As more and more politicians and educational leaders become concerned with learning loss, we must remind them that minds are not vessels to be filled but instead are fires to be kindled. John Ewing, president of Math for America puts it bluntly: “Fires don’t leak. You don’t measure them in months. Learning loss is a calculation masquerading as a concept—a rather shallow, naïve, ridiculous concept.”
Educators, leaders and politicians need to take this opportunity to recognize the many assets their students bring to classrooms. This is the goal of creating equitable learning environments; each student possesses funds of knowledge that will enrich learning for all. However, most schools don’t incorporate students’ lived experiences in teaching and learning. This is the real learning loss. If we accept that we can learn from students about their experiences during the pandemic, then we have found the kindling we so desperately need.
So how might we start this blaze?
Here’s an example. Neema Avashia is an 8th grade civics teacher in the Boston public schools, who asked her students to identify what they felt they lost during the pandemic, how they have grown, and what they want teachers to know. These were crucial conversations that required building a strong community, quite a challenge during COVID.
Neema prepared her students to answer the questions by posing them first in a survey. She then invited multiple “circle-keepers” to attend a Zoom class and broke students into small groups where they could have time and space to reflect deeply on the questions. The responses were compelling. Focusing on relationships and prioritizing mental health came up often. In this time of so-called learning loss, teachers are gaining an invaluable perspective - their students’.
Building a positive classroom culture has always been a challenge, but now it's more complicated than ever because educators are struggling to navigate the novel terrain of remote learning. There is no one-size-fits-all process for developing a remote classroom community. However, teachers are learning a lot about strategies that work. This series of articles from Edutopia outlines some great teacher moves to try:
Join us on March 8th to explore how identities, skills, intellect, and criticality can be incorporated into online and blended learning environments to create community during times of social distance. Tuesday March 9th at 7pm EST Register for the Community Building Workshop
