Helping children deal with post-Covid-19 struggles
"Nothing can dim the light that shines from within", Maya Angelou.
I couldn't agree more with the words of Maya Angelou.
Kids have beautiful minds, and when they learn, the knowledge radiates from within. Sadly, post Covid-19, it seems the bright light of these little angels has begun to dim in some cases. When I sat down to write this article, I thought about how the past few months have been working hard to help my students deal with the extended stay away from school has had on them. Yes, academically there have been impacts which we as teachers, are eagerly trying to find ways to tackle and motivate the children to be just as proactive in their learning.
However, there are other consequences to dis-jointed schooling over the past couple of years. This article is to provide an insight into these challenges to parents, non-teaching professionals and basically anyone who has their lives touched by children. All views are my own and those gathered by teaching and childcare professionals in my personal learning community – in no way am I a mental health professional! Just a passionate teacher, who truly cares about the holistic needs of our children and searching for ways to help.
Aspects of children's lives affected by their mental health.
The pandemic has affected my kids in various ways; some of these include:
1. When the Pandemic hit, social distancing was a critical action to prevent its spread. Over 1.5 billion children in 188 countries were affected by the closure of schools. This affected them socially and meant no more playtime with friends, no more visits to their favourite spots and no more in-person classes.
2. I noticed that when classes resumed, my pupils became overly attached. They hold on to their friends "fiercely" they can at times find it difficult to share.
3. The conflict resolution skills my pupils had post-pandemic has definitely dipped. Some can be overly emotional and stimulated quickly. Keeping away from mixing with others has made them attach so much emotion to everything. So when they get upset, it's extreme; they can't seem to calm down as quickly as those of a similar age I had taught prior to lockdown.
4. Furthermore, I have noticed that some of my children are not keen to work with others. Staying away from people for so long has led to them finding it strange to work in a team or group activities and dealing with dynamics and leadership struggles has required much patience on my part – but we are getting there!
5. Confidence in themselves and their abilities. If they are assigned an open-ended independent task, that eagerness in them to give it a try is not always there. It has taken time and a big investment of time, attention and are to bring their resilience, sense of growth mindset and willingness to present or talk in front of others back to the forefront.
6. Many teachers have certainly agreed with me when I say that many of our students
have become passive learners. This is not surprising because when we had classes via digital devices, we had to lead the activity. It was physically difficult to gather much collaboration and engagement from the children. We gave them videos to watch and assignments to solve and submit to us. Coming back to class after a little over three years has been a struggle for pupils and teachers alike. One we are beginning to make great strides towards overcoming, but still a challenge nonetheless.
So, what can be done? How do we fix this?
Helping kids learn after lockdown
According to the research done by the University College of London, I have found great suggestions for helping primary school teachers and parents to support learning, as we advance. For parents and teachers to help their kids and pupils learn after the lockdown, the goal should be to help them recover rather than catch up or get straight into learning.
● Identify individual needs- I love my pupils, and one of the things I have learnt about teaching kids is that there is no "one-size fits all" method. That means parents and teachers need to identify the needs of each child. Do they need help socialising once again? Then the focus should be on assisting them to recover their social skills. Activities that make them mingle with other kids and make more friends, such as after school clubs etc.
● Provide emotional support - From my chit chat with some of my pupils, it's evident that they felt overwhelmed by the long period of absence from school and events which may have happened to them personally during the height of the pandemic. As teachers, we need to help support them into the learning environment and ensure that they are given a safe space to talk about their mental health.
I focus on the well-being of my pupils first. This is because I believe that when a child's general well-being is content, learning will be less of a problem. I like to use a mental health chart with my children that they can add their name to each morning and they can adjust throughout the day, as issues or worries crop up.
Here is a picture of mine – Feel free to send me a message on Twitter or IG if you have any questions regarding my use of this. I am planning on doing a separate post about this and including some (anonymous) pupil voice around its impact soon.
● Nurture As teachers - I have discovered that having a teaching curriculum with broad teaching methods has helped my pupils flow with the learning process post-pandemic. I have found a means to include student-led activities in our learning curriculum and offer active learning experiences where possible. This is to stimulate their minds into critical thinking and teaches them values like being courteous, and showing respect for others. This will help children gradually develop the right attitudes and boost their confidence levels.
● Adaptation As teachers - We spend quality time with our pupils during the day. So, we can safely say we understand their learning patterns better than anyone. So what does this mean? It simply means that post-pandemic, the learning pattern of most kids have changed. Some kids are more inclined to use digital devices to learn better.
We can adapt our teaching methods to incorporate these new tools into the learning process. Help your kids' parents to do the same where possible; this way, all hands are on deck to help our children recover from the learning ‘gaps’ that they may have.
Parents, please create more time for your kids. I understand that work-life has
resumed, and you need to provide for your families. However, emotionally supporting your kids will help them bounce back from the Pandemic's effect on them. Help them build their confidence levels. When you assign them a task, encourage them to give it their best, and if they fail, explain why they need to try again. This is a continuous effort because they have been isolated for too long. So please be persistent in instilling these values.
I was worried that the Pandemic would negatively impact my pupils, and I was right. But all is definitely not lost! Notwithstanding, with the support of parents and teachers, we can create genuine smiles on the faces of our precious children and help them bounce back to their fantastic selves and thrive long beyond Covid-19.
I will focus on individual strategies from next week going forward, beginning with my mental health chart in class and what pupils think of it, so watch this space...
Also, please feel free to join my teacher well-being group on Facebook – link below. We have members from all over the teaching world; sharing tips, hints and advice on time-management and ways to support our well-being and that of our students.
Thanks for reading!
Lucy x