VIDBE-Q Volume 66 Issue 3
those immediate needs. In a very real sense, I had been too reticent to reach out to
families and offer more. I relied too much on perceiving what I thought they
wanted or were willing to offer. During the pandemic, I learned that families have
a huge capacity to give, especially for each other. If they can, they will. I should
not be afraid to involve them more.
At this point, the lockdowns have largely been lifted. With vaccinations,
much of the normalcy in many school routines will be returning. But the
communities around those schools, the communities our students, families and
ourselves live in, have endured much during the pandemic. As teachers, we learned
to flex technical muscles as well as expand our social emotional supports for
students and their families. Turning our focus from the year behind to the year
ahead, we must carry over concrete skills we learned to support the social
emotional health of the students we work with, it supports their own well-being
and ultimately their success.
About the author: Bryan Moles has been at Chicago Public Schools for 9 years as a
TSVI/COMS. He is excited to be embarking on a new chapter working in
Colorado as he completes his doctoral studies at University of Illinois Chicago.
