The whole everything suddenly went sideways again. 

Our government is in shambles again. 

Immediately it felt like the triage was “HOW am I going to talk to my students about this tomorrow?” 

The internet has been abuzz with thoughts on this for hours. 

It’s okay to have NO IDEA how you are going to talk to your students (in person or remote), or your children, (or anyone you interact with.) Some students will hear excitement or discontent about this at home. Perhaps they’ll arrive unsure and scared, or clueless. 

All of this will walk into our classrooms or show up on Zoom tomorrow. 

We have been asked to do way more than is reasonable this last year as teachers and tomorrow we’ll do it again. 

Take care of yourself. BREATHE. Lead your class in a grounding activity. 

At the minimum…please be honest. Please let them know that you know what’s happening and that it’s a hard thing to understand. 

For me, I’m going to have journal prompts on the board. I’ll invite private journal entries. 

“What happened to get us here?”

“What should we do next?”

I bring the newspaper into class every day, and I’ll put it up on the board. 

I’ll hold a morning meeting. 

I will show up and I will listen to their questions. Questions I can’t or shouldn’t answer (job security) I will defer to their parents. 

Please, just be honest. 

You can simply make space to write in a journal. 

Acknowledge it’s happening. 

And give yourself grace. 

Namaste.