How can teachers do their part to help the war efforts? I believe- as hard as it may be – STAY UPBEAT.  Without feeling truly positive inside it is so hard  to be there for our students.  Happiness precedes being able to support others.

One specific area I am working on is to look for active ways to model communities of compassion, kindness and true curiosity. The world would be a very different place today if people were taught how to be truly curious and compassionate when somebody says something you disagree with.

As teachers  we have the unique privilege of modeling for our students what a “community of curiosity and  compassion” could look like – which we so desperately need modeled right now.

Last week, while my back was turned to the class, one of my students shouted out “this class is so boring. I don’t want to be here.”  Being a human being first, and a teacher second, of course it hurt my feelings when he said that. But I took a deep breath and thought to myself – what he’s saying is probably not actually what he’s feeling. But he’s in distress about something and instead of saying what’s actually bothering him, he’s deflecting his feelings onto me. So I stopped and got curious. Throughout the remainder of the class I honed in on him and I noticed that he was very confused about the chapter we were reading and the work we were doing . He was actually anything but bored-  he was confused and frustrated.

So I broke down the assignment into small chunks and showed him explicitly how to do the assignment. A few tears emerged in his eyes. I realized my initial reaction of being hurt was unfounded. He was hurting, so he lashed out. I’m grateful that I was able to control my own emotions to be able to support this child.  Imagine if everyone in the world practiced compassion and curiosity when they see someone acting in a way they disagree with.