I began my 8th first day of school this past Monday. By now I have had some experience and understanding whats the best way to go about getting students comfortable with transitions and the “how-to” of school life. However, as of writing this we are still in the midst of the worse global pandemic since the Spanish Flu of the early 1900s. With that being said, starting the year digitally has been a bit of a hassle. Being a digital teacher has caused me to reach deep into my bag of tricks and try to make sense of the situation I have been given. Throw this on top of the fact that I am at a new school with three sections of 30 high schoolers each, I have a ton of new faces that I need to know. Essentially, I am back to my first year of teaching. Which means I need help to adapt my craft to my students. I have shamelessly talked to people who know my students, teachers blogs who have expertise in running online classrooms and just having open dialogue about what my needs are in teaching.
I want to encourage anyone reading for this point: don’t be afraid to ask for help. As I have said before none of us get to where we are alone. Realizing that you could be in a situation that is more daunting than initially anticipated, your best bet to the job the best you can is asking for help. Bearing a load on your own, while romanticized in society, is often what leads to mistakes and burnout. Feeling as if you are burdening those who you ask for help is your brain trying to work against you. Anyone who values your existence to their life will gladly offer what help they can. You know yourself the best, therefore you can judge for yourself what is the best way to get help. Once again, being helped is not a sign of weakness. Getting the assistance needed to do something better is what makes relationships in this world so meaningful.
Thanks for reading! Take care of yourself
-YFBF
Make sure to mask up!
Your First Black Friend 