It’s time to write some history!
Children of the Baby Boom unknowingly were given unrecognized gifts by parents and grandparents and older friends and neighbors. Being one, I remember. We heard stories of the Depression and World War Two from people who were there. We heard stories of the hard times and scarcity of the 1930s when work was hard to find and supper was measured in spoonfuls. We were told their thoughts and fears on December 7, 1941, the day Pearl Harbor was attacked and the United States was committed to war. They cried telling stories of family members and friends who died in uniform. They explained about our family fall out shelter in the basement with its blocked windows and stacks of canned meats and vegetables water canteens. We were gifted with first-hand accounts from people whose words made history meaningful to next generations.
In the summer of COVID, educational and social writers encourage summer school or an early start of school in the fall as a strategy for recouping lost teaching and learning due to remote education this past spring. At the same time, polls show that 2/3s of families are hesitant to send children back to school because they believe virus remains a real danger. Our question: what do we do as educators between these two important positions?
A good rule of thumb when you seem to be uncertain of the direction you should go is to stop, stand still, and observe all around you. Let the world find you.
In the gap between a remoted spring and an unknown fall, let’s write history. We can assist children who are living through a unique world event to memorialize their experiences for family and friends decades from now. We have the skills to help them to tell their story of Life in the Time of Covid. We have the opportunity to create gifts that will help children in the future to know what their parents and grandparents did in the Pandemic of 2020.
This is a wonderful summer project with educational outcomes. Stories From the Time of COVID can be recorded by children of all ages. Stories can be in written word, personal artwork, photographs, song and playwriting, recorded voices and any combination of the same. There is no right or wrong or passing or failing in storytelling, just the telling of stories. This is personalized learning at its best. It is a learning project every child can accomplish.
One of the best ways to understand the COVID pandemic has been to read the stories of those who lived through the Spanish Flu pandemic 100 years ago. Or a war. Or the Civil Rights years. Or through a time of great turmoil. The personal stories and photos of their times help us to understand the historical phenomenon of a pandemic, its devastation of death, what people did to survive, and the after effects of their ordeal. Children today can read about children then and compare and contrast their own experiences.
I encourage teachers to make this suggestion to their students: This was my life during the Pandemic of 2020. This is not a required assignment. It will not be graded. However, it will be important and it will be cherished. Someday in the future, the stories of how children and young adults lived during this pandemic will be helpful to children and young adults them as they face their own challenges.
In a summer without structured, large group activities for children of all ages, a suggestion from a teacher may help a summering student find an important outlet for time, talent and energy.
Then, take your own advice and write your personal story: This is what I did during the Pandemic of 2020.