Our world has been turned upside down in the last five months, or so it feels, and a course-correct doesn’t seem likely soon. While educational leaders across the country have sought to stay positive and assure families of an in-person return to school in August, some are having to pivot back to remote and hybrid scenarios last minute. Meanwhile, those who are returning to school in-person must continue to endure the incessant news cycle and the unpredictability each new day brings.
How are teachers to begin the school year in such times? Let me suggest three principles for returning to school amidst the pandemic, which can be applied whether schools begin in-person, remotely, or using a hybrid model. These principles will also apply to home-schoolers, who have had to face their own unique challenges during this season.
1. Review your core values.
Amidst a catastrophe, our feeble human plans are the most vulnerable victims. Just as schedules are solidified, teaching assignments are confirmed, and re-opening guidelines are published, they can all come crashing down with a single government news conference. As a result, the mantra across industries has quickly become adaptability and flexibility.
But teachers can’t afford to simply be flexible. Their work is too important. Flexibility is crucial, don’t get me wrong, but flexibility is not a sure foundation anymore than is a trampoline. Core values alone serve as the foundation, whether for a person, classroom, or school.
Core values are foundational because they don’t change even if circumstances do. A core value is a vital and timeless guiding principle. It serves as a compass or road map along a difficult and precarious journey. In order to persevere through the 2020-21 school year, which is shaping up to be one of the most interesting school years to date, teachers need to review and lead with their core values.
These values can take different forms, but the key is that they must be general, not specific, and abstract, not concrete. “Love for Learning” can serve as a core value; “Using the school’s LMS effectively” cannot. If you’re not sure what your core values as a teacher are, pull out your journal and do a brainstorm. What are the enduring attributes of your classroom and the way you teach that shouldn’t change regardless of circumstance? Begin with a list of 10-15 ideas. Try to bring your list down to 3-6. Those are your core values. To get you thinking, here are some potential options: “Cultivating Virtue,” “Growth Through Adversity,” “Christlike Service,” or “Teamwork.”
Once a teacher has honed in on her list of core values, she needs to share these values with her class on Day 1. It will be tempting to begin with a discussion on the current status of the pandemic or perhaps the school’s mask guidelines, but teachers must lead with their core values. These will serve as the engine that moves you through the year, not your desk arrangement.
2. Look to the past to find hope for the present.
One of the greatest fears in times like these stems from the fact that we don’t know the future. How long will the pandemic last? Will the government maintain high-control? Will my students stay focused and driven amidst the distractions around them?
To help our students (and ourselves) persevere through this time, we must remind ourselves of the great stories of the past. This isn’t the first time our world has suffered a pandemic and it likely won’t be the last. When did humanity become so arrogant as to think they are immune to viruses?
But there is hope. Hope in the God who calms the seas and knows the stars by name, and hope in the ways He has equipped His people to persevere in the past. People have gone through far worse circumstances than we are at present and we should look to them for encouragement and wisdom. Patrick has written on both the Black Plague and the Spanish Flu to cross-reference and provide insight for our own pandemic; I would encourage you to check those articles out.
Through studying history, we can begin to put together a mental framework for how catastrophes fit into our broader understanding of human history. We can learn how some events, such as the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, were used by skeptics to question the goodness of God, while others, such as the terrorist attacks on September 11, sent people in droves back to church.
Through looking to the past, we discover nuances and patterns, as well as hope for the future. Applying this principle in your classroom will not only help your students grow as young historians; it will bring them a sense of reassuredness as they view the present situation in a contextualized manner.
3. Cast vision for life after the pandemic.
Believe it or not: this pandemic will end. In some way or another, life will eventually return to normal and this experience will be behind us. Some things will have changed, to be sure, and we ourselves will have changed. But let us remember the wisdom of the Persian poets: “This too shall pass.”
Teachers can cast vision for their students at the beginning of the school year by helping them understand the present pandemic as an episode in a story of which there is hope for a redemptive ending. As Patrick aptly observed in his graduation address, the generation that overcame World War II, earning the moniker “the greatest generation,” is the same demographic cohort that survived the Spanish Flu as high school students. It is not unreasonable to conclude that the catastrophic events they experienced during their late adolescent years prepared them for the greater challenge that awaited them.
Similarly, we can cast a vision for our students that we do not know what the future has in store for them. We do not know how this present crisis is shaping and molding them for some greater challenge ahead. But we do know that God is faithful and He will not abandon them in their time of need. There are good things in store for God’s people.
Another way to cast vision for your students for life after the pandemic is to remind them of their biblically-mandated role here on earth. Christians are to be faithful stewards of the Lord, representing God’s rule and order in creation as they bear the Divine Image. They are to subdue creation, cultivating Christ’s goodness, truth, and beauty within it. Even during these times, our students have a calling, a vocation, to fulfill.
There is a key moment in The Return of the King, the third and final installment of J.R.R. Tolkein’s beloved Lord of the Rings trilogy, in which Gandalf the wizard reflects on his own role as a steward. Gandalf is no political leader, but as an inhabitant of Middle Earth, he feels a moral duty to ensure that the good things left in his care are not neglected.
Speaking to Lord Denethor, himself a steward, Gandalf declares,
“The rule of no realm is mine, neither of Gondor nor any other, great or small. But all worthy things that are in peril as the world now stands, those are my care. And for my part, I shall not wholly fail of my task, though Gondor should perish, if anything passes through this night that can still grow fair or bear fruit and flower again in days to come. For I also am a steward. Did you not know?”
As we return to school this fall, let us remember these words as we teach our students. Schools may open and they may close. There may be moments when the virus surges and when it declines. But as teachers, we must not be distracted by such things. We must remain true to our core values, look for wisdom from the past, and see to it that after the night is over, the worthy things left in our care “can still grow fair or bear fruit and flower again.” These worthy things are our students, children of the living God.