Let's Not Go Back To Normal In School

Let's not go back to normal.

I heard "back to normal" way too many times as an educator in the system.

No thanks.

Let's not go there.

I am privileged to teach a career planning course where I work with high school students on their mindset and habits as well as helping them share their learning journey.

If there is one thing I've learned as a pandemic educator.... it is to recognize what really happened when many students were remote learning in the system.

They formed habits that distracted them from being active learners.

Many of my students will tell me they logged in while in bed and checked out. They propped up their phones and watched Tik Tok, Snap Chatted, and cruised Instagram. Never engaging as educators where presenting and building projects for them.

We need to acknowledge this.... not be angry about it.

As I opened up this semester to students about this in class, they agreed that WE ALL created these habits. Even me as the teacher.

Enter Atomic Habits. I read a few passages from the book to them this morning.

It was about how we seek safety and acceptance in likes and avoid failure by watching others on social media.

The students had their phones down. They were engaged today.

One student came up to me after class and told be he was excited because he felt awake in his habits and was excited about building his portfolio.

Today was a good day. We didn't go back to normal. We learned and moved forward.