Learning During and Through the Storm

0:01 Hello, everyone, and welcome back to another episode of The Road to an Effective Classroom Environment. I am your host, Dr. Lashonta, and today we are going to look at the topic of learning during and through the storm. So this episode is not the continuation from the last one, and I am still going to put that information out. If you are an avid listener, you know that the last episode I put out was about inclusive education. Well, I felt the need to make sure that I brought forth a message regarding learning during storms or when our students are not in school due to environmental conditions.

0:50 And this was brought about because I live here in South Carolina and South Carolina, as well as some other states in the southeast: Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, all of these states have dealt with the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. And right now the death toll is over 130 uh people who have lost their lives during the storm. This hurricane was a category four storm, and a lot of damage has come about due to tornadoes that have taken that that actually um happened during the hurricane, as well as a lot of flooding.

1:35 Here in South Carolina, where I am, there is um a lot of flooding in different neighborhoods that is um making it very difficult for people to really get around. We still have thousands of people who are out without power, they have been out without power since Friday, and so there is just a lot going on, and sometimes it's very difficult to continue focusing on your education during these times, but being able to focus on your education will help you. So, this is more of a public service announcement for our parents, and uh we know that there's so much that some parents are having to deal with, um, dealing with the lost of loved ones, dealing with where are they gonna live, where um are they gonna get their next meal?

2:28 And sometimes the last thing that you are thinking about is whether or not a student is getting his or her homework completed or doing assignments. And I truly understand that. I really do truly understand that type of partnership. And so um I wanted to just um just talk a little bit about what to do if you're in a situation where you have your power, if you have electricity, your internet is up, um, then you want to make sure that your students are still engaged in the learning process because as we learn from COVID-19, during those times in which pretty much the country, um, the world still stood still.

3:17 You had more of the e-learning, virtual learning that was taking place, and we have noticed that there was a gap in education and just that learning process, because the students didn't have the benefit of having an adult with them face to face in a classroom, they had to look at that adult on the screen. But I wanted to just give you a few tips. If you do have your power, you do have your electricity and things that you can do. And I also want to talk to uh those of you that may not have it, and just some things that you can help your students with so that they're not thinking so much about the situation that they're in.

3:58 So, first thing is before any storm comes around, you want to make sure that your students have brought home their laptops. If that district allows them to, there are some districts that are one-to-one, but the students have to leave the laptops in the schools. So if your student does bring um his or her laptop home, make sure that it's fully charged before the power is gone. That way, the student will have a way of completing assignments that have been sent to him or her by his or her teacher. Second, you want to uh make sure that you get those that the students get those assignments completed in order to stay ahead, and it also serves as a way, as I said, to kind of distract uh the the student from having to think about what's going on around them, and um if they can focus on, and I know at that point in time, if you're trying to figure out whether or not you're gonna have your power is gonna go out, whether or not you're gonna have food, you may not be thinking about reading, writing, uh, math, science, social studies, or even any of the related arts, you're not thinking about those things, but just sometimes keeping your mind focused on some other things while you're going through your trials can be very beneficial.

5:19 So that's the second thing. Uh, and then um, third, if you have power, just making sure to not stress about the assignments. If you don't get the assignments done, there's always going to be time. Your teacher, your uh school, the school district, they will put uh provisions in place and stating that the assignments can be turned in by a certain date. So don't stress about it. Um, there are some that may get so caught up in I've got to keep you know this this perfect score or this um perfect record that I have, and I don't have power.

5:58 This is not the time to stress about it because if you're going through, you already have some things on your mind. So just make sure that you're not stressing out about whether or not you're able to get those assignments done. So the assignments completing work is a way to kind of get your mind off of things, but you don't want to stress yourself out about it either. So, parents, just keep that in mind as you are in situations where you're having to help your student learn during the storm and through the storm, just making sure that your stress level, your student stress level, is not elevated during this time.

6:36 If you don't have the access to electricity, then sometimes just journaling, writing your thoughts out. That's a good way to keep your um your the blood flow going, the synapses are still synapping, and just making sure that you have something that your student is able to do. Tell your student just to write about his or her feelings about what's going on, write poetry, write a story, write a comic book. But whatever you do, if you don't have access to electricity, then you can always go back old school, paper and pencil, pen and pencil, crayons, markers, use that as an opportunity to have your students to just write journal, um, writing poetry, writing stories, and parents, you can do the same thing as well.

7:30 There is just so much that you have to deal with during a storm that many times we may not even think about the learning process. But I just wanted to let you know that the learning can still continue during and through the storm, and the most important thing during that process is to not stress about it. Don't stress, but it can help you and your student in getting through so that you can gravitate your mind away from what you're having to deal with at that time. Just wanted to give you some brief tips, and um, my prayers go out to the families who have lost loved ones during the storm.

8:16 My prayers go out to those of you that are still dealing with not having power and not able to get back to your homes. My prayers are with you, and I hope and pray that everything is well with you in the next few days, so that hopefully by the end of the week you're back in your homes, you're back to um having your uh picking up where you left off with your life before Hurricane Helene came through. But again, this is Dr. Lashonta. I wanted to give you some few little nuggets quickly about your students and how they can learn during and through the storm and the impact that that can have on you and your students.

9:04 Until next time, have a good one.