Balance

Been thinking a lot about this concept lately, especially this week. Where I am, it's the middle of week 4 in the Distance Learning journey. We have made it through the initial transition period, most students, staff, and parents have - to varying degrees - figured out how to function within this new reality.

Now, I seem to be constantly thinking about just how much I'm pushing students (or not) in our academic areas. There are two sides to this precipice...the vital importance of each and every students' mental, emotional, and physical well-being. As I wrote over a month ago, a big worry I carried centered around my students who struggle with mental health, executive functioning and organization, and who greatly benefited from personal attention with myself and/or paraprofessionals. Beyond that, many 11- and 12-year olds dealing with this type of adjustment can be tough! On the other hand, there still exists the other responsibility of what we do --> teaching our students the content and guiding them through their learning. Finding that perfect balance between massaging student needs and expected learning, rigor, and pace is a constant battle.

Even though this is a source of angst and discomfort at times, I'm doing my best to lean into the reality that what we're doing isn't one specific "thing" or "type" of learning. Rather, it seems to have parts to a lot of things --> 'home schooling,' 'online learning,' 'distance learning,' etc. For a silver lining, these moments of introspection, the planning with finesse, the responsiveness developed to coordinate with colleagues, students, and families have all led to growth. Growth as an educator, growth as a parent, growth as a person.

I have come to appreciate (even more than usual) the countless moments of input/output feedback that happens all the time in the classroom. It cannot be replicated. At least not yet...that's another thought experiment for another day. I'd be curious to know how others feel about this idea of 'balance' these days...have any of your "cracked the case," so to speak? Any insights? Frustrations?