There are mountains of empirical research that fly in the face of our pre-pandemic ways of doing school. From opportunity gaps in access to the importance of motivation on student learning including the role of teacher expectations on student outcomes and the mental health pressures associated with an overemphasis on standardized testing, there’s no shortage of data in favor of changing everything.
What’s interesting is much of how we should do school has surfaced over the past year: centering on students’ social-emotional wellness, flexibility in how and what we teach, and adding more meaningful and applied learning experiences to each day.
There have been many stories of the horrors of this year of distance learning. I don’t deny the genuine hardships and losses that so many have experienced. But as an education researcher, school board member and parent, I’ve also seen some schools finally put more emphasis on what many call “soft skills” but that I see as essential: communication, problem-solving and navigating through difficult situations together while honoring our human-ness.
This year we’ve fortuitously placed a greater emphasis on “soft skills” as our kids learned to navigate new digital platforms and educators have had to take perspective of students to understand why turning on zoom cameras in zoom may be less than ideal. I believe these “soft skills” of flexibility and compassion may key to addressing our alarming pre-pandemic mental health crisis as between 13–20% of children living in the US struggle with mental illness each year. These pre-pandemic numbers are a reminder that the social-emotional wellness of our students has long needed to be a focal point for post-pandemic schooling.
As many students zoned out during zoom sessions, many others have failed to log in altogether. Not surprising as 3.7 million households nationwide lack consistent access to the internet. What’s more, of the 65% of homes with children learning online, 11% reported having no live contact with their teacher in the past week. These findings reveal many of the pre-existing issues within education that have been exacerbated during this time, including disparities in access necessary to build essential connections and those critical “soft skills” for future success.
As schools work overtime to find these lost learners, it is essential that we prioritize connection over content in post-pandemic education, to foster a sense of belonging to the school community. This work should include more inclusive partnerships between schools and families to the school community, something research has long demonstrated increases student achievement. And schools often ignore or wrongly associate barriers to a parent’s involvement in their child’s learning when in fact there are significant barriers to participating during the school day.
While we mourn the loss of gathering at sporting events or recitals to cheer for our children, many schools have used this time to flatten access for many families, redefining family involvement. Holding parent-teacher conferences via zoom removed a financial burden for those who require childcare, while PTA meetings online mean more community members have access to otherwise inaccessible school-community meetings. Board of Education meetings too have been remote and in my four years on our local board we’ve never seen this number of community members actively engaged and in attendance. Our post-pandemic world could benefit by casting such a wide net of inclusivity where all parents and community members can connect so seamlessly.
When my children’s school district went remote in March 2020 it was less than ideal for all involved. Without a single approach to distribute materials, meeting links, or grades online, our students floundered, parents roared, and teachers were stuck in an endless tailspin. So when given the option of hybrid or fully remote instruction for fall, it’s no wonder many chose hybrid.
Before school resumed last fall, teachers began more organized allowing our kids to flex their executive-functioning skills, becoming more self-sufficient learners. A unified online space for classroom materials, assignments and Zoom links removed some confusion around coursework and assuaged stressors over endless school paperwork, allowing our kids to focus on what matters: learning.
Faced with the daunting task of teaching via zoom, educators embraced a different approach: mini-lessons followed with group projects, placing kids in breakout rooms to practice new skills together. During breakout sessions, the teacher pops in to provide feedback in a new model of flexible, purposeful learning. Teachers reach out privately to check in on students, a welcome change for students with anxiety, including our middle schooler.
Cradling his cat in his lap during math instruction it appears our 10-year-old too enjoys the creature comforts of school at home. His sense of safety and ownership in learning has increased even if he forgets to turn on his camera. At parent-teacher conferences this year his teacher tells us he’s thriving academically with high marks. This is a departure from previous years where conferences focused heavily on forgetting paperwork endlessly lost between school and home, a problem solved by a single digital space and the teacher’s increased flexibility.
Without the endless work meetings and after school activities we’ve had more time to connect with my children. I recently asked my 5th-grader about his favorite learning experience from this year and he proudly declared: “I learned to solve a Rubik’s cube!” I laugh remembering an impromptu ‘show and tell’ via Zoom where one child proudly presented a solved Rubik’s cube and the entire 5th-grade became consumed with completing the puzzle in the fewest steps. But what no one noticed is the fact that he’s learned to solve it on his own, using YouTube. Something he saw in school sparked his interest to pursue and succeed at a challenge on his own time, those “soft skills” again. What he doesn’t yet know is the solution to that Rubik’s cube is based on a set of procedures, algorithms, Algebra. If this is possible why not explicitly connect Rubik’s cube to algorithms or Algebra or programming while they are in school?
What we’ve learned during the pandemic isn’t showing up on assessments but is important in the real world. It seems that during this time of struggle, we’ve acquired what schools term “soft skills,” communicating effectively, problem solving, and navigating through difficult situations together while honoring our human-ness. Essential for a successful future, these are skills most difficult to learn. We’ve taken things that used to be annoyances to classroom instruction like a child bringing in a Rubik’s cube or fidget spinner and leaned into the possibility that student interests are drivers of learning.
To be sure, our family’s experience is one of privilege. Our children have access to broadband and are old enough to monitor their learning without constant supervision and they have grown ups nearby who can walk away from work to troubleshoot tech issues or scaffold solutions to linear equations. Yet the very real social-emotional crisis across the country is a wake up call to see the human-ness of our students and the potential of partnering with their parents before it’s too late.
Honoring student needs, enhancing home to school connections, and connecting content to what kids care about is hardly novel and reinforces what research shows as best practices in developing a sense of belonging to a community prior to acquiring facts and figures to pass a test. As we return to school, let’s maintain what has worked during this time to make life better for us all: centering on students’ social-emotional wellness, flexible teaching in delivery and time, and more meaningful and inclusive experiences connecting with one another. The pandemic feels endless now, but the opportunity to connect with our children is fleeting.