Ask any teacher if the pandemic made their job harder and they’ll tell you: “Every single day,” says John Arthur, 39, a sixth grade teacher at Meadowlark Elementary in Salt Lake City. “We were reinventing education every second of every day. And none of us had a playbook to fall back on. The veterans in the building were all rookies again.”
And they met added challenges as the country faced a racial reckoning following the deaths ofGeorge Floyd,Ahmaud Arbery,Breonna Taylorand others.
“Students read about [these events] online and then form their opinions and judgments about what is happening in the world,” says Arthur, who talks about current events with his students daily, using resources like CNN 10, News Roundup or Newsela.
Those conversations are vital, says Juliana Urtubey, 35, NBCT, a special education teacher for pre-K to fifth grades at Kermit R. Booker S. Innovative Elementary in Las Vegas and2021 National Teacher of the Year: “We don’t shy away from [these topics] because they’ve been taken to a different level of being politicized. We build inclusive, safe communities for absolutely everybody — that this is the heart of education.”
PEOPLE spoke to Arthur, Urtubey and Alejandro Diasgranados, 29, a fourth and fifth grade language arts and social studies teacher at Aiton Elementary in Washington, D.C., for our2021 PEOPLE of the Year, to celebrate the 3 million-plus teachers across their country who have persevered during these unprecedented times. Here, in their own words, they share how they tackled these tough conversations with kindness.
In addition to the pandemic, the country was also grappling with racial strife. How did you deal with that in the classroom?
Diasgranados:I remember the day that I had to teach my students when theJanuary 6th insurrectionwas going on right down the street from us here in D.C. — the last field trip that we took in person was to the Capitol. Conversations like those were really challenging. [But] it was an open discussion about how it made us feel, and it was really interesting because not only the students were listening in, but their parents and family too.
Arthur:When Asian hate [started] running rampant, a couple of my students, best of friends, were playing a game. One boy slapped another, who is Asian. I ran over and I could see the handprint on his face. He said, “Oh, I apologized. I hit him too hard, but it’s just a game where you slap the COVID off.” My student had no real understanding of how awful what he had said was, but could tell from my face that I was not only upset as a teacher, but I was personally hurt as an Asian American, as a human being. I was able to bring that event back into the classroom and help my students process not only this thing that had happened among their friends, but this thing that’s happening in society.
DIASGRANADOS:I would show them a picture, and it would be in black and white, and they would think it’s from 50 years ago. But [it’s comparable to] pictures taken last summer in June 2020, when George Floyd [died]. They were able to see that that history repeats itself, and that we are still in the fight and still in the struggle.
For them, it’s a little scary — these 6, 7, 8 and 9-year-olds are coming to school to learn how fantastic our world is, but also have all these questions and they know that school is a safe space for them to ask these questions. They know I’m the person that they can ask these questions to, and I’ll always give them an honest answer.
For more on the 2021 PEOPLE of the Year, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday, or subscribehere.
Juliana Urtubey on the cover of PEOPLE.Ari and Louise
In some districts, parents have been making demands at school board meetings about what curricula is taught. Do you worry that that schools are becoming politicized?
DIASGRANADOS:For me, it’s definitely a worry that teachers won’t be able to teach as we have been doing for years. Teachers are the experts in their content area. I’m always inviting parents to contribute to the curriculum and join these conversations. I think there’s a time and place for that. I think giving everyone a seat at the table is important — parents, students, community members — but there are people who might not know how to express what they feel in an appropriate way.
URTUBEY:We have to be brave in giving students what they need. I know as a person of color, as a woman of color, a first-generation immigrant, how important it is for who I am to be validated, and I see myself in my students.
Right now, I feel that [the heated] school board meetings are an effort to dissuade us from teaching robust, historically accurate, reflective history. I believe we are strong and courageous and smart enough to teach our students to look at history with multiple lenses. It’s a beautiful thing to teach students, “Hey, here’s this history lesson. Who do you think might be left out? Who do you think would give us a more complete picture?” Research says all students, regardless of race, benefit from looking at learning in a more holistic way. I can understand some people’s discomfort with what they perceive to becritical race theory, but I think racial justice is something that cannot wait any longer. And I also believe that it doesn’t have to be a scary thing. We’re not out to place blame, we’re here to bring people together. I’ve seen so many teachers handle this situation really beautifully with a lot of love and a lot of empathy.
ARTHUR:In these turbulent times, [parents are] feeling fear for their children, fear for their communities, fear about what their kids are learning in school. We, as educators, need to prepare our students and also let everybody know your kids are in good hands. We are trained professionals, and we are not teaching them these scary, boogeyman-type things that you might think just because you’ve heard people say we are. Visit us, talk to us, and trust us as we celebrate and uplift your children.
source: people.com
