During this pandemic and global upheaval, I’ve been in a mind-blur for months; my bandwidth has been seriously depleted. Like many of you, I’m mostly holding on: doing my job, watering my garden, talking to my Mom on Fridays, walking several miles a day, worrying about my kids (and their kids), etc. The usual things. What I’ve been missing is radical hope and I’ve realized that at least part of the reason is that I’m not in a classroom like I’ve been every semester for almost all of my adult life. In my experience, teaching is, as Gannon says, “a radical act of hope.”
Our students, whatever their ages or whatever they are studying, will leave our classrooms and run the world. What we do in the classroom matters. In these times when it seems like all news is bad news, I count on small acts of kindness as the enduring evidence that, in fact, most people are good and just trying to live life well. Kindness to our students may be the most important gift we can give them AND if it calms their fear and uncertainty, it’s also a good way to help them recover the bandwidth they need to learn. Even better, when we are kind to students and they learn from us to be kind to others, these are gifts that will keep on giving to the world.
What does kindness look like in a classroom? Here are a few ideas:
· Daily check-ins – Go around the room at the beginning of the school day or the beginning of a class and have everyone say just a few words about how they’re doing. Smile with those who report something happy and give support to those who talk about a struggle. (This can be done in small groups if your class is too big for each person to get a chance to talk.)
· Celebrate successes, even small ones – We can support students’ sense of agency by letting them try new things, fail, and keep trying. During the process, a few high-fives or just a smile or a pat on the shoulder can feel like a kindness to a struggling student. Create a classroom atmosphere in which students regularly affirm each other’s work, encouraging a cooperative learning environment.
· Hear every voice – If possible, pay attention to whose voices are heard and not. Use small group discussions or talk in dyads to assure that during each day or class, most students get a chance to contribute something, even if it’s just a few words.
· Mix in affirmation with correction – As we know from research on mindsets, some students seem to welcome feedback and others find it very intimidating and immobilizing. For the latter group, finding something positive to say about their work before the details about their errors and “opportunities for improvement” may go a long way to assure them and help them use your feedback productively.
· Take time to just take a breath – During our current global public health crisis and societal tensions in many places, students of all ages may be feeling the stress, even if the young ones may not be clear about the source. Pausing to just be quiet and take a few deep breaths can be a moment of recovery for many students (and teachers).
Even when my bandwidth is low, I can usually make a choice to be kind. It’s free and it mostly feels good. Some of our students, of course, get their full daily dose of kindness from family or friends, making our contribution trivial. For others, though, their lives may be filled with people who are themselves struggling so much that acts of kindness are rare luxuries. Like so many equity-minded practices, kindness in the classroom does no harm to students who don’t need it and can make all the difference for those who do.