When there aren't enough subs, part 3: How to make the workday better for substitute teachers
As we pull educators to cover for absent colleagues, we are reckoning with the value of adults who are vital to the educational system. District leaders bemoan that higher pay may not be sufficient to recruit substitute teachers. What can be gained when we look squarely at roles that are suddenly hard to fill?
It’s not just the pay, although that is important.
As a teacher, I never knew if I got my sub plans just right. Were they too detailed? Was my font too small to read when there are students flooding in through the door? Were they not enough? I appreciated the occasional note I’d get from a sub, reporting how my students did. But I never found the right way to request that awkward and crucial piece of feedback: as a teacher, setting the stage for a guest in my classroom, how’d I do?
2022, you haven’t wasted a minute.
This school year, as we grapple with the substitute teacher shortage, my instructional coaching role has morphed into on-call sub duties. We wrapped up our fall semester on a genteel, once-a-week sub duty list. January, however catapulted everyone- teachers included- into daily triage of class coverage.
The calm and the chaos have been a case study in how unpredictable a substitute teacher’s day can be. I’ve followed sub plans that range from AP classes, to P.E., to second grade, and I have dragged my way through a handful of sub days with no plans at all. Some days leave me feeling like I was a guest in a family home. Others leave me trying to shake off seven hours of feeling like a hired hand.
How we treat the least of these trickles out and up through the workplace.
Industries hit hard by the pandemic are met with a shortage of workers who have decided the grass is greener where there is better pay and a more reasonable work day. Housekeeping crews, restaurant staff, and nurses are in shorter and shorter supply. Halfway through the school year, school districts are coming to terms with the new normal: substitute teachers are hard to keep too.
As we pull educators to cover for absent colleagues, we are reckoning with the value of adults who are vital to the educational system. District leaders bemoan that higher pay may not be sufficient to recruit substitute teachers. What can be gained when we look squarely at roles that are suddenly hard to fill?
It’s not just the pay, although that is important.
We need to consider the quality of a person’s day when they offer themselves in service to our schools. The small moves made by fellow teachers, office staff, and administrators make a difference. They are just as easy to do as they are easy not to do. Here are the things I’ve seen the best campuses do, plus a few more that I wish I had known when I was planning for my own subs.
For office staff: restroom, fridge, bell schedule (in that order)
Forgive me for pointing out the obvious, but subs work in the same human bodies as everyone else. Every day, they eat and do the other human things. If a sub has never worked on your campus before, they may not know where that is supposed to happen. Show them where the teacher restroom is, and the staff refrigerator.
School offices are notoriously crowded first thing in the morning. Playing tour guide is not always feasible for a busy office staff. But a polite point in the direction of the teacher restrooms is practical and kind. If there’s no time, circle the restroom and the fridge on the campus map. Working with young people all day is bound to have its share of unknowns; where to pee should not be among them.
For teachers on campus: say hello
Be a good neighbor. Just a minute or two in the morning, or during passing period, is all it takes to make a guest teacher feel welcome. Introduce yourself, let them know you’re around if they need anything. It is one of those small gestures that is easy enough not to do- but it makes a difference for the substitute being welcomed.
A teacher’s friendly greeting once kept me from letting students wander unsupervised on a volatile afternoon. Due to a fight during lunch, all teachers received emergency communication from their admin team. For the rest of the day, no students were to be let out of class without an escort. Everyone got the memo except me- and do you know how many high schoolers ask to go to the bathroom when they have a sub? All of them.
The teacher across the hall, an acquaintance who had greeted me that morning, strolled over during the following passing period. “You probably didn’t hear because you’re not on the staff email…” and she proceeded to fill me in about the lockdown. In this situation, the simple “hello” we had exchanged before school opened the door to teacher talk that had a direct impact on student safety.
A friendly greeting- just for the sake of being friendly- makes a difference. At an elementary school, a neighbor teacher was kind enough to introduce herself and see if I had any questions about the plans her colleague had left. Her simple welcome made me feel like I was working in a community of adults, rather than showing up as an independent contractor. It also made me feel more comfortable asking about our start time for recess, which seemed to roll depending on how long the previous class was on the blacktop. How important is recess in an elementary school classroom? Very.
As it turned out, I didn’t need help deciphering the sub plans. But I felt reassured. Knowing that if I needed a quick answer gave me more mental space to focus- joyfully- on my students for the day.
For administrators: do the check-in
Students notice when an administrator drops by to check in.
When admin pops in to say hello, every teenager who pumped their fist in the air and said, “Yesss! We have a sub!” sees that, yes, we do have a sub… and she is not alone. A class of genuinely supportive students also sees that the grownups on campus act like a community. Isn’t that what we want to model for them?
Consider dropping by just to say thank you. I used to worry that checking in on subs might make them feel like they weren’t trusted. But a simple, in-person expression of gratitude isn’t only about the guest in the room. It’s also about the students, who are permanent members of the school family. Most middle and high school students do sit a little straighter when they see an admin walk into class. But the more lasting impact is the message that this day- even if it was unexpected, and even if it is only loosely planned- matters too. And it’s good to say thanks.
For absent teachers: be the referee, even if you’re not there
I mentioned earlier that teenagers all need to use the restroom when they see a sub is in the room. They also get very thirsty. And in middle and high schools, each one has a special seating arrangement they agreed upon with the teacher of record, that happens to be by their best friend, that was tragically not updated on the seating chart. Really, it’s true.
Sample sub plan template in Google Docs. Free to copy and edit.
If you teach in secondary schools, help your guest teacher out:
Make expectations for seating, water breaks, and restroom procedures abundantly clear. Especially if your school is sticking tightly to norms for the sake of contact tracing or student safety.
Last minute absences get the best of us all the time, with little time to leave plans. However, your class procedures are probably the same all year. Stick them at the top of your sub plans and leave them there.
It will save your sub- and your students- from falling into a spiral of negotiations. By including clear expectations for your students, you are providing a referee to maintain expectations in your absence. A sub will start off in better standing with your students if they aren’t having to guess about what they can say yes to.
Make procedures clear and easy to reference so your substitute doesn’t have to be the bad guy. Getting down to the important business of building trust with students is so much more important than guessing at the rules. The ones on this sub plan template are perched right on top.
If your school uses a digital platform for agendas and assignments, I’m a fan of the screenshot. “Tell students to look for their assignment in google classroom” is okay. But “here’s a screenshot of what they see online” is even better.
If you teach in elementary schools, here’s what helps the most:
Include a schedule with what time each activity begins and ends, along with work for early finishers. The good feels of an elementary classroom depend on the regular rhythms students are accustomed to. Their little bodies seem to know exactly what time circle time should transition to free-draw. All the better if that is clearly spelled out for a guest teacher, so she knows it too.
And work for early finishers? In my opinion, there’s no such thing as too much. While a superpower of younger learners is their ability to know their daily schedule by heart, sometimes their kryptonite is being self-directed when they finish ahead of time. The day is immensely easier for guest teachers when there is a clear (and hopefully fun) next-on-the list activity for students who have moved through their assignments with the speed of a Nascar driver.
Lastly, I used to wonder: do students care about that note I wrote them on the board? The short answer is, yes they do. So does their sub.
When teachers leave a note for the class, it’s like a friend introducing two friends to each other. I love beginning a class period by directing students to the note on the whiteboard or in Google Classroom that their teacher has left behind. It creates a comfortable bridge, affirming that the usual adult cares about them even though they are away. It also gives the new adult something sweet to offer students as they begin their time together. I’ll take that start as an alternative to debating bathroom procedures any day.
In the end, the same things that make a day happy and rewarding for anyone, count for a sub too.
Welcome them. Set the stage for them to be comfortable in your school and classroom. Express gratitude; it will make them feel better and it will do the same for you. Treat your sub like a competent professional- and if you’ve got it in you that day, it’s okay to make her feel like a hero. Give guest teachers the chance to rise to the occasion.
When there aren't enough subs, part 2: What leaders can learn
By doubling as substitute teachers, educators- many of them leaders- are stepping back into a role they haven’t been in since getting their teaching credential. It isn’t comfortable. But it can offer a valuable perspective. Here are a few ways substitute teaching has influenced how I see our schools.
Some days, it’s as bad as they say it is.
I’ve had middle schoolers throw things at each other, and at me. My efforts to connect get us nowhere. Students ignore pleas to keep their mask over their nose, or to sit in their assigned seats. Two or three will hunker, heads down, waiting for the period to be over. The rest will do whatever they want. It might be this way because they were locked away at home last year, which they either loved or hated but aren’t allowed to do anymore. It might be social media. It might be everything. And it’s definitely because I’m just a sub.
Other days are just fine. Refreshing, even. Second graders will wrap their arms around me before they even know my name. A room full of sophomores will stage an inquisition: How old am I? Where did I grow up? How many kids do I have? (The tactic is equal parts delay tactic and genuine curiosity.) Some kids, when they hear I’m an English teacher, are eager to show me the paragraph they’re writing and ask for help. They are kind, interested, goofy. As I stumble my way through the routines of a new classroom, and they are forgiving. After all, I’m just a sub.
This is no secret: as many teachers call in sick to care for themselves or family members, school districts simply don’t have enough adults to fill classrooms. I’m an instructional coach; like many other educators, I strive to keep my efforts within the lanes of instructional leadership that makes a tangible difference. Nowhere in the definitions of high-impact practices do we see the phrase “cancels plans, fills in as a substitute teacher”. Well.
I am not alone. A perfect storm of pandemic surge and substitute teacher shortage has many educators trading in their district name badge for someone else’s roster and room keys. The recent crisis has made headlines alongside severe social emotional needs, and an alarming increase in fights at school. Some days this year, subs are what is needed more urgently than anything else.
It’s humbling, and there is a lot to learn.
By doubling as substitute teachers, educators- many of them leaders- are stepping back into a role they haven’t been in since getting their teaching credential. It isn’t comfortable. But it can offer a valuable perspective. Here are a few ways substitute teaching has influenced how I see our schools:
A sense of wonder at the span of skill sets that comprise a K-12 teacher pool. As leaders, we often gravitate to a category where we can offer the most expertise: dual language instruction, secondary education, math interventions, and so on. We become deeply familiar with the unique needs of students and teachers who fit within our orbit. Subbing in a 2nd grade classroom one week, and high school classroom the next, however, paints a vivid picture of the vast array of teachers who make a school system thrive. Which ones do the best work? All of them.
A K-12 district depends as equally on teachers who can shepherd five year-olds through the rhythms of their first school days, as it does on high school choir directors preparing their students for regional competitions. The myriad of talent that makes up a comprehensive school system is breathtaking.
Deep appreciation for the adults many people don’t notice. I recently subbed in a class of children with severe special needs. There is no need to mince words here- I was scared. I can show students the finer points of iambic pentameter, or tap into their home language to decode complex words. But I have never changed a third grader’s diaper. For a whole day of subbing, I was wholly dependent on the marvel of a high-functioning paraeducator team. They operated, smoothly, with compassion and competence. Those skilled individuals, like many small and crucial teams across a school district, do most of their work behind the doors of a self-contained classroom.
Likewise, can we talk about office staff? Office managers and attendance secretaries are a lifeline in a day of substitute teaching. (The ones who will kindly point you to the staff refrigerator, so you have a place to store your lunch, are my favorites.) They are the primary point of contact for distributing classroom keys, helpful phone numbers, and student rosters. As the first and last people a sub interacts with, an efficient and friendly office staff can set the tone for the whole day.
Empathy for teachers’ constraints on time and place. “Can we reschedule?” is not something they can ask a room full of fourth graders. So little flexibility exists in a teacher’s day. Bells don’t reset themselves because of a meeting with your boss, or a phone call with the pediatrician. Substitute teaching serves as a solid reminder of how many minutes in a teacher’s day are invested in the immediate needs of instruction and classroom management. Emails, collaboration, and grading must fit into a miniscule pocket of time. And yet teachers still graciously open their doors to students, accept late work, and take the time to offer their input on district initiatives.
Systems check. Leadership tends to draw educators out of their own classrooms with the lure of system thinking. We work hard to disrupt, maintain, or create systems that can impact thousands of learners in a community over time. But how often do we get the valuable feedback of lived experience within a system that we help uphold? Spending a full day in a class that- like students- you did not ask to be a part of, can force an honest look at where our systems are working, and where they are not. Noticing which students feel at home in certain elective classes has been a good reality check for me. Even systems as simple as bathroom pass QR codes have been a study in ideation versus implementation. When leaders fill in as subs, they are immersing themselves with the people who they build those systems for. How’s that working out?
Stepping in to substitute teach is not glamorous; some days are hard. However, it is an opportunity to lead through service.
It may mean leaving a space where you are sought out by colleagues, so you can arrive barely-on-time to a campus where no one knows your name.
Despite your training and experience, you are, for the day, just a sub.
Being a guest in your own district can offer newfound perspective on the system as a whole. It can renew appreciation for the many people we depend on- both guest teachers and longstanding faculty members- to lead a generation of learners. There is valuable insight to be gained if we are willing to look for it. Hold on to what you see, the good and the bad. Being a sub just might make you a better leader.
When there aren't enough subs, part 1: What the sub shortage means for schools
Closing schools is a worse-case-scenario when personnel is scarce. As an educator, however, I think it’s important to name the more cloying ways our sub shortage affects schools. They are not as drastic as school closures but are as harmful as a slow leak. Eventually, the pipes can burst.
It’s 7:45 on Monday. Masks, lunches, and kids are in the back seat of my car. As we crawl between traffic lights on the way to school, my mind turns to the inner commute: our new 6th grade is expecting me during first period prep, and I need to draft a formative assessment for a PLC. Reach out to the teacher who has two newcomer students from Guatemala. Get it done before our afternoon meeting with the instructional team.
That’s when my phone rings. We’re short three subs at one of our high schools. How soon can I be there?
Sub calls always seemed to come when I was driving my children to school. Photo credit: Joe Parkin @partial_exposure
This is how many work days began this school year, as my school district grappled with in-person classes, COVID mitigation protocols, and a record shortage of substitute teachers. Plans and timelines were not all that suffered when I and other staff members received last-minute sub calls. Teachers’ time is a precious commodity, and delaying or canceling support meant that time-sensitive needs went unmet.
As a working parent, I also seemed to get that call just as I drove my own children to school. For me, the sub shortage spelled daily uncertainty. On any given morning, I might need to reschedule with everyone I had planned to work with that day, all while shuttling my kids through the drop-off line.
Stretching to fill the gaps
Since then, school districts across the country have come to terms with just how little supply exists to meet our demand for subs. In my district office, everyone with a teaching credential now doubles as an on-call substitute teacher. We were all asked to budget our time with one less day per week, so we can adhere to a weekly- and thankfully, predictable- schedule for sub coverage.
When subs can’t be found, an already strained system pulls and stretches to fill the gaps.
In secondary schools, teachers are called on to cover for their colleagues during their prep periods. In elementary schools, interventionists cancel the services they provide to struggling learners so that they can fill in for missing teachers. Instructional coaches slash the hours they would normally spend investing in teacher development, to ensure kids have an adult in the room. In a profession that is notoriously time-poor, we are squeezing minutes from those who have very few to spare.
Our system is missing an essential piece of its structure; every other part is affected, from the bottom up. Substitute teachers are really, really important.
Schools are clearly taking a hit as they try to remain open during Covid surges. Plan A, with or without a pandemic, is that substitutes cover when there aren’t enough teachers. Plan B taps counselors and interventionists to cover when there aren’t enough subs. Plan C, I imagine, scraps together anyone else on campus, for an hour at a time, in every effort to keep kids in school. Strapped for personnel and weary of spread, some school districts have skipped right down the alphabet and returned to online learning. No doubt, more will follow.
Effects on teachers, administrators, and students
Closing schools is a worse-case-scenario when personnel is scarce. As an educator, however, I think it’s important to name the more cloying ways our sub shortage affects schools. They are not as drastic as school closures but are as harmful as a slow leak. Eventually, the pipes can burst.
Take professional development, for example. Reflecting upon their practice or making sense of complicated data requires teachers’ focus and time. Both remain elusive if they spend their prep periods subbing for a colleague. Logistics for professional development are impacted too. Learning walks and peer coaching are nearly impossible if there aren’t any subs to cover while a teacher observes another classroom. Could an instructional coach or a colleague step in to make it happen? Not if they’re already subbing in another room.
Workshops, one of my favorite ways for teacher teams to pause and learn together, are impacted as well. Workshops remove teachers from their daily routine of moving students from bell to bell, and can be a catalyst for launching new ideas. This protected time gives teachers the mental space to consider new ideas. When there aren’t enough subs, even small, customized workshops feel like a luxury of days long past.
The toll of the sub shortage on administrators in particular is also acute. I’ve seen admin teams race against the clock as they strategize how they will move teachers and subs around to fill all the day’s vacancies, right before the morning bell rings. Two breaths later, they’ve turned on their heels and begun the morning announcements over the school intercom. They have made a day’s worth of decisions before the school day has begun.
Student safety is also compromised when campuses are scrambling to find substitute teachers. It’s not uncommon for my sub call to come just as school is beginning, after the list of “real” substitute teachers has been exhausted. Campus supervisors or assistant principals graciously step in to cover while they wait for someone to arrive.
The important work they have been hired to do, especially in the crucial first hour of the day, isn’t getting done.
Students who are tempted to linger in bathrooms or behind buildings can do just that when the adults tasked with “sweeping” campus are confined to one classroom. This year in particular, as students adjust to being in large crowds with their peers, teachers are reporting that aggressive behaviors are in an uptick. When support staff is helping to cover a class during the school day, it means there is one less adult supervising breaks and passing periods- times when tensions between students can escalate if there is no adult to intervene.
Ultimately, students are the stakeholders who have the most to lose when there aren’t enough substitute teachers. When the adults around them are stressed or in constant flux, they notice.
I was asked by a class of high schoolers who had had five different adults covering their class in as many days, “Are you coming back next week?” I had to confess to them that I didn’t know who would be filling in next. They went on to boast that they were such a difficult class, that the previous day they even had a substitute for a substitute who decided to leave. Teenagers act tough, but with this group it was clear that having a different person covering for their teacher- or their sub- every day had lost its luster. They just wanted someone they could connect to.
A system in need of manpower
Lastly, and most importantly, is the simmering tea kettle of stress and uncertainty that permeates an understaffed system.
It’s not just the times that counselors, teachers, or admin do need to cover for a colleague that put a kink in the work day. It’s the mental strain of knowing they might need to cover that makes it difficult to prepare efficiently. The moments of downtime needed to plan, grade, or communicate with parents are precious. It’s hard to know which commitments should get the most care-filled time, when you’re not sure if tomorrow will be available to play catch-up.
Mentally and physically, our schools have less safety and stability when there isn’t a reliable pipeline of adults to fill in on campus. The teachers who work so hard to support them have less time to invest in their own professional growth, planning, and grading. It adds up and it’s hard. Bay Area teachers are staging sick outs in protest of the mental and physical risk of teaching during the recent surge.
Meeting our students’ needs requires every ounce of personal resilience and innovation we can muster. We need a consistent, abundant power supply but when there aren’t enough subs, we are perpetually running on a backup generator. Extra manpower would be nice.
This is the first in a three-part series. Still to come: What leaders can learn from being a sub, and tips for making your substitute’s workday better.
Project Based Learning, Even Now
Years ago, I faced a dilemma in my classroom. As a teacher, I had embraced my district’s move toward project based learning (PBL) with curiosity and optimism. It only took a few projects with my middle schoolers to see that the relevance of PBL resonated with them. We consulted community experts, dabbled in new technology, and threw ourselves into creative projects that leveraged collaboration. Their engagement soared. When it came to projects, we dazzled. However, when it came to mastering language arts standards, we fizzled.
Originally published with love and polish by The Core Collaborative
Years ago, I faced a dilemma in my classroom. As a teacher, I had embraced my district’s move toward project based learning (PBL) with curiosity and optimism. It only took a few projects with my middle schoolers to see that the relevance of PBL resonated with them. We consulted community experts, dabbled in new technology, and threw ourselves into creative projects that leveraged collaboration. Their engagement soared. When it came to projects, we dazzled. However, when it came to mastering language arts standards, we fizzled.
It’s not to say my students didn’t learn anything; they certainly did. But examining the progress they made in relation to language arts standards was not something we regularly did together. Many of my students came to my classroom far behind grade level expectations in their reading and writing skills. Some came to me far advanced as well. How much language arts growth did they make during their time building cool projects in my class? I couldn’t tell you. Neither could they. Ouch.
Herein lies a tension with some teachers and school systems regarding project based learning. When students come to our classes with significant gaps, incorporating an authentic purpose feels like a luxury we can’t afford. That feeling is only exacerbated by headlines warning of learning loss after a period of interrupted learning due to the pandemic.
Research released this year suggests that projects and deep learning are not mutually exclusive. Researchers from Stanford recently released a three-year study of students engaged in rigorous project based learning. In the study, sixth grade students--including low-SES and multilingual learners--outperformed their peers in standardized measures of reading, math, and language acquisition after a year of rigorous project based learning in their science class. Two related studies, focused on elementary students and those in AP science classes, also showed significant growth for students engaged in rigorous project based learning compared to control groups. The studies support a compelling argument for the benefits of project based learning. Rigorous project based learning can--and should--address a progression of learning that ensures students have the basic knowledge they need, as well as opportunities to apply their knowledge to relevant situations. So how do we do it?
Improving our practice as teachers and school leaders takes continual work, best done in the company of supportive school systems. Here are a few ways to help students access the benefits of project based learning and ensure that learning the standards stays at the center of teaching strategies, assessments, and reflection:.
Clarify the learning
Projects are fun because they give students a real-world question to tackle. However, it’s easy to get distracted by this authentic purpose if students aren’t constantly re-focused on the learning at hand.
Effective lesson plans for project based learning, provide students with a clear path to learning at surface, deep, and transfer levels. This planning helps them identify where they are on their journey, and where they need to go next.
When success criteria are kept in plain view of students (on a bulletin board or a daily agenda, for example), it can also give coherence to how the day’s lesson applies to the big picture of a project.
Ensuring that success at each level of learning is clearly defined with student-friendly language that is free of context provides a simple way for teachers and students to assess their learning periodically throughout the project.
Challenge students at the right time
Different teaching and learning strategies work best at different times in a learner’s journey. For example, when students are building surface level knowledge, matching words to definitions, or simple note taking, can address their needs most directly. But definitions and dates can’t be where we stop.
For students to consolidate deep learning, a class discussion or reciprocal teaching can help them make connections. Applying what they’ve learned to a new situation is how students build their ability to transfer what they know. This can take the form of designing their own solution to a complex problem, or evaluating an existing solution.
Does that sound like a project? Sure does.
To build in opportunities to transfer learning in PBL, consider adding a twist or a sequel to the project students have been working towards. For example, imagine students spent a month learning to improve their argumentative writing, so they could persuade their principal to change the school mascot.
A follow-up letter to parents, asking them to reallocate funds from the parent club, can help students flex their argumentative muscles and show that what they have learned can be applied to new contexts. Let students see that their skills are meant to transfer to new situations.
Create a culture of examining impact
Remember my question about my students’ growth in language arts? In my early years of project based learning, we built a positive, high-energy culture where students were reflective about their time on task and their contributions to group work. But I didn’t foster a culture of learners who continually reviewed what they had learned or what their next steps were.
One critical way I’ve changed my approach since then is to implement formative assessments from the very beginning of a project. They don’t have to be elaborate, just enough to give students and me an idea of where they start, where they are in the middle of a project, and how they wrap up. It is so much easier (and kinder) to ask students to reflect on their learning when they have concrete evidence of where they began. Moreover, this helps keep clear learning intentions at the forefront because they’re being periodically assessed.
As a teacher, this practice has also helped me reflect at the end of a project. “Were student presentations awesome?” is a perfectly normal question to ask. However, “How much did each student improve their ability to write informational paragraphs?” is a better question for measuring learning and predicting transfer. It only happens when looking at our impact--as students and as teachers--is a regular part of the classroom culture.
Can we facilitate classrooms that keep kids relentlessly aware of their learning, and also engage them with an authentic purpose? I think so. It’s crucial to help students identify where they are in their learning, and how it is relevant to the world around them.
Rigorous project based learning might be a return to normalcy for some classrooms, and it might be education reimagined for others. In any case, it’s a tool we can learn from when we want to do what works best.
References:
Deutscher, Rebecca R. et al. (2021). Learning Through Performance Project-Based Learning as a Lever for Engaging the Next-Generation Science Standards. Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning & Equity.
Hattie, J., Donoghue, G. (2016). Learning strategies: a synthesis and conceptual model. npj Science Learn 1, 16013. https://doi.org/10.1038/npjscilearn.2016.13
Lucas Education Research. (2021). The Evidence is Clear: Rigorous Project-Based Learning is an Effective Lever for Student Success. Lucas Education Research.
You brought the world to my classroom: an open letter of thanks
I never got around to thank you cards; we couldn’t safely pass them around the classroom to sign. So I want the people I’m thanking to see the rest of the names on this list, and know that they are in supreme company. For other readers, I want you to give these folks a high five or buy their books or support their businesses. These people represent the best of giving simply because they could.
This is an open letter to celebrate the truly wonderful adults who, in a year marked by isolation, joined my community of teenagers. At a time when many of my students rarely left their apartments, these people brought the world to my classroom.
But first, some context: it was a hard year. The connectedness that fuels learning required constant workarounds. My students, all English Learners, had little time to establish a sense of belonging before the pandemic stopped schools in the spring of 2019. A surprising number of them did not know where our town library was, or which local parks could provide respite when they needed to get outside. They were reluctant to practice their English with their other teachers or classmates; the mute button quickly normalized their silence. It was easy for my students to feel alone.
Additionally- and this is an understatement- teachers couldn’t do everything they’d do in a normal year. With this in mind, I held tight to certain practices as I planned my lessons. One of those practices, borrowed from the toolbox of rigorous project based learning, is incorporating an authentic audience. Students find relevance- and up their game- when they can solve a problem for, or present their work to, someone outside of the classroom. It also hit a release valve on those feelings of isolation. Involving adults from outside the classroom sent me in search of people who could offer my students feedback, weigh in on our learning, or see my kids’ final product. Some were closely related to class projects; others joined us as guest speakers. My students were limited by lockdowns and language barriers, but these adults made it clear to my students that there were other people rooting for them.
In a year where isolation could have defined us, these people brought the world to my classroom. They all have their own jobs, families, and were also grappling their way through a global health crisis. They come from an array of perspectives and expertise. Every single one of them was selfless in their decision to join us for a few strides on our journey.
I never got around to thank you cards; we couldn’t safely pass them around the classroom to sign. So I want the people I’m thanking to see the rest of the names on this list, and know that they are in supreme company. For other readers, I want you to give these folks a high five or buy their books or support their businesses. These people represent the best of giving simply because they could.
I am forever grateful to the following individuals:
Simran Jeet Singh, author and activist
I have Simran to thank for the first “Yes” of the year. The thrill of having him directly and compassionately answer questions from my students during a Zoom meeting (he joined us from New York) set the bar at a high place I tried to match thereafter. His book, Fauja Singh Keeps Going, uses rich illustrations and prose to tell the story of the world’s oldest marathon runner. Learning about Fauja Singh, who- like Simran- wears a dastar, sparked tons of questions for us. Simran met our inquiry with straightforwardness and poise, fielding as many questions about himself as about his title character. He modeled beautifully how to engage in conversation about race and culture in a way that upholds the dignity of all.
Yarely Chavez, MENTIS prevention specialist
If there was ever a year when we needed to explicitly talk about mental health, this was it. Yarely joined our class twice a month to help us, as a community, hold space to acknowledge what it felt like to be teenagers going to school in a pandemic. We set goals together, in English and Spanish, for getting through the year but also navigating life. Her warm, approachable style- and her consistent presence in our class- gave her immediate credibility with our students.
Dr. Austin Komarek, Blossom Chiropractic
I don’t even want to know the number of hours we spent hunched, bent, and curved toward our computers this school year. Dr. Austin kindly obliged me when I asked him to join our class to share his expertise. He showed us how to stretch and expand our bodies, so we could prevent the neck and back pain caused by crumpling our focus onto a small screen. Based on reflections the following day, our students were just as touched by Dr. Austin’s practical advice as they were by his exuberance in sharing helpful tips with our class. A fun language fact we learned from his visit: “chiro” means hands, not back.
Napa Valley Grape Growers
@nvgrapegrowers; napagrowers.org
The Fields of Opportunity program, supported by Napa Valley Grapegrowers and Napa Valley Farmworker Foundation, offers summer mentorships for high schoolers in Napa’s wine industry. Two of my students worked through the application and interview process in their second language, and their efforts were received with a sense of professionalism. My students took a bold risk to seek out this opportunity, and it gave me goosebumps to know NVG took them seriously. My co-teacher describes these internships as the kind that change the course of a young person’s life; now two very deserving girls are set to embark on a summer internship that I am certain will be as much a gift to them as they will be to those in their new workplace.
Jon Corippo, educator and author
When I asked Jon to visit my class, he said yes- and brought his students with him! My class practiced one of Jon’s eduprotocols for a month, to get better at writing paragraphs. Our grand finale was joining Jon and his students in an eduprotocol paragraph that we all wrote together. It was incredibly powerful for my students to see that other teenagers, at another school, were using the same routine that we used. It was even more powerful to crowdsource great words to use in our writing from both Mr. Corippo’s students (native English speakers) and my own. The whole experience- much like Jon himself- was easy, fun, and incredibly cool.
Kristine Mason, PlumpJack Group
When I used the three weeks between Thanksgiving and winter break to dig into feedback and explaining our thinking, I needed someone who could speak directly to the importance of these skills in the professional world. Kristine, a senior marketing manager, explained to us what kind of feedback she seeks out from her colleagues, and how she explains her thinking when she presents something to her team. Our Q&A was unrehearsed, and I could not have predicted how precisely her answers would apply to our project. Kristine’s input not only helped us refine how we explained our thinking and gave feedback, it also showed my students that we were learning a skill that applies in and out of the classroom. Better yet, her generosity was tangible; she was open to sharing her process with us, which made our conversation with her that much more meaningful.
Suzanne Truchard, candidate for Napa City Supervisor
Suzanne’s visit had the adults in our Zoom session in tears (the good kind). Her family put everything they had into helping her fulfill her dream of going to Harvard. This multilingual, multicultural mother and professional came ready to pay it forward to our students. As the daughter of Cuban immigrants, her story resonated deeply with our class. In addition to having a law degree, selling real estate, teaching yoga and Zumba, and occasionally hosting a pop-up Cuban restaurant, she’s knocking on doors to campaign for city supervisor. The overarching message to our students was a heartfelt, “I did it, and so can you.” At the end of her talk, many students asked the question we had all been wondering: “Yes, but when do you sleep?”
Itamar Abramovitch, Blossom Catering
Talking with someone who excels at their craft is always inspiring. But talking with someone who also immigrated to the U.S., owns their own business, and speaks Hebrew (a language most of my students had never heard), captivated our community of teenagers. When Itamar, an accomplished chef, explained, “My job is to make people happy with food,” he had my students’ rapt attention. A highlight of his visit was locating his home country, Israel, on a map, and seeing how close it was to a pair of our students' home country, Morocco. Itamar also reminded us of an added benefit of being multilingual: you can read more cookbooks!
Napa Bookmine Literary Foundation
napabookmineliteraryfoundation.org
Napa bookmine gave my students the gift of real-life, hold-in-your-hand, books. When I learned that most of my class had very few books to read in their home language, I asked the Napa Bookmine Literary Foundation if they could help. My students made a wish list of what books they would like to read, in the language of their choice, and the foundation graciously matched what was available with what my students wanted. Being able to put books in my students' hands- simply for the joy of reading- was a gift in itself. Bookmine owner Naomi Chamblin also kindly obliged when I asked her to give us a virtual tour of her Pearl Street shop.
Teachers have asked themselves frequently this year about the “COVID keeps”, those discoveries we made this year that we will take with us when the classroom begins to look familiar to them again.
This is one of mine.
Zoom makes it incredibly easy to connect awesome humans to your students, and show them that they are not alone in their learning and- more importantly- they are not alone in this world.