How one student changed the school’s culture

First off, let me say how honored I am to have the opportunity to be where I am, doing what I am. Teaching is a wonderful, horrible, faith-destroying, faith-restoring, uplifting and downtrodden experience. There is no other way to describe my teaching career. The following story is true, original, and came to fruition this semester.

This school year our school district has handled this pandemic not just "as good as can be expected" (lameville), but an immeasurable amount better. Our superintendent, administration, staff, parents, and especially students handled the pandemic's accompanying disruptions with a nuanced maturity, one that doesn't look like a three-year-old wearing a suit so much as a 14-year-old wearing a suit, speaking to a crowd of 1,000 like he's done it all his life. Needless to say, everyone stepped up and over at every twist and turn, not unlike Dance Dance Revolution. Full Combo!

This, one and a half paragraphs later, is not what this is about, though I'm proud of them all. The one I'm truly proud of is the quiet kid, all alone by himself, starting a revolution of his own; the revolution of a return to normalcy. The time before the pandemic, my middle school's playground was your typical playground, with groups of people huddled together in different areas, some playing sports, some talking with each other, blissfully unaware of the shirt-show soon to begin.

When the pandemic hit hard in March our district was at home for the rest of the year, but was one of the first to come back in person (allowing any families who wish to stay online to do so). Protocols were in place, and gradually loosened and updated accordingly. During lunch now the kids have been in the cafeteria area, inside and outside seating. The playground and fields was another option as well. Students found, however, that the enjoyed just sitting and eating lunch together, whether inside or outside.

At first this was a great thing to see, kids dealing with the pandemic the best way they knew how, having interesting discussions about the "feast or famine" of it all, how some companies, schools, restaurants, people, <anything> either succeeding well or failing spectacularly, etc. Eventually, however, I noticed just something interesting in the collective behavior and mood... it just seemed to dampen day after day. Even after the masking regulations outside of school (Arizona) had scaled back, and after the students had adjusted and gotten used to the masks as second nature, it just seemed to take a toll on the kids over time. The conversations stopped. It was so quiet it was weird. I mean a middle school cafeteria, and it sounds like we're testing.

Enter the quiet kid. This guy has been absent a lot of the year, but came back full force the past two months. When he came back he asked our principal if he was "allowed to go out in the field" (because noone was out there). Principal goes "sure". So he goes out there on day 1, just kind of walks the space, not looking particularly lonely by any means, just walking the grounds. On day 2, one of the students kind of takes notice, but doesn't step on the field. Day 3, a group of about four kids decide, after watching this kid that they were going to go out on the field and toss the football around (the one that wasn't touched in about two months). Before you know it, (day 5, so I guess I do know it), every kid is out there, and all of a sudden everyone's talking and laughing again. The best part was watching the quiet kid's bewilderment as he sees group after group brave their way out to the field with each passing day.

Submitted May 24, 2021 at 06:22PM by Ancient_Educator_76 https://ift.tt/3yEqAUP