Taking AIM to ease the mask rules transition
In Illinois and across the country, students and teachers are facing a new transition in this pandemic/endemic world: a move to masks recommended. In some districts this is happening quickly without a lot of time to prepare, so The Nora Project team developed resources to support teachers as they engage their students in conversations that set an inclusive, respectful tone in their classrooms and maintain a positive learning environment for all, whether they choose to wear a mask or not.
Prepare for and validate worry
Students may show up in this changing environment with health or social concerns that cause them to worry. We recommend sharing this video with students that teaches about anxiety as a normal biological response, called “Fight, Flight, Freeze.” Remind students that it is reasonable to have worry. While you may wish to ease their fear, don’t minimize worry by ignoring it or trying to “make it okay.” Allow students to name, feel, and most importantly, manage their worry through breath work, meditation, or other relaxation techniques that they have determined work for them. If you need some ideas, check out our Virtual Calming Room.
Be on the offense with worry instead of the defense. You can expect worry to come up for kids so be proactive about acknowledging it. You can use language like, “I expect that worry might come up with the new mask rule. It’s a change, and everyone handles new changes differently.” When worry does show up, you can invite students to be curious about it. Encourage them to ask themselves what that worry is telling them. What does it sound and feel like? Honor their responses and their reasons.
Connect the moment to the Ability Inclusive Mindset Framework
At The Nora Project, we always return to our AIM as a guide for creating inclusive classrooms. We’ve summed this up succinctly in these slides, but we’ll go into a bit more detail below. Share these ideas with your students and invite them to generate ideas for how to answer the questions we’ve included with each one. You can use these questions to develop classroom norms that will support a positive classroom culture in this moment and for the rest of the year.
Accessible spaces are better spaces
Many people associate accessibility with physical space--the way that people move around and physically experience an environment--but accessibility extends far beyond the physical space and into the cultural and emotional space of an environment, as well. In our classrooms, we need to create emotionally accessible spaces where all students feel a sense of safety and belonging.
Ask: How can we make sure everyone knows they belong in this classroom?
Inclusive activities are richer activities
Now more than ever, it’s critical that we acknowledge that we all have different perspectives that are shaped by a variety of things--where we live, our intersecting identities, what our families believe, how we’ve experienced the pandemic, our underlying health and the health of close family members and friends just to name a few. This belief reminds us that every way of showing up is valid, and that creating activities that include diverse perspectives benefits everyone.
Ask: How can we work together to ensure that everyone knows their feelings and perspectives are respected and valued?
All human lives have equal value
All human lives have equal value, which means that there is value in the different ways that we all think, feel, and experience the world. The pandemic has impacted everyone differently, which means that we all have unique perspectives about how to move forward and different experiences that shape the way we feel about changes happening in our environment. Communicating a belief that everyone’s feelings are valuable and important will help create a space where everyone is welcome.
Ask: How can we ensure that our friends know that their experience, worries, and perspectives will be respected?
Intentional and creative planning
If mitigation strategies are changing that bring about a variety of feelings, students and teachers will need to be intentional about the choices they make to create a learning environment that feels safe for all. Use creativity as you think about the physical space of the classroom and how you might organize students so that everyone feels they have a safe space to learn and interact with peers.
Ask: How can we organize our classroom so that everyone feels comfortable?
Stepping outside of your comfort zone
Students may be exposed to differing and strong opinions about what it means to be wearing a mask or not, to be vaccinated or not. It may be uncomfortable for students to develop and nurture relationships if they feel they are at odds with one another. It’s a natural human impulse to stick with the people that agree with you, but when we provide the tools for respectful and productive dialogue, there’s value in stepping outside your comfort zone to connect with people with whom you may disagree.
Ask: How will we treat one another when we disagree on how we should move forward?
Demonstrating empathy
A lot of what students are seeing and hearing about masks and vaccines is devoid of empathy, so it will be very important to help them explore ways to see things from one another’s point of view, to imagine how others are feeling or processing feelings, and to think about how we can behave to make everyone feel respected and comfortable. Demonstrating empathy doesn’t mean agreeing with someone, it means considering that the way that they feel is valid because of their unique collection of experiences, and showing respect for those feelings.
Ask: What will it look/sound/feel like to show empathy to one another as our school moves to masks recommended?
What tools, activities, or resources can I use?
It might be easiest to start the conversation with an examination of the prefix “dis.” While the common definition of “dis” is “not,” the classical latin definition actually means “two ways.” Just as the word disability means more than one way to do things, disagree can be defined as more than one way to think about things. When emotions are running high, it can be difficult to step back and consider others’ perspectives. Here are some activities you might consider to help your students understand that we all think differently, and so long as we are respectful, our thoughts are valid.
Love, Like, Dislike Circle - This activity is great for students of all ages. Invite students to write down something that they really like or something that’s really important to them. Then, everyone circulates and places their name in a category of “love,” “like,” or “dislike.” At the end of the activity, students see that we don’t all agree on everything, but it doesn’t have to negatively impact our relationships.
One Black Dot - Younger students will particularly enjoy this activity. Everyone is given the same worksheet with one black dot drawn in a frame. Each student incorporates the dot into their own creation, and students circulate to see how each of them approached the activity differently.
Read Duck, Rabbit - A favorite lesson from our Primer Pack Curriculum uses this simple picture book by Amy Krouse Rosenthal to explore how we all see things differently.
Would you rather? Activity - Share pairs of items/activities with students and invite them to share which they prefer. Think chocolate vs. vanilla ice cream, summer vs. winter, baseball vs. soccer, etc. You can turn this into a movement break by inviting students to move to one side of the room to indicate their choice.
Read The Most Magnificent Thing - Ashley Spires shares the story of a child who persistently tries to create an invention. While she gets frustrated, other people find her work to be very useful. Connect this to the idea that we have all experienced the pandemic differently. We all have different ideas about how to move forward with masks and vaccines, and it’s important that we acknowledge this with our students.
It’s been a tough year, and new challenges loom on the horizon. The Nora Project is here to help support you in making your classroom a place where every student feels like they belong. We hope this guidance helps you transition to masks recommended. If there are other materials you think would be useful, let us know, at info@thenoraproject.ngo.
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