professional baseball) game last week. We are a baseball family, not only enjoy going to or watching a game together, but both of our young adults played travelling baseball as teenagers. We have many fond memories of those days.
This month I am focusing on getting teens back to school. This week I will talk about some of the heroes who stepped up to the challenge and kept the education process going for our teens, they are teachers.
Back to school
With heading back to school in the next month, are you wondering how things will look compared to what happened last year? I think we all learned that being flexible and adapting to an ever-changing situation is what helped us to do things differently than we did before. Teachers were not an exception to this.
In my post last week, Teen Challenge – Back to School Fall 2021, I picked three general topics to talk about,
- Remote vs. in person learning structure
- Mask or no mask requirements
- Effects last school year had on peer groups and how they may interact going forward
These topics are what affected our teens and their learning environment. Teachers worked through all of this and then some.
What did teachers do?
If you thought things were crazy for parents and teens to do remote learning, how about what the teachers had to do for remote teaching?
They had to convert their in-school teaching structure to a remote teaching structure in a short timeframe. To keep students making forward progress to complete the coursework, they had to get all their lesson plans converted to successfully teach in an online format.
They had to shift their mindsets. They found it would take lots of trial and error to make the shift to distance learning. After having their lessons plans set for an in person learning structure, they had to make a shift to teaching on a computer and using technology they haven’t had to use before for teaching.
Accept the extraordinary situation that is happening and reset the expectations for their students. Plan to do less in an online session. Not being sure about how much could be done in an online setting, teachers had to break the lesson down into smaller segments.
Caring about their students and not being sure that remote learning could be brought to fruition or work for their students. They were forced to be opened minded and flexible. Even though they were working in a new environment with unknown results, they had to believe they could do it and did it.
How did teachers become inspirational?
The teachers we got to know in the classroom began to make things happen on a screen. They did this so our teens could still go to school while they stayed home and stayed safe from the virus.
It took a big mind shift to go from teaching in person in their classroom to teaching in an online setting. They had to believe they could do it, overcome the challenges the conversion created, and make it happen. They did that, maybe not without issues, but they did it.
Everyone did their best with the situation. We made it through and what we learned then, will have an impact on what this year looks like. As much as we would like to see the in-person learning get back to the way it was, we may never fully go back to that.
- We may still have some remote learning if things with COVID get worse again.
- Depending on where you are, masks may be a requirement in the classrooms, or they may not
- And hopefully students will be able to continue to interact with teachers and fellow students to create the social setting they will need to succeed in an unprecedented situation.
Teachers have always been a role model for their students. Through the conversion from in person to remote learning, teachers showed us how flexibility and being open minded made the experience work for our teens and their education. How they handled it is what makes them inspiring people. When school starts again for you or your teen, be sure to thank teachers for making it happen.
Speaking of challenges in school, The Way Series talks about challenges that teens face in an engaging novel format.
The Way Series
Looking for a good and engaging read for the teen or young adult in your life? Why not take a look at the two books in The Way Series? Each of these books focuses on a challenge that teens may face. The Hard Way is about peer pressure and Shawn’s Way is about bullying. More information about both books can be found on the books tab of my website.
Have a great week!
