We (yep, all of us) are stressed. Students are swamped with work and desperate loneliness. Parents are at their wits’ end trying to keep their jobs, kids, and sanity afloat. Teachers are exhausted from the literal and emotional headache of online learning. Administrators are trying to balance the needs of their staff and students […]
mental health
Posted inCOVID-19
Being There For Our Students During a Pandemic
In 17 years of teaching, I shudder to think of the number of essays, poems, and stories I’ve read or graded. It is part of the territory I suppose. The majority of the time, the pieces are normal. Then, there are those that make one’s blood run cold. I honestly do not remember the topic […]
Posted inMental Health
Unseen Forces: The Students Who Often Aren’t Seen
The turning of pages and an occasional sigh filled in the dead spaces as my class of 7th graders quietly read or pretended to read the assigned text that afternoon while I roamed around the room visiting with an assortment of students checking in on their understanding of the text. The words “You can’t make […]
Posted inTeacher Self Care
Disrupt Grind Culture, But How?
Disrupt Grind Culture I have been in school my entire life, constantly learning and moving towards my next achievement. I went to college right after high school, as expected in my family and town. After graduating early from college, I went to grad school the next term and started teaching as soon as I earned […]
Posted inTeacher Self Care
Top of the List: Attuning to Self-Care Needs of Educators
Written by Camica Edwards Another day at the office, I am consulting with my principal on a plan for student mental health and wellness as the junior high school counselor. I’m in his doorway scanning his office and again, notice his half-eaten cold burrito on his desk. We are about 8 feet apart and masked […]
Posted inConfessions of a Teacher
Accountability and Empathy: Where’s the Balance? Â
Accountability and Empathy: Where’s the Balance?  Pandemic Adjustments I went into this year knowing online learning would be tough. I zoomed in with my equity lens and kept it sharply focused, ready to make adjustments wherever necessary to meet students’ needs. 2020 has been a stressful time for all of us and my students are […]
Posted inCOVID-19
Mental Health Support for Remote Teaching and LearningÂ
Part I: Mental Health Support for Educators On March 15th, Mayor de Blasio announced that non-essential businesses and schools in New York City would close. The past month has been surreal, challenging, inspiring, overwhelming as I’ve tried to adapt to remote learning along with 75,000 other adults and more than one million children At some […]
Posted inMental Health
#TeacherGuilt
We hear about #momguilt all the time and how it kicks when you even THINK about putting yourself first for 5 seconds. I can admit that I deal with this on a daily basis. It’s one of those things that never goes away. I’ve also realized that as a teacher, #teacherguilt exists as well and […]