What about the kids?

Elementary school educators faced a unique challenge this year–teaching children who are still in a crucial stage of intellectual development. Elementary school is an imperative building block for young children, as they not only develop an academic foundation, but experience social interaction, something that has been seriously limited as a result of COVID and enforced protocols. 

“Our students need to be in collaborative groups, talking and learning [with] each other,” Central Elementary principal Lea Devers said. “A big challenge has been keeping the students socially distanced, which is very unnatural for people–especially elementary-aged people.” 

Bluebonnet Elementary literacy dyslexia interventionist Julie Mining has also faced similar obstacles, as her job is dependent on socialization and the sharing of materials. As a dyslexia interventionist, however, Mining’s greatest struggle has been the discovery of new and effective methods that comply with safety protocols. 

“We focus on the sounds of words, like digraphs and diphthongs and things like that,” Mining said. “We have small mirrors that each of the students have, so we take our masks down and use our mouth [while looking] in the mirror. But we can’t do that as much as we normally would in the past, because they’re supposed to keep their mask on.”

Even still, as Devers and Mining reflected on their experiences, they both agreed though young in age, children have demonstrated impressive amounts of resilience and adaptability. 

“They’ve just kind of picked up on everything and rolled with it,” Mining said. “I think that’s been amazing to watch. I think it’s going to show a lot of growth with these kids moving forward because they’ve had to deal with these setbacks. I think they’re stronger for it–I think we’re all stronger for it.”