Virginia Journal of Education: December 2020 by veanea

VIRGINIA JOURNAL of

EDUCATI N The magazine of the Virginia Education Association December 2020

A pandemic, distance learning, and lots of confusion: You can still CHILL OUT, and we can help

Editor Tom Allen VEA President Dr. James J. Fedderman VEA Executive Director Dr. Brenda Pike Communications Director John O’Neil Graphic Designer Lisa Sale Editorial Assistant/Advertising Representative Yolanda Morris Contributors Kimberly Dove Rebecca Field Katie Fielding Jazmin Brown-Iannuzi

COVER STORY

Meeting educators’ emotional needs in COVID.

Keith Payne Heidi Vuletich Kristjen Lundberg Courtney Cutright

Vol. 114, No. 3

CONTENTS

UPFRONT

The Virginia Journal of Education (ISSN 0270-837X) is published six times a year (October, November, December, February, April and June) by the Virginia Education Association, 116 South Third Street, Richmond, VA 23219.

4-7 This month: Telling the truth, a likely story, and words of wisdom from a Rockingham member.

FEATURES

Non-member annual subscription rate: $10 ($15 outside the U.S. and Canada). Rights to reproduce any article or portion thereof may be granted upon request to the editor. Periodicals postage paid in Richmond, VA.

13 In Your Corner A technology coach looks at her role during COVID.

Postmaster: Send address changes to Virginia Journal of Education, 116 South Third Street, Richmond, VA 23219.

14 Stepping Forward A White teacher’s quest to be an anti-racist educator.

Article proposals, comments or questions may be sent to the editor at tallen@veanea.org or Tom Allen,116 South Third Street, Richmond, VA 23219, 800-552-9554.

18 It’s Not (Just) About You Tackling implicit bias by going beyond individual training to systemic issues.

Member: State Education Association Communicators VEA Vision: A great public school for every child in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

DEPARTMENTS 20 Membership Matters ESP Conference a ‘virtual’ success; Mini-Grant winners. 24 Insight on Instruction Keeping conversations going in virtual classrooms. 30 First Person Learning from home isn’t easy. Cover photo by iStock.

“Very funny. Now move your cap and mask front-forward.”

VEA Mission: The mission of the Virginia Education Association is to unite our members and local communities across the Commonwealth in fulfilling the promise of a high quality public education that successfully prepares every single student to realize his or her full potential. We believe this can be accomplished by advocating for students, education professionals, and support professionals.

UP FRONT

“What makes you think I had my arm twisted to volunteer?”

The more we know — and understand — about our history, the better. It shapes the society we live in, who we are and what we believe. Not all of it is pleasant. Some of it is hard to confront. But throughout, there are lessons worth learning… Slavery and subsequent racial inequities have tarnished and undermined the ideals our nation cherishes. Virginia — where the first slaves landed, where the Confederacy had its capitol, where Lee surrendered, where we elected the nation’s first Black governor, where we’ve struggled with discrimination and still argue over statues — has a complicated and central role in that history. The history we teach should reflect all that tumultuous experience. We will serve the commonwealth and our children better if we confront that history, the unsavory parts along with the good, honestly and fully.l — From an editorial in the (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot entitled “Consider a More Inclusive History Curriculum”

From Bettina Love, a professor of education theory and practice at the University of Georgia: In the state of Georgia, the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement presents an actual award called “Beating the Odds.” The award is calculated by “variables that are outside of a school’s control” such as school size and students’ race, ethnicity, disabilities, English fluency, transience, and economic insecurity. The state acknowledges that these are barriers to student achievement. But instead of eliminating English-only testing or funding education fully, it bestows a hollow honor on schools for managing inequities and racism “the best.”l

Pandemic Infects College Plans

“I’d like to borrow a student to rake my leaves.”

VIRGINIA JOURNAL OF EDUCATION | DECEMBER 2020

Not enticed by the idea of going to college with wide-ranging COVID-19 restrictions in place, more highschool grads are making alternate plans. A survey this year by Naviance, a college and career readiness organization, showed that 83 percent of high school seniors plan to pursue a two- or four-year college program, down from 88 percent in 2019. In addition, 5 percent more say they’ll attend trade school, enter the workforce, or join the military than in 2019.l

ON POINT

LET’S HAVE EACH OTHER’S BACKS — Kimberly Dove

In my 17th year in the classroom, I feel like I’m in my first all over again. I know you’ve heard that from someone in the last few weeks and although it sounds like a cute cliche, it’s not. Teachers are working hard to design the vehicle we’re driving while we’re in the driver’s seat. Now, please understand, I do not say any of that to complain. I became a teacher because I love learning. If I would have known 17 years ago that I would feel the nervousness and anxiety again down the road, I would choose to do it anyway. Somewhere along the line, we, as a society, have fallen into this web of blaming and shaming those who are making the tough decisions. Why is that? This year has brought so many challenges and tough decisions. We, as fellow human beings, need to shift our mindset. Something like this: To parents out there who have decided to homeschool their children — coming up with the curriculum themselves — great job! To parents who have decided to send their children to private schools — great decision! To parents who had to make the decision (because they had a choice) to have their children complete school virtually — I applaud you! To parents who were not given the choice — I am so supportive of what you will do to help your child succeed! To parents who were given the option to send their child to school — whether it be in the hybrid model or the four days per week model — awesome choice! To school boards who made the choice for instructional methods— great job weighing all the information to make informed decisions! To faculties and staff who are working so hard, despite the animosity directed at them — I see you! You see, supporting each other is easy. What is hard is when we don’t. That divide is hard to mend and it is children who suffer. So, take heed. Now, more than ever, rise up, put differences aside, and support each other. Society can only be better for it.l

Dove, a Rockingham Education Association member and a middle school social studies teacher, writing in the (Harrisonburg) Daily News-Record.

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Illustrations by iStock

Time to Tell the Truth

Hmmm… Not Sure We Want This in Our Trophy Case

UP FRONT

“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” Oscar Wilde

A Likely Story Here are two real teacher moments, thanks to Reader’s Digest: • I was grading my students’ homework when my husband and I decided we were hungry. So, I left the papers in neat piles and we ducked out. I returned an hour later to discover that our puppy had found the papers. The next day, I called three of my students over to my desk to explain why I was giving them a 100 on their assignments: “My dog ate your homework.” • A student of mine claimed he didn’t have his homework because it had fallen in a pile of snow and was quickly covered by a snowplow. Of course, I didn’t believe him but I gave him credit for concocting such an original excuse and allowed him to re-do the assignment. Two months later, after the snow had melted, he presented me with the ragged folder containing the faded original version of his homework.l

You Can Get Exercise During Screen Time “Physical education has been one of the most challenging subjects to teach online. Teachers are working incredibly hard. But the irony is, students need P.E. now more than ever, not just for physical health but for mental health.” Patricia Suppe, president of the California Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. Some of the activities P.E. teachers have been using: • Letting students pick their favorite music to dance to • Calisthenic activities that can be done in one place • Using soup cans or milk cartons as weights • Yoga • Using rolled-up socks for balls • Running up and down stairs.l

“Copied from Wikipedia? Did you ever think Wikipedia might be copying from me?”

SOURCE: ACLU

A Vanishing ‘Font’? “Generally, there is a small percentage of people who don’t realize what the word ‘signature’ means. Sign your name means your signature. Writing, not printing, is a signature.”

VIRGINIA JOURNAL OF EDUCATION | DECEMBER 2020

Have I Got a Treat for You! Kids are not easily fooled. “They know, for example, if you’re trying to get them to eat something that’s good for them,” says Pamela Paul, co-author of How to Raise a Reader. When it comes to interesting kids in picking up books, her advice? Present reading as “chocolate cake,” not “ spinach.”l

1,289,600 Number of Virginians who have only minimal access to “fresh, affordable, nutritious” food.l

— Nancy J. Talbot, town clerk in Ware, MA, noting that more voters attempted to print their signature on election ballots as fewer schools teach cursive writing.l

“My New Year’s resolution is to make all C’s and D’s. It’s easy to keep ‘em if you know how to make ‘em.”

Source: feedva.org

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Photo and illustrations by iStock

You Only Get One

CHILLING OUT When educators learn to safeguard their own well-being, everyone wins.

f you’re an educator trying to make your way through life and school during this pandemic and you hear something like, “Just suck it up: Keep your head down and put your feelings aside,” you don’t have to listen. Your emotions matter. Christina Cipriano and Marc Brackett, leaders of the Child Study Center at Yale University, have research to back it up. Here are five reasons they say educators should be paying attention to their emotions, pandemic or not: Emotions matter for attention, memory, and learning. Positive emotions like joy and curiosity harness attention and promote greater engagement. Emotions like anxiety and fear, especially when prolonged, disrupt concentration and interfere with thinking. Chronic stress, especially when poorly managed, can result in the persistent activation of the sympathetic nervous system and the release of stress hormones like cortisol. Prolonged release of this and other neurochemicals impacts brain structures associated with executive functioning and memory, diminishing our ability to be effective educators and undermining student learning. Emotions matter for decision-making. When we’re overwhelmed and feeling scared and stressed, the areas of our brains responsible for wise decision-making also can become “hijacked.” In contrast, the experience of more positive states like joy and interest tend to help people evaluate individuals, places and events more favorably compared to

people experiencing more unpleasant emotions. Pleasant emotions also have been shown to enhance mental flexibility and creativity, which are key to navigating the novel and evolving demands of living through a pandemic. Emotions matter for relationships. How we feel and how we interpret the feelings of others sends signals for other people to either approach or avoid us. Teachers who express anxiety or frustration (e.g. in their facial expressions, body language,

Forgive yourself for anything that didn’t go well today, and move on.

vocal tone or behavior) are likely to alienate students, which can impact students’ sense of safety in the classroom—and likely at home in a virtual learning environment—thereby having a negative influence on learning. Further, dysregulated emotions can undermine healthy relationships between teachers and parents. For most students, a successful distance learning experience will require a solid partnership between teachers and families.

Emotions matter for health and well-being. How we feel influences our bodies, including physical and mental health. Stress is associated with increased levels of cortisol, which has been shown to lead to both physical and mental health challenges, including depression and weight gain. Both the ability to regulate unpleasant emotions and the experience of more pleasant emotions have been shown to have health benefits, including fostering greater resilience during and after traumatic events. Emotions matter for performance. Chronic stress among teachers is linked to decreases in teacher motivation and engagement, both of which lead to burnout. Teachers who are burnt out have poorer relationships with students and are also less likely to be positive role models for healthy self-regulation— for their students and their families. It’s no surprise that teachers who are burnt out are more likely to leave the profession, which impacts student learning and puts a huge drain on schools. Research by Cipriano, Brackett, and others has shown two possible protective factors for teachers’ emotional well-being. First, teachers with more developed emotion skills tend to report less burnout and greater job satisfaction. These skills include the ability to recognize emotions accurately, understand their causes and consequences, label

Photo by iStock

COVER STORY

COVER STORY to educators’ health and well-being now, not only so we all get through this pandemic in as healthy a way as possible, but so we’re psychologically ready to get back to school and school buildings afterward. MANAGING YOUR EMOTIONS Getting a handle on our emotions sounds great, and we’ve probably all heard various suggestions on how best to do it. There are, in fact, time-tested things you can do to keep or regain your emotional balance. Experts encourage you to take it slowly, not looking for miracles right away. Here are some good approaches, created for educators and drawn from several National Education Associa-

tion sources.

kindness on yourself.

Dwell on positives. Stop and think about things you’re truly grateful for. In the midst of even the most difficult times, there are still sources of gratitude to be found. Even small things count, like being grateful that two students are communicating or a way that you found to be encouraging to a student or colleague. Look around where you are, whether at home or in school, and find something to be grateful for. Writing down reasons for gratitude is often helpful, too.

Schedule time for yourself. Do everything you can to make this a non-negotiable. Taking time out for whatever helps you stay regulated, which helps you be the very best version of yourself. This can be meditation, mindfulness exercises, or just some quiet time alone. It can be time to enjoy physical activity in a way that makes sense for you. Or try journaling, engaging in art activities, or listening to your favorite music several times a week, or daily, if you can. You can even turn car time into relaxation time if you try (this can be something as simple as bringing along your favorite tea or coffee for drive time). “When I get home,” says Turner, “I check in with the kids, and, if no one needs anything urgently, I tell them I am off limits for an hour while I take care of me.”

Reframe negative thoughts. For example, you may think, in this example from Delaware teacher Wendy Turner, “Online learning is so hard. I hate it compared with regular school.” This thought can be reframed as, “I can get better at technology when I learn how to create online learning experiences for my students”; “I have more time for self-care when I work from home and don’t have a commute”; or, “I get to work in comfy sweats today.” Practice reframing, Turner says, and it will become automatic for you. Build resiliency, just like you try to do with your students. California educator Melissa Holland suggests several ways you can do this, including setting realistic goals/expectations, not getting so set on a particular method or event that you lose your flexibility, build acceptance around some of the hard parts of your job, and use humor and

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Don’t allow yourself to become disconnected from others. Feeling alone is almost never helpful, especially when times are hard. Stay in contact with the important people in your life—family, friends, colleagues, neighbors—especially if you live alone. Schedule a phone conversation, video chat, or marathon texting session with a loved one or favorite friend at least once a week. Try to do so when your tank is closer to full than empty, so it’s a positive experience. Seek to encourage and build others up and it will likely have the same effect on you. A peer support group is also an excellent idea. Breathe. Yup, just breathe. You may be surprised how your perspective can be affected by slowly taking several deep breaths, elongating your

exhales as if you were blowing up a balloon. Move. Walking, running, swimming—any activity that will get your heart pumping can be a real mood-shifter. A quick stroll in your neighborhood can work great. Cut yourself some slack. Forgive yourself for anything that didn’t go well today, and move on. It’s a bonus if you can identify one good aspect of your day upon reflection. We regularly teach our students coping strategies for handling difficult emotions. If you haven’t already, now’s the time to embrace them yourself. It’s OK to ask for help. When situations at school become difficult to bear, reach out for help. Tell a trusted administrator or colleague that you need a break or support. There are so many caring individuals in schools who will support you. You just have to ask. When physical and emotional symptoms begin to interfere with your ability to do your job and maintain positive rela-

tionships with friends and family, seek professional support from a licensed therapist or medical doctor. A ‘CHARTER’ FOR SUCCESS According to Yale’s Cipriano and Brackett, putting our emotional needs in writing has a way of making them real. They say it can be a reminder when we’re anxious or frustrated and also play the part of a “contract” between ourselves and our colleagues (and even students and families) to help when we’re struggling. Here are their thoughts on one method they use: As part of RULER, our center’s approach to SEL, thousands of schools across the nation have gone through the process of creating an “Emotional Intelligence Charter” with their faculty and staff, with positive results. The process of building a charter or agreement requires us to be vulnerable, and that can be hard, especially in times like these. And some educators are somewhat self-conscious and apprehensive about the process of asking colleagues how they want to feel. It can be scary. Often, how we want to feel

VIRGINIA JOURNAL OF EDUCATION | DECEMBER 2020

Illustration and photo by iStock

them precisely, express them comfortably and regulate them effectively. But the challenge is that most teachers have not received a formal education in emotion skills. Second, teachers who work in a school with an administrator with more developed emotion skills tend to experience fewer negative emotions and more positive emotions. These teachers also are likely to have better-quality relationships with their students. When students have stronger connections with their teachers, they, in turn, are more engaged and committed to learning; they’re also more willing to take risks and persist in the face of difficulty. We need to be paying attention

FEATURE STORY

COVER STORY

a timely manner. Once the five feelings and related behaviors are compiled, the charter can be created and distributed to each member of the faculty and staff. In this virtual world of education, be creative about ways to disseminate it

to everyone. Importantly, the charter should be a living document—it will evolve as your learning community does throughout the pandemic. Consider weekly reflections and opportunities for teachers to share ideas based on their hoped-for feelings. For example, if teachers want to feel more engaged, perhaps create opportunities for them

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to share their best virtual lesson of the week and why it worked so well. Even weekly quotations that remind everyone about the desired feelings can help to sustain a positive climate. And when we are all finally able to return to our schools, it will be important to revisit the charter. How we want to feel and what we need to support our health and well-being is fluid. In these difficult times, we must be proactive in caring for ourselves and our colleagues. No one has ever been an educator in these exact circumstances, and anxiety, stress, and burnout are becoming common. The time has come for all schools to address the missing link in what will help educators thrive—a greater focus on all adults’ health and well-being. If we want our educators to be successful—both personally and professionally—schools must be places that bring out the best in them.l Materials from Christina Cipriano and Marc Brackett of the Child Study Center at Yale University used with their permission and that of EdSurge (edsurge.com)

and privacy at risk I’ll do what I can to help. 3. More than ever I am everyone’s coach. Every day I’m meeting with stakeholders across the spectrum: administration, support staff, teachers, students and, more than ever, parents. I’ve had to use productivity tools to make myself accessible and easy to meet with. Calendly and Todoist are saving my home life. 4. Collaboration is key. I think everyone is seeing that we all must collaborate to make things work. As a coach I don’t have all the answers, so I rely on my coaching colleagues, find people that complement your skills, and make a super team. I found my team with ITCs4All and UnisonEdu.

In Your Corner

A technology coach looks at her role during COVID.

By Katie Fielding

e’re just a couple months into school and I’ve already learned more lessons about coaching than I did in my first three years combined. What I have to offer my colleagues isn’t something optional, something they can use to “jazz up” a lesson—it’s a set of non-negotiable skills needed for remote teaching. To technology people it always seemed like a non-negotiable that the skills students could gain from technology-infused lessons were necessary in our world. Teachers know what students need, and my job has been to help those teachers be themselves. Here are five lessons I have learned so far this year:

1. I could exchange the word ‘coach’ for ‘counselor’ now. As much as I’m helping teachers utilize tools they need to connect with their students, I’m counseling them that they “can do it” and “it’s going to be OK.” I’ve been calming people after tears and making that kind of care more important than tech wizardry. 2. Your thankless tasks are someone else’s quick wins. A task that could take me 40 seconds to do might take someone else 15 minutes. If I have power to make a teacher’s life easier right now, I’m going to do it for them. Sometimes this may be against district “recommendations,” but as long as it doesn’t put students’ safety

5. Lastly, the most important thing I’ve learned is to keep it simple. I’m usually one to dive into projects and to have a few irons in the fire, but I realize my sole responsibility right now is support. If I get a 5-minute pause I don’t have to fill it. I need to be available for that teacher on the Zoom who needs a virtual hand to hold. Scaling back is OK. Hopefully, you see some of your own experience in these lessons. Also, never forget that COVID-19 disproportionately affects communities of color—not just students of color but educators of color too. These teachers need extra care and support now.l Fielding, a Prince William Education Association member, is an instructional technology coach at Woodbridge Senior High School. She was named Coach of the Year by the Virginia Society for Technology in Education.

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Illustrations by iStock

is an indicator of what hasn’t been working at our schools. But we’ve found that when schools have the courage to ask, the benefits outweigh the risks. A charter starts with a deceptively simple question: How do we want to feel as a faculty/ staff? A principal or group of teachers can pose the question to the faculty and staff at their school. Once everyone shares their top three or four hoped-for feelings, the goal is to narrow them all down to a “top five” list reflective of the entire faculty. The second question is: What do we need to do for everyone to feel this way? Here, faculty and staff share specific ideas that would support them in experiencing each of the feelings. The goal is to come up with two or three observable behaviors that are realistic and attainable for each feeling. For example, in order for teachers to feel supported around distance learning, what exactly will everyone agree to do differently so everyone feels supported? If teachers want to feel more valued, what are the specific things schools can do? Perhaps everyone can agree to respond to virtual inquiries in

STEPPING FORWARD One White teacher’s quest to be an anti-racist educator. By Rebecca Field

first wrote this piece in 2019 as a reflection on a massive change in my teaching career, a new beginning, at a time when no one anticipated the societal upheaval that would come months later. I’d been planning to leave education after 18 years of teaching. Like many teachers, I’d forgotten what it felt like to be excited about my job. I loved many of my students and although I found joy in teaching every day, I was too angry and too defeated to continue. We all have a reason we chose this career, why we put up with so much stress and so little pay. Mine was that I felt teaching was the most direct way that I could work to make the future more just. I taught to affect social change. I teach high school art and it was easy for me to include social justice objectives into my lesson plans. I could pretend I was making a difference in my classroom, but I saw myself, more and more, as a complacent part of a school, district, and system that are unjust. I’d lost my belief in myself to be a changemaker. I preached to my students that they had to make their voices heard: They must actively work for social justice—by being a bystander and letting bad things happen, they were agreeing to injustice. I wasn’t following my own advice. So, I left. At the end of the 2018-19 school

year, I quit my teaching job in the suburbs and took a position teaching in my neighborhood high school in the city. My new workplace was a Title One school of largely economically deprived students. Before giving up on teaching, I decided to find a position in which I could use my experience to benefit young people in my beloved city. When I arrived, I believed in my abilities to be a good teacher and I thought the years of experience I wore would make the change fairly seamless. All the students I teach are Black and I am White. I am a middle class, college-educated, award-winning teacher who has always believed in myself because I’ve grown up in a world that told me my voice matters. What I quickly learned, however, was what made me a good teacher before didn’t hold up in my new school. What I thought was good practice was harmful to my new students. This year I began again, committed to the difficult work of becoming the best educator I can be. The first few months at my new school were the hardest of my teaching career but also the most interesting and the most exciting. The more time I spent with my students, the more I understood why I must change everything I thought about teaching. They didn’t trust me. Their experiences with people who look

like me haven’t always been positive, and I’m the third art teacher that they have had in two years. They questioned my reason for being at their school. They want to know why I left a “good school” to come there. I was so used to being the experienced mentor for new educators that I was naively shocked that my students didn’t buy into my pedagogy right away. Frankly, I failed as a teacher because of my biases (see following article) and ego. I wanted students who were worthy of my talent instead of yearning to be the teacher that was worthy of my students’ love. Facing this reality has been essential to their futures. I show them that I want to be with them every day, even on those days when they see my nervousness and hesitation, or on the many days when I feel like an outsider. I do this by pledging to dismantle my biases and by working to learn more about how to be worthy of my job. After a fairly shaky start last year, I have to be better this year and at the same time learn how to teach virtually, upending everything I’ve learned about classroom teaching. My students are not the same kids I said goodbye to in March. They’re transformed. The pandemic has affected them on every level. Some have relocated, lost their homes, their jobs, or loved ones, and

VIRGINIA JOURNAL OF EDUCATION | DECEMBER 2020

Photo by Tom Allen

STORY TheFEATURE Virginia Public Education CoalitionTh

FEATURE STORY

VIRGINIA JOURNAL OF EDUCATION | DECEMBER 2020

always critiquing myself, always calling my behavior and my thoughts into question. I take classes about pedagogy of race and equity, I attend conferences, and I volunteer for nonprofit groups that teach kids how to be allies. I read a lot: articles and blogs about anti-racist teaching and novels by Black and Brown writers, both young adult titles and adult fiction. I follow Black and Brown teachers, activists, thinkers, writers, and journalists on Twitter, Medium, and Facebook. I ask a lot of questions and do a lot of research. I’m always striving to be a better co-conspirator. I want to learn more about how to provide space and support for students to be heard and seen without me getting in the way. This work is time-consuming. It’s also mind-consuming. Now anti-racist workshops are online and usually recorded, so your anti-racist professional development is right on your screen. This is the time to do the work. Being an anti-racist teacher also means that I am constantly absorbing new research about trauma-informed teaching, restorative justice, local housing and food equity, city transportation and job creation, integrating and funding public schools, and the school-to-prison pipeline. I’m active in the VEA, I work to elect local officials who care about Black and Brown children, and I remain committed to being vocal about the amazing young people I teach. My Instagram feed is filled with community activists from all areas of my city, from Black-owned businesses, to Black farmers working to end

food deserts, to anti-eviction activists. I know I’ll never be finished finding new resources. Systemic racism is deep and embedded in our lives and we are lucky to have direct access to the next generation of ant-racist activists-in-training. Being an anti-racist teacher means I’m wrong more than I’m right, but slowly moving in the direction of knowledge. It means depending on the work of Black teachers, administrators, and parents to learn what our students need to thrive. I move my ego out of the way and give credit to those who teach anti-racist and abolitionist theory and practice. After nearly 20 years of thinking I’m the expert, I fight with my own feelings of wanting credit for my learning process. That credit is now found in the successes of my students. My joys and pride in my work look different now. I have days in which I get a very hardearned smile from a particular student and I feel like I could fly. And then there are days in which I feel completely incompetent, or angry at how I handled a classroom outburst, and I cry from frustration. There are also days, yes, when I yearn for the students that I had at my old school…kids who I swear in the moment just seemed easier to love because they needed less from me. Those self-defeating moments pass fairly quickly and I am learning to allow myself a bit of grace. Being an anti-racist teacher means that I get the privilege of introducing my art students to a whole world of artists who look like them and are helping to lead our country’s conversations about art. I get to teach teenagers about

artists who are making art about racism, injustice, and what it’s like to be Black in America. I encourage them to ask questions about why Black bodies are not welcomed in museums and art spaces, and in public spaces in their own city. They come into my classroom (and now on my screen) and see important and creative work being done in their names. I then get to teach them effective ways they can represent themselves the way they want to be seen. They see themselves becoming artists and advocates for their community. I’m so lucky to get to spend my life like this. I learn from them every day; about how they view the world and about what they care about. I enter my classroom each morning hoping that because of me, there will be teenagers in my community that believe in their own creative power and that envision a future that I can’t even imagine. The year, students have seen the effects of pushing our city towards justice—and they’ve learned that they, too, can be a part of this. I believe in their power and their imagination. Of course, I don’t tell them all this at once. I’ve learned that they protest loudly when I “teach” too much. I know that they don’t like me to waste their art time by talking at them. They will still come to class each day as they did last year, and say, “Hey Ms. Frizzle, what are we doing today?” And in the months I’ve tried to answer that question, I’m still not exactly sure. But for the first time in a long, long while, I can answer that whatever I’m doing, I’m learning how to be the teacher they deserve.l Field, a Richmond Education Association member, is a high school art teacher.

Resources to Help You Help Your Students The National Education Association has created Ed Justice, a website to help prepare educators to be part of the expanded emphasis on racial, social, and economic justice in our schools. You can access the site at neaedjustice.org, and here’s a sampling of some of the resources you’ll find there: PUBLICATIONS • A Social and Racial Justice Checklist for Safe, Healthy, and Just Learning • Racial Justice Resources: Justice for Black Lives • Anti-Racist Video Primer • The 1619 Project • Racial Justice in Education Resource Guide • Creating Space to Talk About Race in Your School • Bully-Free Toolkit • Standing Up to Hate and Bias Related to COVID-19 SUBJECT AREA INFORMATION •

Model policies on dress code and other issues

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School climate

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Ending the school-to-prison pipeline

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Restorative practices

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Legal rights for students and educators

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What to do before, during and after a crisisl

VIRGINIA JOURNAL OF EDUCATION | DECEMBER 2020

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same time lets them know they have experienced financial hardships collective power as young people. that have changed them. What and how I teach are deliberateThey’ve also seen footage of ly geared towards their empowerpeople who look like them being ment and self-awareness. Many of murdered by the police. They’ve your students may have been watched symbols of white showing up for marches and protests supremacy being torn down in while they’ve been away from school. their city while white supremaAs a teacher, jump on that expericist systems that affect their lives ence. Our kids are itching to fight the remain intact. wrongs that our genera If you’re an educator tions have put into anywhere in America place. Support the this year, you growth of their must learn new awareness and ways of use it in your teaching and Being an anti-racist means that lessons. of building I’m always learning, always Being an relationcritiquing myself, always calling anti-racist ships with my behavior and my thoughts educator students. I into question. means urge you to setting high pledge to expectations learn how to for my students, be an anti-racist challenging them to educator. You think creatively in a cannot ignore the acts world that often doesn’t expect of direct and cultural innovation or critical thinking from violence that have shaped the Black and Brown children. It means childhood of our Black and making sure that my students know Brown students. We’re not that they’re missed when they don’t allowed to focus on our subject come to school, and calling home matter and fail to talk about the when I’m particularly proud of their trauma of these last few months. work or disappointed with their Set the intention of being an progress. It means advocating for anti-racist educator and then better resources and fighting for earn that title by engaging in the opportunities to showcase their difficult process of self-evaluaamazing talent. We now have more tion, each and every day. resources to help our students Being an anti-racist educaengage with the wider world. The tor means that my students entire planet is our classroom and know that every time they walk student work can be showcased into my classroom, I will acnationally and globally. This is the knowledge that their Black and moment that we can step out of our Brown bodies are strong and classroom and make sure that our brilliant, creative and imaginastudents can see the effects of their tive. They’ll know they’re not learning in the wider community. invisible, that their teacher Being an anti-racist teacher recognizes each one of their means that I’m always learning, individual identities and at the

FEATURE STORY

Tackling implicit bias means looking beyond individual training to systemic issues. By Jazmin Brown-Iannuzi, Keith Payne, Heidi Vuletich, and Kristjen Lundberg

early six months after the murder of George Floyd, racial justice protests continue in American cities. Meanwhile, COVID-19 is killing Black people at twice the rate of White people. While persistent, staggering inequalities between Black and White Americans are not new, this summer’s urgent calls for reform may mean that our appetite for change has grown. In response, police departments, businesses, school districts, and other organizations have vowed to begin “implicit bias trainings” that will, in the words of a resolution passed by the city council in Kansas City (MO), teach about “bias that results from the tendency to process information based on unconscious associations and feelings about a particular social group.” While efforts like Kansas City’s are laudable, current social scientific evidence suggests that they alone

are unlikely to be effective in reducing racial disparities. It’s far more important that that large-scale structural changes are made. That doesn’t mean implicit bias training is useless; in fact, it may be an important way to help us identify areas most in need of change. We define implicit bias as “automatic associations between a racial group and a stereotype (such as Black and poor) that may unintentionally influence judgments and actions.” While we often think of bias as an individual issue, research suggests that it may better reflect the degree of racial inequality and discrimination in one’s environment. Imagine a city which, due to a long history of racially prejudiced laws, has limited Black Americans’ access to wealth and quality education. As a result, Black residents are more likely to live in poverty than White residents. White residents living in that city, as well-intentioned as they might be, will be more likely,

VIRGINIA JOURNAL OF EDUCATION | DECEMBER 2020

on average, to automatically associate “Black” with “poor” compared to White residents in a city with less racial economic inequality. Why? Because, at any given moment for any given person in the unequal city, the stereotype is more likely to be evident. Inequalities do not reflect “inevitable truths” about the ability of different groups to succeed, but instead reflect systems of oppression that have their roots in historical imbalances of power. Our culture of racism is also reflected in school discipline. Data show that Black students are more likely to be suspended or expelled than are White students in the U.S., and that Black students tend to receive harsher punishments than White students. Critically, racial disparities in school-based discipline are greater in counties with higher levels of anti-Black prejudice. Though many acknowledge that implicit bias is related to community attitudes, implicit bias trainings often

schools, workplaces, and communities through structural changes may not only reduce racial inequalities, but may also lower implicit bias. We do believe that implicit bias is a useful concept and implicit bias trainings can be useful, however, under the right circumstances. First, although implicit bias may reflect an environment of racial inequality, such bias may also contribute to this environment, such as by passing up qualified Black job applicants, perhaps because “something didn’t feel right.” Also, as an implicit bias training raises attendees’ awareness of and fosters their sense of personal responsibility for persistent discrimination, it may motivate them to speak out and act for systematic changes in their organizations or communities. Second, given that implicit bias reflects an environment of racial inequality, locations with higher average implicit bias scores may indicate particularly problematic places, perhaps with high levels of inequality in a workplace or the wider community. Implicit bias can be a canary in the coalmine to direct decision makers to where problems need to be solved. WHAT SHOULD EDUCATORS DO? First, it’s important for each school and school division to examine its diversity and determine whether their organization’s diversity (or lack thereof) may contribute to racial stereotypes and inequalities. Research finds that greater faculty diversity is associated with less anti-Black bias among students. Increasing diversity at all levels of a school division is critically important for shaping the stereotypes students have regarding who excels in academics and who belongs in these educational settings. Another step is to find out if your school has race disparities in disciplinary actions. If so, advocate for

policy changes that will reduce those disparities. Demand ongoing monitoring and evaluation of those changes to establish their effectiveness and impact on student outcomes. If your school has law enforcement officers on campus, request strict boundaries be set so that officers never handle disciplinary issues. Written, agreed-upon guidelines should establish when and in what capacity officers can get involved, and these guidelines should be evaluated on an ongoing basis. If your school has race achievement gaps—anything from disparities in grades, to enrollment in advanced classes, to graduation rates—question what policies or educational norms at your school might be contributing to those disparities. Rather than focusing on the students as the problem, engage with other educators and administrators on finding structural solutions. CONCLUSION As Americans express their support for justice and call for social change, we contend that it is not enough to examine our own “hidden biases.” Instead, we should use our biases as a starting place for examining our cities, workplaces, and other communities. Implicit biases do not emerge in a vacuum, but reflect our daily exposure to an environment of racism. If we desire a more equitable society, we need to not only address the biases we hold inside, but also the system under which these biases were formed.l Brown-Iannuzzi is an assistant professor in psychology at the University of Virginia. Lundberg is an assistant professor in psychology at the University of Richmond. Vuletich is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Indiana. Payne is a professor of psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

VIRGINIA JOURNAL OF EDUCATION | DECEMBER 2020

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It’s Not (Just) About You

focus solely on trying to change the “hearts and minds” of people who may unknowingly act in a way that runs counter to what they say they believe. While such an approach may seem quite promising, little evidence supports its effectiveness. For example, in one study of 18 university campuses, participants who did not identify as Black American were given brief implicit bias interventions with the goal of reducing average anti-Black implicit bias. Though many of the interventions were initially effective, when participants were recontacted after a few days, implicit bias levels had rebounded, such that, on average, individuals again reflected their campus’s pre-existing level of bias. Further, campus-level implicit bias was predicted by structural markers of racial inequality such as racial diversity (or lack thereof) among the faculty.This suggests that even if we reduce one person’s implicit bias, but leave the context intact, we should expect the bias to surface again at a later time or in another unsuspecting person. To us, this means that rather than attempting to reduce implicit bias in police officers, health care professionals, teachers, co-workers, and other individuals, we should ask ourselves what policies, procedures, and funding priorities could be changed to better promote equity and inclusion. Addressing the context of racial inequalities community-wide may have the most dramatic impact on racial disparities and racist attitudes, whether implicit or explicit. When diverse people are represented at all levels of the social hierarchy, then automatic associations between “Black” and “poor,” for example, are likely to fade and are less likely to reemerge in the future. So, creating equitable and inclusive police departments, hospitals,

MEMBERSHIP MATTERS

ESP Conference a Virtual Hit

Wisdom from a Winner

Mini-Grants: Getting a Check from VEA

“When COVID closed our schools, ESPs worked tirelessly for our students when they needed it the most. That’s the desire that fuels me…It doesn’t matter if I’m fighting for students’ learning conditions or standing up for our working conditions. Our students, no matter their ability, gender, color of their skin, or their parents’ income, deserve to live their very best life.”

13 VEA members will be launching innovative classroom projects in the months ahead, thanks to VEA Mini-Grants. The 2020-21 winners are:

--Andrea Beeman, a paraprofessional in Ohio who works with students with intellectual disabilities and is NEA’s 2020 ESP of the Year.l

Raising her voice When Prince William Education Association staff learned that bus driver member Aleah Sarlabous-Jackson hadn’t registered to vote, they swung into action and helped her get on the rolls. As a result, Aleah cast her first vote ever in 2020! l

VEA-Retired Spotlight

Worley a Whirlwind in Fairfax By Kathy Davis

eighty items were on the agenda for VEA’s annual Education Support Professionals Conference this fall, and the fact that the event had to be held virtually didn’t prevent attendees from tackling them. More than 100 ESPs delved into the process of collective bargaining, social justice topics, legal issues surrounding school employment, and what to expect in the 2021 General Assembly session, among other subjects. Conference participants also heard live from NEA ESP of the Year Andrea Beeman, a paraprofessional from Ohio,

and VEA’s ESP of the Year, Taylor Gaddy, an instructional assistant from Fairfax. Gaddy’s presentation included a look back at the Fairfax Education Association’s Living Wage Campaign held last year. Urging listeners to take action locally, he said, “Many of us aren’t paid a living wage, but we sure are paid a dying wage.” Attendees also attended breakout sessions to compare notes with colleagues in similar roles around the state and heard about the latest resources available from NEA Member Benefits.l

Keep Up With Your Union on Social Media Twitter.com @VEA4Kids Pinterest.com/virginiaeducationassociation Facebook.com/virginiaeducationassociation

VEA-Retired Spotlight

In Fairfax, if you want someone to roll up her sleeves and do the hard work, you call on Estella Worley, who’s been the go-to person in organizing political action. Since her 2004 retirement, she’s been an integral member of the Government Relations Team, helping coordinate the busload of Lobby Day participants who journey to Richmond to advocate on behalf of retirees and current employees. One member recently called her the “bus guru”! A newly-elected member of the FEA-Retired Council, Estella works side-byside with Government Relations Chair Barbara Allen to set up phone banks for recommended candidates, and is also fundamental to the planning and setup for the annual GRT breakfast and luncheon with local members of the General Assembly. She was an educator not only in Fairfax, but in Texas and Florida, too, during a 44-year career. In addition, she’s been interpreting for the deaf for 50 years in venues from church services to weddings. Estella has also volunteered for political campaigns since 1960 and is program chair for the Greenspring Democratic Club. Greenspring is a multi-level senior residence with nearly 2,000 residents in Springfield. It is designated as a single precinct that has been noted as having the highest voter turnout in the state!l

• Theresa Anders, of the Amelia County Education Association, for “Distance Assistance! Providing Home Learning Bags for Virtual Instruction” • Joanna Chappell, of the Newport News Education Association, for “Silent Sustained Reading en Francais!” • Barbara Colley, of the Prince William Education Association, for “Fostering a LOVE for Reading” • Shayna Crews, of the Bedford County Education Association, for “International Thespian Society Membership” • Reagan Davis, of the Chesapeake Education Association, for “Manipulatives for the Middle School Math Classroom” • Rebekah Eaton, of the Spotsylvania Education Association, for “Hands-On Learning Kits for Students with Autism” • Stacy Greene, of the Fairfax Education Association, for “Language Builder Cards for Enhanced Autism Students” • Brittany Lane, of the Bedford County Education Association, for “Social Emotional Learning Read A-louds” • Kamie MacRae, of the Frederick County Education Association, for “A Reverse Career Fair for Students with Disabilities” • E. Diane Outlaw, of the Education Association of Norfolk, for “Creating Coders, Critical Thinkers, and Creative Minds” • Milena Smith, of the Education Association of Norfolk, for “Teaching Strong Writers with Mentor Texts” • Debra Stewart, of the Prince William Education Association, for “Literacy in Music: Sight Sing It!” • Julia Temple, of the Frederick County Education Association, for “Native Plantscape” Stay tuned for details about how you can apply for the next round of Mini-Grants.l

VIRGINIA JOURNAL OF EDUCATION | DECEMBER 2020

MEMBERSHIP MATTERS

Forecast Your Retirement Benefits with myVRS Knowing what to expect down the road could help you make important decisions today. No crystal ball required when it comes to your retirement income—just use the myVRS Benefit Estimator and myVRS Retirement Planner, available to VRS members at myVRS.varetire.org. Using the Benefit Estimator, you can create VRS retirement benefit estimates based on different retirement dates or payout options. You can then select a benefit scenario to enter in the goal-based Retirement Planner, along with other sources of income and expenses, including income taxes, health insurance and living expenses. Use the assumptions the planner provides for many of these factors, or enter your own figures. You can also see the impact of increasing contributions to any retirement savings plans in which you participate. Remember to use these estimates for planning purposes only; they’re based on your current member record, information you enter, and policies in effect at the time you create them. The results may not reflect your actual retirement benefit amount or income and expenses in retirement, as circumstances change over time. Create new benefit estimates throughout your career to help you plan for tomorrow, today. To stay up to date on the latest VRS news and information, follow the Virginia Retirement System on Facebook and subscribe to Member News at varetire.org/newsletter.l

Brown Joins VEA Staff Amber Brown is VEA’s new Teaching and Learning Specialist, bringing 15 years of work in public schools to the position. Her classroom career began as a special education teacher in Dinwiddie County Public Schools, where she later moved into a high school assistant principal role. Later, she moved to Richmond City Public Schools, first as an instructional specialist and then as a 504/IEP specialist for exceptional education. “I’m just saying, you put that over a sick beat and I smell another hit musical.”

She holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s in ad-

ministration and supervision, both from Virginia State University, where she’s currently working on her doctorate in educational leadership.l

VIRGINIA JOURNAL OF EDUCATION | DECEMBER 2020

KUD

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Ten VEA Members Representing Teacher Colleagues on ABTEL

Time to Look to Richmond As I’ve often said, we’re involved in politics because educators have political jobs--just about everything about our work is decided by politicians. That’s why, even as we get the long 2020 election season behind us, we must now turn our attention to the 2021 Virginia General Assembly. What happens in Richmond, while it doesn’t always get the attention that national politics does, has an even greater impact on the day-to-day lives of students and educators here in the commonwealth. With that in mind, here are some of the areas that VEA members will be focused on as our legislature gears up: We’ll fight for the Standards of Quality. The SOQs spell out the minimum requirements that schools and school divisions must meet. Last year, the Virginia Board of Education adopted revisions to the SOQs that go a long way toward meeting the actual needs of students and educators. The General Assembly has not fully funded them. They must find the money to do so. We’ll fight for the health of our students. We’ll be initiating legislation to require a full-time registered nurse in every school building. We needed this even before the pandemic struck. We’ll fight for fewer standardized tests. The number of times we interrupt instruction to give our students SOL tests must be reduced to the federal minimum. We’ll fight for educator pay-

checks. The General Assembly has committed to working toward at least the national average salary for our teachers. We’re currently more than $8000 behind. We also need our ESPs to be paid a living wage. We’ll fight for your professional rights. We support an equitable, statewide system of teacher evaluation and we’ll protect your teaching license. We’ll fight for our most vulnerable students. There is a growing number of young people at risk in Virginia. If they’re going to succeed academically and beyond school, we need more resources for them. We’ll fight for the under-resourced. Our small and rural school divisions are fighting an uphill battle. They need help from the state. We’ll fight for the betterment of our workforce. Our state and localities must make increased efforts to recruit— and retain—the best candidates and professionals we can find to work in our schools. Those are just some of the things we’re for—we’re also going to fight to defeat any bills that undermine public schools and educators in any way. We’ll need all of us. We’re strongest when we stand together. Join us! Learn more at vea.link/action.l

Ten VEA members have been appointed to VDoE’s statewide Advisory Board on Teacher Education and Licensure and, in that capacity, are watching out for their fellow teachers. Currently serving are Jennifer Andrews of the Henrico Education Association, Selena Dickey of the Fauquier Education Association, Jessica Jones of the Pittsylvania Education Association, Tracey Mercier of the Bristol Virginia Education Association, Mary McIntyre of the Albemarle Education Association, Delegate Schuyler VanValkenburg of the Henrico Education Association, Philip Watt of the Stafford Education Association, Nancy Welch of the Mathews County Education Association, Steve Whitten of the Mecklenburg Education Association, and Charletta Williams of the Education Association of Norfolk. Arlington Education Association member Catrina Tangchittsumran, band director at Thomas Jefferson Middle School, was named to School Band and Orchestra magazine’s “50 Directors Who Make a Difference” list. Directors could be nominated by students (current and former), colleagues, musical-instrument retailers, band parents, administrators, friends, former band directors, and others, in appreciation for the hard work and dedication given their schools’ music programs. Henry County Education Association members Jacob Wilkins and Dylan Johnson Martinsville Education Association member Keri Soqui, all high school government teachers, were highlighted in a recent feature story in the Martinsville Bulletin for their work in helping their students register to vote. Because students have not been in the classroom, the process was more complicated in 2020, so the teachers worked together to make it happen.l

VIRGINIA JOURNAL OF EDUCATION | DECEMBER 2020

INSIGHT ON INSTRUCTION

Keeping conversation alive in virtual settings. Six strategies to help generate student discussion and class participation when teaching virtually, suggested by Cicely Woodard, a middle school math teacher who strives to make conversation a cornerstone of her classes and is a former Tennessee Teacher of the Year:

Photo-illustrations by iStock

Check in as a class Woodard opens her virtual classes with a question unrelated to math, such as “How are you feeling?” “What are you grateful for today?” or “What’s bringing you joy?” The activity mirrored the “circle time” exercise that her classes usually did on the first day of the week in school. “I think this time at the beginning of our virtual sessions helped all of us to feel more connected and helped them to feel more comfortable talking about math in a virtual setting,” she says. She noted that students always had the option to pass, but they rarely did, and at the end of the year, many highlighted circle time as their favorite part of class. Include private think time Just as she would during in-person classes, Woodard chose problems for virtual classes carefully, selecting ones that had a real-world context and could be looked at in multiple ways. “I knew that I had to choose problems that were open to discussion,” she says. Before getting to the discussion, though, Woodard gave students time to think and write down ideas. She would set up the problem with the full group, then set her timer for two minutes. That time allowed students to develop their reasoning and helped eliminate the anxiety caused when speed is prioritized in math. It also gave Woodard insights into student thinking: “I’m often surprised because there are things I think they might say, and they come up with something completely different.” Ask, “What do you notice?” Drawing from her training in inquiry-based learning,

VIRGINIA JOURNAL OF EDUCATION | DECEMBER 2020

Hearing What’s Said—and What’s Not

Especially During a Pandemic…

“Each whole-class meeting started with a check-in unrelated to content, which determined if students needed individual follow-up emails or calls (or altered or omitted assignments). Even when students decided not to share the intimate details of their needs, they often simply said, ‘I need more time’ or ‘Last week was rough.’ It’s our responsiveness to these vulnerabilities that students so bravely share that determine our level of success, in person or online.” l

Social-emotional learning shouldn’t just be a frill in our curriculum, says the Aspen Institute National Commission on Social, Emotional, and Academic Development. Here are three reasons why, from its report entitled “From a Nation at Risk to a Nation at Hope”:

— Tasha Austin, lecturer, Rutgers Graduate School of Education

Validate student thinking Woodard’s use of her stylus to record student ideas had a purpose beyond note-taking. “When a student gave an idea it was powerful for the entire class to see that idea written...because it allowed the child to feel like their idea was validated,” she says. That goes for ideas that are on the right track and ones that lead to incorrect solutions. Both enabled students to elucidate their mathematical thinking and help each other look at problems differently. And Woodard recommended another way to validate students that is easy to do online: thanking them every time they contribute.

• 8 in 10 employers say social and emotional skills are the most important to success and yet are also the hardest skills to find. • Teaching students social, emotional, and cognitive skills and providing them with supportive adult relationships can buffer against the negative effects of stress and adversity. • Social and emotional skills help to build cognitive skills enabling students to better learn academic content and apply their knowledge.l

Make use of small groups Most of Woodard’s classes included paraprofessionals, so she was able to take advantage of Zoom’s breakout room feature to allow students to discuss problems in small groups. In advance of class, she sent her colleagues the problems and a list of questions they could ask to guide discussions. In the small groups, students had more opportunities to agree, disagree, and try out ideas. Small groups can be employed without paraprofessionals, too. After his initial experiences with whole group live instruction, New York City math teacher José Vilson switched to meeting with subgroups. The change made virtual classes more manageable for him and more engaging for students. “The subgrouping has been very helpful because it’s allowed for specific students to talk to each other about how they can do the work together, and I’ve seen some of them collaborate without me there,” Vilson says.

Chat Room? continued from page 24

especially in a virtual session when not all students are using video. “Waiting is hard, period, for teachers, because sometimes we want to rescue them. We don’t want that uncomfortable struggle,” Woodard says. But it’s often at the last second when she is about to speak that a student chimes in. To be OK with wait time, Woodard says, “I have to remind myself that I want my students to think.” l

Be OK with awkward silence During discussions, Woodard typically waits ten seconds after a student asks a question to allow other students to contribute. The silence can feel awkward, continued page 25

Source: MindShift (www.kqed.org/ mindshift)

VIRGINIA JOURNAL OF EDUCATION | DECEMBER 2020

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Chat Room?

Woodard often asks her students, “What do you notice?” in regard to a number, pattern, or problem. When raising that question online, she shared her tablet screen and used a stylus to underline, make notes or add drawings as students commented. In one recent class, she showed a graph of two quadratic equations that she created with Desmos. Asked what they noticed, most students talked about the vertices, whether the parabolas opened up or down and other visual details. The last student who spoke pointed out something different, though: the equations used for the graph were written in standard form. Woodard says she didn’t expect anyone to discuss the equations, which were written on the side of the graph.

INSIGHT ON INSTRUCTION

Seen in a Virginia school hallway…

Get Your Students a Scientist for a Mentor If you’d like to check out the possibility of a bonafide scientist working with your students, the Virginia Academy of Science can help. It’s now in the second year of a mentorship program matching scientists with a middle or high school classroom to offer guidance and to help students develop and implement an authentic scientific experience. That could take the form of a research project or another idea devised by you and your students. It could lead to a project to enter into the Virginia Junior Academy of Science in 2021, a sort of statewide science fair in which projects are evaluated and prizes are given. The program is meant to be flexible and, because it is done virtually, mentors can be assigned to classrooms anywhere in the state. Mentors are chosen based on common interests with the class and a schedule of meetings can be worked out between the mentor and classroom teacher. To learn more, contact Michael J. Wolyniak, McGavacks Associate Professor of Biology and Director of Honors and Undergraduate Research Programs at Hampden-Sydney College, at mwolyniak@hsc.edu.l

A young person’s level of education has a significant impact on their incomes. Here are the 2019 figures for the median annual income for fulltime, year-round workers ages 25-34: • $27,880: Didn’t finish high school • $34,880: High school graduate • $39,960: Associate’s degree • $54,700: Bachelor’s degreel Source: National Center for Education Statistics

Civic Responsibility: It’s More Than Voting Civic education, like all education, is a continuing enterprise and conversation. Each generation has an obligation to pass on to the next, not only a fully functioning government responsive to the needs of the people, but the tools to understand and improve it. In our age, when social media can instantly spread rumor and false information on a grand scale, the public’s need to understand our government, and the protections it provides, is ever more vital.l

You chose a career in education because you wanted to make a difference. As we face the challenges, risks, and even fears of schooling during COVID-19, it can be easy to lose that positive focus in the difficulties surrounding our day-to-day battles.

One way to

rejuvenate yourself is to pause and look back on an experience in your career that confirmed the reasons you do what you do professionally, says Jean Sharp, who has more than 25 years of experience in education leadership. Perhaps, she suggests, that’s a single moment or student. It could also be a series of events. Here are some ideas to get you thinking.

More Help with Virtual Teaching

•

The Virginia Department of Education has created a “Virtual Teaching & Learning Hub” to share best practices in virtual learning and offer tips on lesson planning, assessment strategies, and professional resources. You can find it here: www.doe.virginia.gov/instruction/virtual_ learning.l

VIRGINIA JOURNAL OF EDUCATION | DECEMBER 2020

That student you encouraged because you saw the potential in them.

•

That student who said you were his favorite teacher because you make

learning fun. •

That student you refused to give up on because you knew she could do it.

•

That student you pushed to achieve

more. •

That student who persisted despite significant challenges.

•

— U.S. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.

Fanning the Flame Behind Your Professional Choices

That student who walked across the

stage to receive their diploma against

all odds.l

Source: ASCD

VIRGINIA JOURNAL OF EDUCATION | DECEMBER 2020

Photos and art by iStock

Show ‘em the Money!

FIRST PERSON: NARRATIVES FROM THE CLASSROOM

Learning from ‘Home Sweet Home’ Not Easy

Photo by iStock

— Courtney Cutright

After a rough first quarter grading period of adjusting to virtual and hybrid learning, I assigned a reflective writing project to better understand what learning away from school is like for my seventh-grade students. If you’re a regular reader of this column, you may recall that I like to use my students’ writings to strengthen and reinforce the relationships I build. Students often will share more in writing than they are willing to when face-to-face. In this era of learning during a pandemic, written communication plays a more important role because I have much less in-person time for interaction. My students are old enough to stay home while parents work, so it did not surprise me to find out many are home alone on weekdays. In a recent YouthTruth survey, cited in the October issue of NEA Today, 30 percent of students reported no adult at home to help with schoolwork. One student wrote that she and her younger brother go to their grandparents’ house while their mom is working. “We walk in with a mask on and [put it back on] when we walk out because we don’t want to risk their lives,” the student wrote. “We go into a room where we do our schoolwork. When it’s lunch for us we have food that our mom packs us, [and] our Abuela brings it to us safely as possible.” Another student shared that because of the pandemic he only sees his little sister on the weekends: “She stays at my grandmother’s house during the week to do her fourth-grade schoolwork. We still fight a lot, but our relationship has gotten stronger and we are closer. I look forward to the weekends when she comes home.” Families are adapting to this novel model of instruction in many different ways. I think it’s important for educators to consider the implications of that as we develop expectations of students. VIRGINIA JOURNAL OF EDUCATION | DECEMBER 2020

Students in my district are encouraged but not required to participate in synchronous learning opportunities, which are offered daily for about 20 minutes per instructional block. Students are not required to turn on microphones and cameras during the video meetings, so very few regularly do. Sometimes they’re lounging in their beds, others are seated on sofas or at dining room tables. I am on a first-name basis with a few students’ furry friends who regularly show up for our sessions and snag some camera time. After our virtual meetings, students are on their own to complete assignments. My rule of thumb for middle school-aged students is they won’t do the work unless it’s graded. As such, the first quarter was a disastrous quest for missing work that caused me way more angst than it should have. As one student explained, “The hardest thing is that I get distracted and then don’t do my work. It’s hard to focus even though it’s quiet at my house. I still get distracted with other stuff.” My district provides laptops for middle and high school students, so all are equipped with technology at their fingertips to complete the work assigned, yet they are also tempted by its endless lure of entertainment: music, games and videos. Most of these adolescents lack the self-control it takes to manage distractions and remain focused. In addition to distance learning study habits, the writing assignment helped me gauge students’ mental health. One student wrote, “I have been lonely and depressed. Coming back to school has made me a bit less lonely but going back to school has brought more stress and anxiety.” Another student said the pandemic has made him sad and tired even though he gets lots of sleep. Not surprisingly – 50 percent of students surveyed by YouthTruth reported feeling depressed, stressed or anxious. “Staying home with little to no social interaction or seeing people that make me happy is damaging to my mental state,” a student wrote. The pandemic is taking its toll on our emotions – and the true impact may not be clear for quite some time. Be sure you take some time to reflect on what’s working for you and your students – and remain cognizant that learning at home may not be easy.l Cutright (courtcut@gmail.com), a member of the Roanoke County Education Association, teaches English at Northside Middle School.

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