Teachable Moments: Using Lessons From the COVID-19 School Shutdown to Chart New Pathways in Education

• In Event: The Pandemic as a Portal: On Transformative Ruptures and (Im)Possible Futures for Education

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused enormous changes in our social interactions and the way we navigate life. The pandemic has also provided a portal that can allow us to rethink schools where Black Indigenous People of Color can recognize their full humanity throughout the school year instead of feeling relegated to specific dates. Reimagined educational spaces can aim to leave behind structures and systems that cause harm and trauma to minoritized groups while reinforcing ideologies based on white supremacy. I suggest three ways that schools can use lessons from the pandemic to chart a new path in education: by providing clear and consistent communication and expectations, by creating alternative opportunities to collaborate with families and by offering spaces that incorporate reality pedagogies (Emdin, 2020). Delpit (2006) considers the tradeoff that we face when schools focus more on test scores and scripted lessons and less on helping children make sense of the world around them and their important place in it. “We have given up the rich meaningful education of our children in favor of narrow, decontextualized, meaningless procedures that leave unopened hearts, unformed character, and unchallenged minds” (p. xiv). Recognizing that schools do not exist in silos, my suggestions are meant for education policymakers, district leaders, school administrators, teachers, and anyone in a position of power to create change.

Author

• Tara Kirton, Teachers College, Columbia University