Hello Teacher! Day 64
By: Heidi Chase
Tags: Remote Learning, Connect, Students, Teachers, Schools

Photo by Timothy Eberly on Unsplash

During this season of gratitude, I am thankful for the morning walks I have inserted into my almost daily routine. This week in particular I am enjoying the extra half hour or so to take a walk during the time that I would ordinarily bring son number 3 into school. Following COVID safety protocols, his school decided to remain closed for the week following Thanksgiving, because so many folks were going to be gathering for the holiday, and therefore, the school mitigated the risk of infection by giving us an extra week of self-quarantine. Anyway, that means I get to stroll through my neighborhood park for about thirty minutes, and it truly is an energizing activity to connect with nature first thing in the morning.

As the buzz in my mood, thanks to the holiday season, continues in full swing, I am counting my blessings as a schoolteacher (as different as it feels and looks) for continuing to make meaningful connections with my students. There are those moments in a classroom when the connections are overwhelming and powerful and make you scream ‘hallelujah!’ And oh my goodness, one of those moments happened right here today during remote learning, when many students reported that they had not yet discovered a book or movie that has inspired or influenced them. Honestly I was surprised, and attribute it to period one on a gray New England morning, and then advised them to respond in a way that would allow them to create a book or movie that still needs to be written and produced. While they were thinking about that prompt, we began reading our story of the week, “The Teacher that Changed My Life” by Nick Gage.

Many of my students could relate to the main character’s struggle of being forced to leave their homes and countries due to war. Most could related to the harrowing experiences of leaving the comforts of language, land and loved ones for the difficulties of adapting to a new school, cold weather, and unfamiliar family members. A few could connect with the character’s harrowing memories of his mother’s execution. These same students, who minutes before were telling me that they could not relate to books and movies and stories, were weeping with me as we immersed ourselves in Nick Gage’s beautiful story of struggle and success. I am humbled and inspired by my students, and at moments like the one we shared this morning, I am one with them. There is no us and them, there is just ‘me over there disguised as you.’

There is no greater feeling than that of empathy and compassion for our fellow human beings, and today provided a brief yet profound opportunity for my class to celebrate our humanity. It is hard to imagine being able to connect like that during a time of remote learning, but we did, which goes to show that words really do shape our experiences. As a writer, and a lover of literature and a teacher of language, perhaps this is the greatest time to put all of my skills and all of my beliefs about stories and connection, to the test. Today’s lesson was intended to ‘prove’ that stories can move and inspire and influence us in profound and various ways, including shaping our identity. The theme for this quarter is asking the students to consider the essential question: ‘what makes you, you? what experiences and people have a profound influence on who you are? how do you make sense of all of that?’ Today I am grateful that my students were able to find themselves in a good story about an ordinary immigrant who does extraordinary things to stay alive and finds success through…. writing, in today’s story, but anything is possible.