“I’m worried that my kids will be behind when they start school this fall.”
If you haven’t heard this from a worried mom friend or thought it yourself this summer, are you even living in 2021?
I’m guessing many parents have similar sentiments other years for a variety of reasons, but this year is different. It seems everyone is worried sick about the likelihood that their student will be behind where they should be as they enter a new grade.
As a teacher, I can tell you this: They WILL be behind
Did that just up your anxiety level?
Here, let me rephrase: EVERYONE will be behind.
I mean, what else would they be? These kids have just come off of a year and a half of survival learning. These kids have just juggled between online to half time in person, and sometimes back again. They’ve had to navigate going to school with masks, doing temperature checks upon entering the classroom, and social distancing from their friends.
The last 18 months have been more jam-packed full of huge transitions than most kids go through in their entire school career. To think that, on top of that, they managed to soak up all the phonetic awareness, vocabulary words, and math content that was hurled at them is not just naive, it’s downright stupid.
Yes, your child is behind.
And guess what?
Even if you have one of those unicorn, self-motivated kids that thrived during these challenging learning circumstances, your kid is STILL behind.
Why, you ask?
Simply put, teachers did not — and could not — get through all the content that we would normally teach in a year. We prioritized like crazy. We cut the fluff, and you better bet your bottom that some important stuff got skipped as well.
But here’s the good news:
We’re ready for them.
Teachers and schools have spent their summers brainstorming, preparing, and problem-solving. We’re expecting incoming kiddos to lack some of the skills and knowledge they usually have. We’re very aware that kids will have a vast assortment of unique needs and challenges that are side effects of 2020.
COVID-learning side effects, if you will.
We’re planning with previous grade levels to see what concepts they didn’t get to last school year. We’re adjusting how we start the year, and the methods that we use to best teach what needs to be learned. We are ready to meet your student where they are and help them fill those holes.
We always are
It’s just that this year, instead of a handful of learners who might need to play the game of catch-up, it will be the whole class.
So, as you prepare for this back-to-school season and check off the items on their supply lists and stock their closets with new clothes, take some time to have a talk with them about the reality and impact of the last year on their learning. Explain that, because of circumstances that were out of their control, they — and all kids — will be a little behind.
Don’t do this to make excuses for them, but to challenge them to go into this school year with the motivation to make up for lost time. Pump them up for a year where they will learn more than just one year’s worth of school.
Trust me, they’re up for the challenge — and so are we.
