Meeting Them Where They Are

There is a scene playing out in many schools around America, including my classroom.  The kids in front of us don't seem like the kids we've taught before of the same age.  Academically, my 8th graders seem to be fine.  As hard as it was, our hybrid program did result in far less learning loss than schools that did the year fully virtual.  In other ways (socially, behaviorally, emotionally), they are not presenting in the way I am accustomed to 8th-grade students being.  A quarter of a school year at home in their sixth-grade year and cohorting in their seventh-grade year has resulted in less maturing than it would previously have.  My normal classroom management techniques are less effective than usual because of where they are.

I know that it is important to meet all students where they are, but it is challenging, precisely because of the amount of experience I have with this age group.  My previous 22 years of experience teaching this age group is less beneficial to me than it has been in the past because they are not yet what I expect 8th-graders to be.  I also know where they need to be by the end of the year because they will be high school students, and our high school teachers will expect them to act like it.  We can't spend five more years saying, "But they had this difficult time during the pandemic" and then send them out into the world unprepared for it.  

As I said at the beginning, this is not unique to my classroom.  It's happening all over America to varying degrees, depending on how students were taught in the 2020/2021 school year.  I see it a bit less in my older students because they were already mostly socially formed and because many of them were able to get more social interaction last year due to their ability to drive.

So, we are faced with meeting students where they are, but I think it is important to recognize that we cannot leave them where they are.  To quote the sort of unofficial motto of the Village Church in Texas, "It's okay to not be okay, but it's not okay to stay that way."  Advancing these students in maturity will not happen overnight, but we must make an intentional effort to hold them accountable for poor behavior, model right responses, and remind them of proper classroom behavior.  I confess that I have not been doing this very well for the last month.  I have been reacting with frustration because my expectations were for this year to be more normal and recognizing that it is not has been upsetting.  Trying to find the line between what parts are my own irritability caused by our circumstances and what parts are behaviors I truly do need to address has been a challenge.  I'm still working on it, and I may be working on it all year.  I have the good fortune to work with great people, and I can run things by them to ask if they think I'm overreacting, and I know they will be honest with me.  I assume that other teachers may also need to separate their own frustration and depression from the responsibility of their job, so that's my only advice for now.  Have an honest friend that can hold you accountable.  Say, "Here's what happened.  Do you think I handled it correctly?"  Someone who understands but isn't part of the issue can often see things more clearly, but we cannot benefit from their wisdom if we do what we are often inclined to do, hide our own insecurities.  Be transparent with someone you can trust.  It's the only way we will be able to both meet students where they are and advance them to where they should be.