The “Musts” vs. the “Shoulds”
The “Musts” vs. the “Shoulds”: How the Pandemic May Fundamentally Change our View on Education
Today is day two of proctoring state mandated testing. I am with my class of twenty-three hard-working, resilient, nine and ten year olds in our masked classroom, and I can’t help but reflect on the last 14 months and how they have changed the world and education. I think of how students are emerging from over a year of interrupted learning and “pandemic education”, and wonder how they are adjusting mentally, emotionally, and physically.
This has been a year of continuous change for students. They have gone to school fully virtually, in a hybrid classroom, and in person masked. Their sense of safety at school has been questioned as schools have closed and social distancing has been implemented. Yet through it all, I have found the students I have worked with to be amazingly resilient. Their smiles have been ever-present be it on Zoom or from behind a mask. School has been a normalizing force for kids, even in its changed form.
As we get closer and closer to “the old normal”, I wonder about the K-12 education system in general and the values that system is prioritizing now compared with before. We are all different people now, changed by this past year, so will our values around education evolve based on this experience? We were forced to focus on what students really needed this past year and were able to let go of things deemed “not important given the circumstances.”
After this year of pandemic education, will teachers and administrators have a renewed sense of what is important in education and what we should let go of, or will things go back to the “same old” ways?
There are always things we must do, to meet state and local requirements, and things we should do because we know they are good for students. These things we “should” do are the things we know are best for student learning and engagement. The “should” and “must” are often in conflict with each other. Will teachers keep more of the “shoulds” and be given the support and freedom to lessen their focus on the ”musts” in education?
In reflecting back to March 14, 2020, I would have described myself as a fairly confident and competent fourth grade teacher with 14+ years of experience under my belt. I have long believed in the importance of being “a lifelong learner” and despite my tenure, I stay current in my understanding of best practices in educational planning, instruction, and the science of learning. Knowledge of how students’ brains engage in learning, and my experiences with Professional Learning Partnerships, forms the lens through which I look at any experience I create for students. Meaningful and memorable learning experiences for students and making a connection with each of them as individuals are cornerstones of my approach to teaching. I understand the pressure of state mandated assessments and have even worked over the last ten years with test designers and state leaders to try to improve PSSA and Keystone tests. When looking through a state level lens, I understand the value of these measures of assessment. As a classroom teacher, I also knew how real, meaningful learning takes place and tried to keep that knowledge in the forefront of my teaching.
Then, like all teachers around the globe, I was rocked by COVID. Thursday, March 12 I was a fourth grade teacher, Monday, March 16 I was a virtual pandemic schooling fourth grade teacher. These were uncharted waters and there was no professional development course or book to read on pandemic education and best practices in this form of education. I was a first year teacher again, just like everyone else.
So what does a teacher, with no manual for the course ahead do? They go back to relying on what they know is good for kids. All the “must” items no longer matter. With the tests and formalized measures at bay, the child’s needs were back at the center of focus. The standards remained, but the ways to teach and assess needed to be all recreated with a focus on the child. “Do what kids need and teach it in the way you know they will learn best” became the new mantra and lens for teaching in our school and district.
While this was an exponentially strenuous time in so many ways, it was also a breath of fresh air to education. We finally had the freedom to put the kids first, because everything else was changing constantly.
Terms like “social emotional learning” and “growth” rose to the top of more and more conversations. Lessons were built from scratch and hands-on projects and activities became part of the daily day. New technologies became essential and teachers learned new skills as they incorporated these new technologies.
So, what now? We learned, we grew, we changed.
What I hope happens from the past year is that maybe it is time for continued discussion. It took an extreme and unforeseen event like a global pandemic to shake education from its sleepy dream of operating in autopilot in many ways. It wasn’t pleasant, and I would never want to do it again, but as I talk with others I learn that this experience snapped many educators priorities into place as an educator.
This experience showed me that the true power of education lies in helping students grow and develop as human beings in their current world, and as long as students feel safe, connected, and motivated, we’re doing our job as teachers.
I believe teachers around the world did their absolute best to accomplish this for their students this year, and I hope this continues to be a frame for looking at what we should really be doing in education, giving permission to shift the focus off the “musts”, for many years to come.
Be that teacher that your students are talking about 20 years from now. Let the science of learning transform the way you teach.
About the Author
Kathryn Markloff is a Professional Learning Specialist for Professional Learning Partnerships, and also teaches fourth grade at Pocopson Elementary School in Unionville-Chadds Ford School District in Kennett Square, PA. She has been a teacher for 17 years, and is certified in K-6 education, K-12 leadership, and STEM.
