Connecting In The Post Covid 19 Classroom

A 50 hour work week is more than enough to do your job and help the kids in your care.

With everything we have going on, we need to focus on what's important, our self-care and our students learning, and let go off the rest. 

The words we use to describe our current life situation, like busy, can create more unhealthy stress. Remove words that create pressure. What get's done get's done and what doesn't doesn't.

Focusing more on what we can control, ourselves, than on what is outside of our control, everything else.

Everyone is stressed right now and it's important to make healthy choices about the kinds of stressors we're allowing in our lives and setting boundaries to keep us safe and strong.

Mental health exists on a continuum, it's intimately linked to our physical health and well-being and something we all need to look after. 

The mental health issues created and exacerbated by the Covid 19 pandemic are real and, as teachers, we need to take care of ourselves first, before we try to help the kids in our care.

Educators need to spend the next several months looking beyond the need to make the building safe for teachers and students. Strong leaders are needed to help schools stay focused on the basic emotional needs of staff and students to make sure they know that it is more about them than their test scores. Finally, we all need to recognize & acknowledge that the entire world is experiencing historical and collective trauma. To think that we can return to the academic-focused culture of schools without making mental health a priority is sheer folly. Students and teachers alike will need social-emotional support as we transition to life after COVID 19 and establish a new ‘normal’ in society. Join us for a lively, interactive discussion about the things that are most important as we continue to work our way through 19 and re-define education going forward.