The Parent Perspective: What will students remember about this time?
June 8, 2020
The following was written by EdCal Editor Michelle Carl. I wonder what our kids are going to remember about this pandemic 20 years from now. Are they going to remember that they didn’t get to perform in the school play? Or are they going to remember the day their teacher drove by their house for a parade? While it is natural to grieve the experiences we didn’t get to have during the end of the 2019-2020 school year, we have had so many amazing new experiences in return. Due to the COVID-19 closure of schools, students have lost out on crucial speech therapy lessons, a chance to improve social skills in group settings, and once-in-a-lifetime chances to compete in athletics and perform in the arts. They have also lost the culminating event to their whole K-12 experience: high school graduation.  We have also lost special grade-level celebrations, like my son’s second grade grandparents day, where grandparents are invited to come into the class and share their experiences. His teacher e-mailed us to remind us on what would have been grandparent’s day, and we had a nice phone conversation with grandparents to commemorate it. But what we gained is some memorable experiences I’ll look back on for a long time, like our school’s staff parade on March 27. My kids were so excited the day that the teachers and staff from Thomas Jefferson Elementary drove through our neighborhood.  We walked to the street they had announced they would be driving down. Neighbors with kids in other grades were staking their spots on the sidewalk, clutching signs and banners. Even neighbors without kids in school came out of their homes to check out the activity.  “What’s going on?” one neighbor asked me. “The elementary school is doing a teacher parade,” I told her with a hint of pride that our school would put on such a fun event. After a few rounds of “Is it time yet? … Is it time now?” from my kids, the cars came rolling and honking through our street.  Teachers, office staff and the principal decorated their cars and stopped wave to every student with such enthusiasm. The parade had a triumphant feel, like the coronavirus couldn’t keep our spirits down. It also showed students that their teachers weren’t just three-inch tall heads on a computer screen — they were real people who really miss their students. Another highlight that was only possible because of school closures? Virtually meeting our teachers’ dogs. (Big shout-out to Sailor, Surfer and Max!) These four-legged teacher’s aides made cameos during recorded messages and Zoom meetings and generally added to the merriment of distance learning. One thing distance learning just can’t replicate is students getting to use their social skills. One mom shared with me that the traits her daughter exemplifies, like modeling good behavior for others and being helpful, aren’t getting a chance to shine. “All those traits that are so beautiful are just meh and sidelined right now because we have no real social interactions.” My kids discovered that although they could no longer play with their best friends from school, they already had a best friend at home — their brother. I’ve noticed my sons have been playing with and actually talking to one another more and more during the school closure. During one family walk, they naturally reached out to hold hands — a moment I had to quickly snap a photo of.  Even with all the bickering and fighting, they are being forced to realize that your sibling is the one friend you have for life, no matter what.  I think one of the biggest things we’ve missed is playgrounds. My kids love to climb, swing, spin and crawl. Without access to playgrounds at school or at our local parks, we have struggled to find outlets for them to exercise. What we’ve done instead is a bunch of variants of hide-and-go seek: flashlight hide-and-go-seek, monster hide-and-go-seek, stuffed animal-hide-and-go-seek, etc. I have a friend whose three boys invented a game in their backyard — it’s called throwing sticks in trees.  We discovered that while there are no make-ups for certain things, with a little ingenuity, we can find new ways of experiencing school.
MAIN.jpg
Students at Thomas Jefferson Elementary School wave to teachers and staff in their decorated vehicles during a parade that brought school teachers and staff to neighborhoods where students lived on March 27.
While there are some things we lost, we gained many new experiences in return
The author’s son excitedly waves at teachers from Thomas Jefferson Elementary School during a school staff parade that drove through neighborhoods where students lived on March 27.
Contact Us
|
www.acsa.org

© 2020 Association of California School Administrators
ACSA EdCal logo.
Association of California School Administrators
Association of California School Administrators