Touring Post Covid Part 1 - COVID Left A Mark On Kids

 

I just did my first multiple-day tour. of 2021. It included three days of residency work at The Toledo School for the Arts. 

It is a pretty amazing school. I had a great time touring the school, getting to know some of the kids, and staff.

I performed my creepy fracturings of Hansel and Gretel - I Am Gretel and Hungry - for the high school creative writing track, and I did Through Their Own Eyes - the history program where I talk about American history through the folklore and stories of African Americans - for the eleventh grade.

I was in class with sixth, seventh, and eighth-graders.

I got home last night...I'm tired! I need my touring chops back right now! Ahhhhh!

I'm writing this in two parts because each of the things I want to say about this process deserves its own post 

The educators at TSA were wonderful. They shared observations with me about the kids, and I shared what I noticed. Between us, I came away with a better appreciation of working with kids who have been out of school in one way or another for almost two years.

I saw a post on FB that put the whole COVID school situation in perspective - 

Depending on the grade - This is the last year a child had a potential "normal" school experience

Kindergarten - Never

1st - Never

2nd - Preschool

3rd - Kindergarten

4th - 1st Grade

5th - 2nd Grade

6th - 3rd Grade 

7th - 4th Grade

8th - 5th Grade

9th - 6th Grade

10th - 7th Grade

11th - 8th Grade

12 - 9th Grade

Thinking about it this way makes some of what I saw in the middle school classroom make way more sense.

1 Almost all of the students struggled with using descriptive language. - 

We played rock, paper scissors anything in all of the classes. Sometimes, the students would embody something that the other participants in their groups did not recognize. When that happens, you have to explain what you are and what you do. The first choice almost all of them made when their peers couldn't understand something was to reach for an iPad or a phone so they could show them a picture. I stopped then and told them they had to describe it. The first time it happened in every single class, the students looked at me in absolute disbelief. 

We had fun in the classes, but they struggled with descriptive language, and some of them got very frustrated. They enjoyed the game, however, and by the end, they were settling into having to pull on their own vocabularies. A few of them did try to sneak their phones into the game, but their teammates helped put a stop to it!

 

2. They were having trouble socializing -

Some of the behavior I expect when I am working with elementary school students materialized in the classroom. They couldn't find partners easily because they were hesitant to work with people they didn't feel they knew well. They were still worried about working with someone of a different external gender, they were closed off and wary of people.

Some of the behavior you expect from fourth or fifth graders where groups of girls or boys shut out people who were not their friends was still happening in certain situations. They were much less tolerant of students who were a little more eccentric - which is not typical of arts schools - and the eccentric kids weren't necessarily trying to work with anyone - something else atypical of arts schools. The administrators had noticed this as well.

3. One of the administrators told me the students were doing destructive TikTok challenges like "Vandalize your School Bathroom". They had never done things like this before at TSA. They've spent far too much time absorbing social media uninterrupted for over a year.

4. Physically, they were much less sure of themselves - 

Usually, at performing arts schools, by the time you get to year 2, the students who want to perform have chosen their tracks, and they are eager to perform and learn new techniques. I was surprised at how 

Masks Mounted as Trophies!

tentative the second years were. I had to scale back my plans after the first day.

5. Once We Got Into It They Were Really Happy

The beginning of this residency was tricky, but once we got settled, we had a wonderful time. It was great. The kids enjoyed the exercises, the teachers enjoyed the exercises, the kids got into it and brought their own twist into the exercises, and storytelling and interactive play as well as lovely bouts of improvisation that had us all laughing and applauding broke out all over the place.

I am not one for teaching. It is my kryptonite at times, but I left on Wednesday wishing I could have stayed until Friday.

The teachers have already decided they are going to continue to use the exercises I showed them and work on the stories. 

It was a great experience. I don't have any more teaching on the schedule this year...at least, I don't think I do, but if I end up in a classroom again, I will be interested to see how far the students have come after this wild ride Covid created.

Happy Teaching!