In a way I've never meant before, congratulations on making it through the 19/20 school year! Usually when we say that as teachers, there's an air of both legitimate congratulations and mundane commiseration that we've made it through another school year: Learning and growth happened (yay!), tedious boredom endured (well, not everything is exciting), challenges overcome, and limits both met and pushed. That said, all of this has a sense of 'one more down, x more to go'...just one in a string of the like. Regardless of our successes, there is often this sense of it really being nothing all that special...after all, people do it everyday, right?
Enter 2020 saying 'hold my [insert beverage of choice]'.
There is nothing at all normal or mundane about getting successfully to the end of this school year. None of our traditional measures work right now. There were no grades to boost (or destroy) our egos, keep us motivated, or overwhelm us. There were no tardies to sweat getting to school, or busses we missed. There was no applause at opening or closing night, no stupor-inducing graduation ceremonies (seriously...that's a lot of names to sit through!), no Prom to dress up for (or protest with a group bowling night), and no run through the playoffs or State meets.
So how do we measure successfully completing a multi-million dollar endeavor involving thousands of people putting in well over 1000 man(?)-hours? (read: school year)?
That will mean very different things to many different people...and this year more than any other, that's right. For hard-charging high achievers, losing those traditional measures of success was massively difficult, seriously...finding the resilience to maintain the drive to build, grow, and achieve anyway was one of theirs. For competitors who thrive on going nose to nose with a rival, and pushing to be the best...pushing themselves forward while finding new ways to motivate themselves and innovate new ways to train was one of theirs. For the extroverts who thrive on the energy of those around them...finding new ways to connect and make contact in their worst situation imaginable was one of theirs. For those who struggle with depression or anxiety and were now finding far too much time left alone with their thoughts...silencing the voices of evil, even for a moment, long enough to do that one thing before they overwhelmed them again was one of theirs. For those learners who need their hands on something to make it make sense...accepting there are just some things we cannot control and making do for now was one of theirs. There are so many possibilities that I couldn't possibly list them all...and each of them are truly valid.
Know why? Normal measures of 'success' don't work right now. These are not normal times.
I can speak directly to this...because it's my experience too, as a teacher, a father, a son, a brother, a person. Fought overwhelming expectations? Check. Fought insufficient resources and technology to do what was asked of you? Check. Fought scheduling issues with other people in (and outside of) the house needing your time when you are supposed to be working? Check. Fought being unsure where money's coming from? Not until recently, but, yeah, check. Fought not understanding what's being asked of you? Check. Fought not wanting to get out of bed? Check. Fought watching your health decline because you're not moving around as much as you do on a normal school day? Check. Fought gaining weight for the same reason? Check. Fought why are you even doing this...what does it count for anyway? Yeah...even fought that one too. Check. Fought needing to talk to someone that isn't your immediate family? Check. Fought wanting to talk to no one and just be by yourself, but have to be around people? Check. Fought profound sadness that those things you'd looked forward to got canceled? Mega-check. Tried to fill the gaps in your time, life, and attention because there's no new [show, sports contest, album, episode] that until now was your obsession? Check...RIP Black Widow movie (I swear, she's cursed). Watching someone you love struggle profoundly with the status quo, and there's not a dang thing you can do about it? Check, check, check, and check.
It's a load. If there's been times where it feels like it has been too much for you...that's fine. All it proves is that you're human. Did you get out of bed when it felt like you couldn't? Nice work! Did you go out for a run, even though Track season was canceled? Excellent! Did you miss a bunch of assignments, but darn it, you got that last one in? Thank you! Did you help build a deck, since you couldn't build sets? Wonderful! Did you sew masks for folks because there were no Panda heads to build? Gracias! Did you take all of that pent up frustration and instead of lashing out at your family, took to the streets and added your voice to those calling for much-needed change in this world? Mazel tov!
So...to bring this back around to the beginning: Congratulations!!! You made it!!! Whatever that means for you and yours, and in a way I've never had cause to mean it before, congratulations! You did good!
Have a wonderful summer!
j.
Enter 2020 saying 'hold my [insert beverage of choice]'.
There is nothing at all normal or mundane about getting successfully to the end of this school year. None of our traditional measures work right now. There were no grades to boost (or destroy) our egos, keep us motivated, or overwhelm us. There were no tardies to sweat getting to school, or busses we missed. There was no applause at opening or closing night, no stupor-inducing graduation ceremonies (seriously...that's a lot of names to sit through!), no Prom to dress up for (or protest with a group bowling night), and no run through the playoffs or State meets.
So how do we measure successfully completing a multi-million dollar endeavor involving thousands of people putting in well over 1000 man(?)-hours? (read: school year)?
That will mean very different things to many different people...and this year more than any other, that's right. For hard-charging high achievers, losing those traditional measures of success was massively difficult, seriously...finding the resilience to maintain the drive to build, grow, and achieve anyway was one of theirs. For competitors who thrive on going nose to nose with a rival, and pushing to be the best...pushing themselves forward while finding new ways to motivate themselves and innovate new ways to train was one of theirs. For the extroverts who thrive on the energy of those around them...finding new ways to connect and make contact in their worst situation imaginable was one of theirs. For those who struggle with depression or anxiety and were now finding far too much time left alone with their thoughts...silencing the voices of evil, even for a moment, long enough to do that one thing before they overwhelmed them again was one of theirs. For those learners who need their hands on something to make it make sense...accepting there are just some things we cannot control and making do for now was one of theirs. There are so many possibilities that I couldn't possibly list them all...and each of them are truly valid.
Know why? Normal measures of 'success' don't work right now. These are not normal times.
I can speak directly to this...because it's my experience too, as a teacher, a father, a son, a brother, a person. Fought overwhelming expectations? Check. Fought insufficient resources and technology to do what was asked of you? Check. Fought scheduling issues with other people in (and outside of) the house needing your time when you are supposed to be working? Check. Fought being unsure where money's coming from? Not until recently, but, yeah, check. Fought not understanding what's being asked of you? Check. Fought not wanting to get out of bed? Check. Fought watching your health decline because you're not moving around as much as you do on a normal school day? Check. Fought gaining weight for the same reason? Check. Fought why are you even doing this...what does it count for anyway? Yeah...even fought that one too. Check. Fought needing to talk to someone that isn't your immediate family? Check. Fought wanting to talk to no one and just be by yourself, but have to be around people? Check. Fought profound sadness that those things you'd looked forward to got canceled? Mega-check. Tried to fill the gaps in your time, life, and attention because there's no new [show, sports contest, album, episode] that until now was your obsession? Check...RIP Black Widow movie (I swear, she's cursed). Watching someone you love struggle profoundly with the status quo, and there's not a dang thing you can do about it? Check, check, check, and check.
It's a load. If there's been times where it feels like it has been too much for you...that's fine. All it proves is that you're human. Did you get out of bed when it felt like you couldn't? Nice work! Did you go out for a run, even though Track season was canceled? Excellent! Did you miss a bunch of assignments, but darn it, you got that last one in? Thank you! Did you help build a deck, since you couldn't build sets? Wonderful! Did you sew masks for folks because there were no Panda heads to build? Gracias! Did you take all of that pent up frustration and instead of lashing out at your family, took to the streets and added your voice to those calling for much-needed change in this world? Mazel tov!
So...to bring this back around to the beginning: Congratulations!!! You made it!!! Whatever that means for you and yours, and in a way I've never had cause to mean it before, congratulations! You did good!
Have a wonderful summer!
j.
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