Classmates

School had been online for months on end. Secret handshakes, candy-inspired perfume, the flick of overgrown bangs, and even the disapproving yet amused look from me the teacher had all vanished.

I would still see my middle-school students almost every day, but I had no idea how they were really doing across the screen. Many of my students thrived, mastering new platforms and apps, even speaking up more through the microphone or the chat. But it was not them that I was worried about. I wanted to connect with all my students like I did before. I needed to be in the classroom with them.

Finally, in late Spring of 2021, we went back. Even before rounding the corner, I could feel the students’ thrill at being back at school buzzing through the floor boards. I had so much to teach and re-teach my students. There would be no time for such excitement.

A wave of nervous energy hit me when I entered the classroom. The students were shouting to be heard under their face masks. I plopped a five-page, double-sided tome of notes on each students’ desk.

“Take out a pen or pencil and fill in this packet,” I commanded. “Then I will check it to see if you are ready for the test.”

Students rummaged through dusty backpacks. After months of typing or clicking online, many students had nothing to write with, so they asked their friends. This resulted in another derailment of classroom order. Each desk a little helipad complete with flailing appendages.

I circled around the room. Sure enough, the students whom I was worried about, had left empty spaces on the paper. What more did these students need? I was back in the classroom with them.

But it was not me whom the students wanted, they were excited to see their friends again.

In fact, when I thought about it, it was the other students in class who made school real.

Classmates photographed and emailed pictures of the homework. They celebrated birthdays, lent pencils, and told me if a friend was sad or having problems. In small groups with their peers, students spoke up and asked more questions. They also worked harder, not only for themselves but for the sake of the entire group. Classmates were just as important as the teacher in the learning process.

Online, I didn’t know when they needed help because they were isolated. They didn’t have their advocates, their fellow students by their side. And now that we were back in the classroom, they needed time to get back in sync with the social element of school.

The next day, I entered the same excited classroom. There was so much for the students to learn. So, I turned to the experts. I had them work in groups, appropriately spaced from one another of course, but each with a task that could only be completed together.

The noise and chaos level of the classroom increased. The students worked, even the students who had struggled online. They hunted for the right pencil, brushed bits of eraser away, and consulted notes, all while talking and laughing with their classmates.

I didn’t attack with all that I thought I had to teach them. I let the students learn together with their classmates. We were a school again.