Fear of School in the New Normal

Being back at school is great!

Students hanging out in the quad and socializing in the Student Union,

hugs between friends who haven't seen each other for months,

hundreds of smiles a day...

These are things I have missed greatly the last year.

In the classroom amazing things were happening!

• Students teamed up to work out engineering challenges using only paper and tape, or marshmallows and spaghetti.

• Students in various grade levels collaborated on challenges that were relevant to them and they could succeed in.

• Teams of students were working together on current, trendy trivia that allowed them to laugh together and find commonalities with one another.

• Gestures were taught to help students quietly communicate when they struggle to understand something.

• Students were setting goals and thinking about what they are excited to learn this year

Honestly, the restart of school has been amazing!

However...

Being back at school is also tough.

Yes, we were exhausted by the end of the first full week.

There is more coffee needed and mid-day caffeine going down the hatch by the end of week one.

Teaching with a mask on is far more energy draining than we would like.

But that's not what I am referring to.

There are hot days in the sun for lunch and PE.

Humid air that feels like we might be closer to Florida than California.

Technology issues with wifi and networks that keep us in pivot mode.

But these are not the challenges I am thinking of either.

Rather, it has been a rough start for some of our students .

I know one student who had a horrible stomach ache every single morning last week! She still walked in the front doors and made it to class (except one period), but her fear of being in a new school made her exceptionally sick each day, despite normally being a happy and super social young woman.

I know other students, who asked so many questions each day to every adult around, just to make sure they were really going the right place and doing what was expected. They were desperate for adult confirmation and reassurance.

Counselors shared that many students have been in tears already. Most highly upset over very simple things, issues students can usually handle on their own, or at least without a torrent of tears!

So many of the concerns were fear related:

• Fear of failing a class due to scary course policies (no late work, no redos, no room to learn and recover from failure, no grace),

• Fear of not being able to keep up,

• Fear of class and school projects being too hard,

• Fear of falling behind due to not working technology,

• Fear of not being liked or included by others
  

While these kinds of fears and physical reactions to school stress are normal each year, the quantity is much higher this year. We are getting parent reports of students with mental health issues needing assistance at a much higher rate than normal. Actually, the parent referrals for mental health assistance were in the double digits, after four days of school, and our school is small!

We knew this year was not going to be exactly normal. This is likely the first indicator of what we will be facing this year:

Highly and easily stressed students.

So, what do we do with these worried scholars?

Do we lower our expectations? No.

Do we spend more time on fluff instead of learning? Please, no!

Do we sit in a circle and share our feelings each day? Hmmm, ever heard of restorative circles? This is not as strange or difficult as it sounds, and super helpful!

Before you go out and pick up a class set of yoga mats (although that is not a bad option), let me offer a few reminders that might help students to adjust.

1. Be the social coordinator of your classroom.

One girl I talked to said her stress because she was new and has "no friends". This is something we can help with!

You have already come up with brilliant group work activities in your classes (I've seen them!). Consider setting aside time in your class to have group members exchange contact information, and then ask them to rely on each other if they have questions about homework or need a friend to study with. It's like "Ask 3, then me" but the out-of-classroom version.

2. Use feedback as a motivator for growth

Students are so scared to fail this year, due to having experienced so many set backs last year. In order for them to gain confidence, they need to know they can learn and be successful.

Having assignments that students can be successful on initially is great, however, students know whether or not an assignment is "hard". Gaining confidence in their ability to learn needs to occur through challenging work that they can improve, after receiving feedback (from you or from peers) without fear of failure from their initial try.

3. Encourage students to study together and form study groups for your class

Our students are very adept at contacting each other virtually (think social media) and working togwrher from a distance. Formalizing study groups allow them to form friendships over a common difficulty (aka: homework and tests!).

We know, from our own experience, that we are able to handle so much more when we work together on things, when we share the weight of a burden, or have comradery within a challenge. Let's make sure our students have teams to rely on, to trust and to offer help to one another this year.

It might make all the difference!

Kim