We are heavily medicated
Some days, we give thanks for medications
Student: Mrs. D, I took my medicine, and I feel smart. I feel like I can do some equations!
Me: Well, this is English. Can you analyze satire instead?
On any given day, I never knew what state students would show up to class. Let’s be honest, I did not know how I was going to show up to class some days. I am not sure you were aware, but times have changed.
When I was in school (hold the eye roll a moment), we went from 8:30-3:30, had an hour-long lunch, took six classes, and did not have social media and constant technology access. There was no such thing as cyber bullying. If a person wanted to trash someone’s name, it was done face to face, or in a folded note, or a scratched-out picture in a yearbook. We were not at school until insane hours of the day. We had it easier.
Our current generation of teenagers are the most stressed and anxious generation. I think social media and technology play a large part in this, as well as the heaped-on expectations we place on students without giving them the proper supports. The school day, for the school I am at, is from 9-4:33. The students don’t like it. The teachers don’t like it. We are all exhausted and dragging and a bit on edge by the time the final bell rolls around. And then there are students in extracurricular activities and/or working. These sweet children are not getting home until long after many of us are curled up in bed. And we wonder why they fall behind in classes and struggle to find balance.
I have heard far too many teachers complain about the attitude and behaviors of students. Other teachers claim they are going to “be a hard ass because these students just need to learn responsibility.” Friends, many of these students are carrying far more responsibilities than I could have ever dreamed at that age.
Understanding the shifts in culture, in each generation, has caused a shift in my teaching. I know many students have to work to help support their families or are in activities their parents are insisting they do. There are teachers who give homework daily. I am not that teacher. We utilize class time because I want students to leave less anxious and less stressed.
With more students on a variety of medications, I have also had to adjust the way I present lessons. Long gone are the days of being able to lecture for 20 to 30 minutes and keep students engaged. There is a constant need for switching between multiple learning modalities. And there are days students have laser focus, and days they forget their medicine. There are days we accomplish more than we planned, and days we crawl to the end of class having barely covered the day’s lesson.
I don’t fault the students for these changes or for the constant pivoting that is required. They are only in my room for forty-five minutes a day. I do not know if they eat around a table with their families at night, if anyone is monitoring their technology use, or if anyone is helping them navigate the world around them. There is so much I do not know.
One of the few things I do know is I can welcome them when they’re focused and redirect them when they’re not. When they’re families cannot afford their medicine one month, we do our best to adjust and give them tools to be successful no matter what. And when they are medicated and focused, we take full advantage.