Wheels Up #5

I was looking through the photos on my phone. I went back quite a ways and found some of my students and classroom pre-Covid. Seeing their faces, mask-less and smiling brought such a deep nostalgia. But, also great sadness that masks feel very much part of the school uniform. A barrier to facial expressions and grins. My students were building with makerspace stuff in some pictures, having a puppet show in others. Pride from ear to ear.

There were pictures of us outside taking a mindful break with silly string and kickballs. It brought back such a feeling of joy and contentment. The relationships I built with those classes. It was a memory I won't soon forget. I had the same students all year long- it felt like a normal school year. Then the pictures transitioned to mask wearing- or students on Zoom waving and learning on screen.

Wheels up- its 2022 and the masks are still very much a part of the routine- at least in New Mexico. But, my pictures are still adding up. Makerspaces and mini-plays. Stations and hands-on learning. Just a veil between conversations- but conversations none-the-less. I do not plan on having no turbulence, or even having time to reach cruising altitude. I just make plans for looking out at the view and the in cabin entertainment.

It's going to get worse before it gets better I'm sure. But it will get better. We have great things happening in classrooms around the globe- we have dedicated educators- seatbelts fastened and hunkered down for the long haul. I believe in education. I believe in educators. There are naysayers. There are things about education that need fixed- but we can not discount those who are on the runways every day.

Those educators who are taking off and landing- circling the airport and taxing to the gate. For those educators deserve praise- they do not deserve to be lumped in, with the negative aspects of education. To every educator out there- wheels up- landing gear retracting- you are aloft. Thank you for joining the flight crew today and every day. Thank you for being pilot, navigator and flight attendant- you are all rock stars.