Welcome back to Off the Record, where the interviews stay anonymous and the conversations flow freely.
Xavier Shakes: School breaks are usually a time of celebration and relaxation for staff and students, but not all students come from a stable home. Many students experience more stress at home than at school, and this transition may take a toll on them. I am curious about how teachers navigate this dynamic.
For this installment, I interviewed a Black male elementary teacher.
Check out the transcript of our chat below, which was edited for clarity.
XS: How do you prepare and support your students for long breaks?
Interviewee: It’s different every year, depending on the class that I have. I send out resources to parents at the beginning of the school year, make phone calls to check in with parents, and send rapid-fire daily reminders to maintain communication. So when it does come right before the breaks, I only have to send out two or three messages to remind them, ‘Hey, the food bank is available. Libraries may be staying open over break. Shelters are available that are taking in families.’ This preparation makes for better educators and creates an environment for growth. If you understand the hierarchy of needs and the length it takes to get these resources together and available, you’re setting your kids and their families up for success.
Also, around break, kids may talk about traumatic events. Holidays and breaks change the family’s mindset and dynamics. Families get together, and sometimes children haven’t met many of the members before. Because of their age, they may not be able to express who they are to them, what their role is in the family, or how that person makes them feel. So I’m really intentional about social-emotional well-being and how to keep them safe. I’ll remind them about community helpers, how to identify a trusted adult, and how to identify the emotions they feel. A lot of kids are coming from homes where there is a limited amount of livable space but a lot of family members in the house. The situations surrounding this living situation may be a traumatic event because you’re too close, and you’re there for too long, especially when school is out.
XS: You mentioned that family gatherings can be a time when emotions associated with trauma may bubble up in some of your students as you all move closer to break, what are some signs of maybe pre-break anxiety in students and how have you navigated them?
Interviewee: A lot of times you’ll see an influx of physical ailments in students. I don’t think people have a full understanding of how powerful the mind-body connection is. Stress produces physical reactions. Sadness produces physical reactions. Anger produces physical reactions. A lot of times I’ve had military families that find out that somebody’s not coming home. So everyone is angry at the government and sad they’re not going to see their family member. I have navigated a lot of these questions at school.
XS: How do you take care of yourself so that you are prepared to meet the different needs of your students before and after break?
Interviewee: Alright…let me start off by saying this. It is more difficult than ever in today’s climate to be an educator. I consider people who have survived teaching and reached that three to five-year mark as superhumans, and I am proud to say that includes me. If I am honest, making it past five years is going to be less and less possible. We have a lower rate of teachers who are making it to that three to five-year mark in the classroom. They finish school, they teach year one, and by years two and three, they’re out of the classroom trying to get into administration or they’re doing something else not education related. So that’s why you get this larger and larger gap between new teachers and teachers getting ready to retire. So I said all that to say everything’s never going to get done as far as the demands of teaching are concerned. I’ve realized that more as I get further in my career. I’ve had to implement hard stops and boundaries so that I can at least get five hours of sleep. That means if I want to get eight hours, I’m in bed by 7 o’clock…but I still have to plan my lesson plan, cook dinner, take a bath, do homework, and… you know what I’m saying.
XS: What support systems are provided by your school for students before and after break?
Interviewee: Different schools have different community partners, and you start to notice that the allocation of funds is divided into certain areas by address. So, support can differ from building to building. I happen to be in a position where I am in the know, and see how different buildings operate. People not in the system can’t understand the reasons why this school does that and another does this, so a lot of questions comes back to administrators. There are different community partners, different areas, and different communities. Sometimes we aren’t able to offer the same thing at the same time, or we might not have as much due to a partner not being in our neighborhood, our community.
XS: How much support is available from the school for teachers who may need to support multiple students from underserved communities?
Interviewee: Getting resources and support from the powers that be is like pulling teeth from a jellyfish. I’ve experienced schools that went days without paper. How? This is an educational setting. How don’t we have paper? Some stuff should be in surplus. It seems we have more people that work outside of the buildings than inside, and a lot of these people in district offices just don’t know what goes on within their institutions. The kicker is whenever you try to advocate for yourself the rebuttal is we’re focused on doing what’s best for the students and then they’ll try to placate and pacify you with something just so they can say we are supporting our faculty. Don’t give me a discounted pizza because you have a connection. I see right through that.
XS: For some students, school can be their main source of stability. How do you, as a teacher, reestablish routine and a sense of safety in your classroom when students return from break?
Interviewee: I’m able to create a lot of those routines and establish that sense of safety by tapping into what it looks like and sounds like at home to make them comfortable, to make them want to be in that space shared with me, right? So now that they’re comfortable, there’s less resistance. I can get to my routines and procedures a little quicker because I can take that extra time to make sure they understand the direction and importance of the routine too. The more I sound like your uncle, the more nonverbals and phrases associated with home, the more comfortable and at home they are. That’s it.
XS: Thank you for these insights and your time.
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