Day #222 Writing Through COVID-19: Affirmations

There's no way around it: today was hard. 

We endured.  

The AHS student in Sunday's accident came through surgery and is in a medically induced coma to allow his brain to heal. The outpouring of support for him and his family is surging across Southwest Iowa and beyond. 

My first two class periods were especially difficult as my upperclassmen students were teary, worried, and just sad.

My third-period class is freshmen. Most of them, like most of the school, dressed in gray sweatpants and flannel shirts today, the style choice of the injured boy. Last night students flooded social media with the call to wear gray and flannel for #32Strong. It was a visual way for our school community to rally for our classmate/teammate/friend/student. The classrooms and halls were filled with #32Strong's unique and personal style. 
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We have guardian/parent-teacher conferences scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday of this week. These will be conducted via Zoom, for obvious reasons. (Cass County's 14-day rolling positivity percentage today was 21.5.)

Today my freshmen recorded videos introducing a grownup in their lives who will attend their conference this week, or who cares about their learning. 

I will play their introductions at the beginning of each video conference, or if the person is not attending, I'll send the clip via email. 

To guide the students toward strong introductions, I gave them two examples. One said, basically, "Here is my mom." The other told about my own mother's bread-baking, her poetry recitations, and her creativity in planning richly themed birthday parties. 

My students then brainstormed memories, adjectives, and thankfulness they associated with the person they chose to introduce. They then wrote lovely affirmations.
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I have used versions of this activity as far back as 1989 when my students at Audubon High School recorded their introductions on VHS tape. 

I love this assignment because it gives kids a chance to express positive thoughts about their grownups, even if (as teenagers) they are often more focused on the negative. Furthermore, it gives my students' grownups a chance to hear affirmation from their teens.

Pre-Covid, when parent-teacher conferences were held maskless and socially un-distanced, I was sure to have a Kleenex box handy when I showed the videos. 

We all need to find ways to tell each other why we appreciate them. 
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Tonight when I called my parents, I told my mom how I had "introduced" her to my students. I heard joy in her voice, and what might have been tears.

I needed to tell her.

She needed to hear it.

Enough.
Be well.
Write.

Allison

Big, Bald, and Beautiful
Wolf Hoegh