Parents

A while back, when the COVID era began, I shared an image of the new remote school environment as a flat, endless horizon for teachers. That image might capture how some teachers (and parents!) see the near future, too, despite talk of jiggering blended learning in the fall.

It has occurred to me that, in fact, the education landscape stretching before us is not bare and featureless. There are actually structures in the landscape. They’re

homes.

And there are arms out there holding like crazy. Those arms belong to parents and grandparents and guardians and siblings.

And, while teachers in the age of COVID might not be able to see all their students (because they’re not showing up to zoom meetings or not handing in homework or don’t feel safe in a classroom), those students are out there doing something.

So here’s a thought: Is it possible that teachers and parents could forge a new kind of partnership this fall? One that lightens the COVID load for both of them?

Parents are treasure troves of information about students. What are the students doing? What are they not doing? When are they doing or not doing it? Just as in the classroom, data about your students abounds in homes. Would it be helpful to work with parents to gather it and interpret it? That is, to figure out together what your students/their children are

teaching you about themselves?

I daresay — but I could be totally wrong about this — that your students are learning all the time. The question is what are they learning? What draws them? What can you do with this information to either lure them back to your teaching or assure yourself that they’re getting good work done even without you? In these bizarre times?

At the very least, could it help to ask parents to observe their child for you, to notice things, to look for sparks of interest or patterns in behavior? Not to judge what they see, not to hover or snoop or intrude, but just to look?

And then talk with you for a few minutes about their child? So the two of you can marvel at this magnificent, unique human being who is behaving in logical ways — and needs to be seen as

magnificent,

unique,

and logical?

Your teaching might change to adjust to what you’re learning about your students. Or you might relax a little knowing that some of your students are playing in the woods all day or have gotten jobs or read science fiction incessantly or play video games with their friends — that is, they are living the ways they can given the new constraints.

I know that some students are in dire circumstances and are learning things like how to manage food insecurity or how to survive domestic abuse or eviction or homelessness. It might be difficult or impossible for teachers to contact the parents who are also living in these conditions. But may I suggest? These parents might need to hear from you more than any others?

Again, I could be very wrong, but in times of isolation, it seems to me that making the effort to connect is good for everyone. And connecting with parents so as to hold — and maybe be held — better also seems like a good idea. (I’m seeing lots of support for this idea all of a sudden. Here’s a great, short piece on the importance of partnering with parents.)

In the spirit of leaving our spike-heeled shoes behind: What are students and parents teaching us we need to keep? What are they teaching us we need to throw away?

And in the mantra spirit: Build a lean-to this fall by linking arms with parents. What can that look like?