This is an excellent question. I have had parents tell me that I can and should “make” their child sit and do his/her work. Now let me be clear… I can’t “make” kids do their schoolwork. I can encourage them, I can support them, I can reteach the material, I can praise them, I can even bribe them with a reward system. But I can not “make” kids do their work (If it is ok with you all, I will leave out the “” from here on, but know that I am mentally putting them in).
In this age of Covid-19, we will need to make kids wear their masks. It is a safety thing, like wearing a seatbelt. I will search for books that can be a literature lasso to open a discuss about their feelings on wearing a mask. Teachers may do cutesy things to make young kids feel more comfortable with seeing their teachers wearing a mask (even if they get criticized on social media for doing it – keep doing it, your heart is in the right place!). We may use masks with a clear area to show our teacher smiles. All to make kids wear their masks.
We will start school, in-person or virtually, and make kids comfortable in their new classroom community. We will do it with read alouds, all-about-me posters and stories, as well as creating classroom expectation anchor charts.
We can make kids have opportunities to socialize even if it is done through a screen or socially distanced classrooms.
We can make kids have classrooms filled with literacy opportunities.
We can make kids have lessons planned with their academic and social needs in mind.
What can you “make” kids do? Share in one of the ways below.
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