Episode: 122

Episode Title: Meeting Students Where They Are in the COVID Slide

How can we help students make up the learning they’ve lost during the pandemic? It starts with meeting them where they’re at. Stay tuned for more, coming up next.

Ep 122 show:

Hello, and welcome to The Perna Syndicate! Yesterday, we talked about what’s now being called the “COVID slide,” which is the loss of learning that students have experienced due to the disruption of the pandemic. A recent study found that students are averaging three months behind in math, and a month and a half behind in reading. And while no one can really quantify it yet, the total projected learning lost, by the time all this is over, probably won’t be a pretty picture. 

So how can we as parents, educators, and stakeholders help students make up this lost ground? There will be many teaching methods created to address this, but I want to step back and look at the big picture. It’s not just the tactics we use to increase learning, but also the attitude we bring to the whole challenge. 

I think the first priority is to meet kids where they’re at, not where they should be. It’s hard not to let our frustration with the situation bleed into our connection with students, but it’s critical. None of this is their fault or ours; we’re all in this together. 

Where they are is where they are, and we take our cue from that and move forward. Any movement is progress and should be celebrated and built upon. Positive reinforcement, encouragement, inspiration—all of that is so important as we focus them on the goal of what they can achieve, not on how far they’re behind.

Progress, and the pace of that progress, will be different for each individual student. We need to take a deep breath, accept where they are, and start moving them closer to where they could be.

Young people are incredibly resilient, and that’s going to help them big time in overcoming the COVID slide. Tune in tomorrow for more…we’ll see you then!