One of our neighbors has a cool Mandalorian sticker on their car: a white, stylized helmet with the slogan This is the Way. Back in the spring, Heidi and I watched the whole first season of the series, partly because after 40 years, most things Stars Wars are kind of a must, and partly because one of Heidi's students was a huge fan and she wanted to be able to carry on a conversation with him. Either way, The Way, a code of honor and behavior which to Mandalorians includes, but is not limited to, never removing their helmets in front of others, is something we are familiar with.
On our way home from the pool this afternoon we relived our disappointment with the appearance of the Mandalorian when at last the audience sees him without his helmet.
"I feel kind of bad," Heidi said, "because there wasn't anything wrong with the way he looked."
'I know," I agreed, "but it was kind of like that thing when you only hear someone on the radio, and then when you see a picture of them you're like--"
"That was NOT what I was expecting!" Heidi finished. We laughed for a minute, and then I thought back to all the phone calls I had made this week to parents and their students who will be starting in my class next week. To them I was only a disembodied voice on the line, and although they will see me on camera on Tuesday, I may as well have been wearing my helmet.
We teachers have been given strict guidance that we cannot require kids to turn on their cameras during virtual instruction, and I understand why. Revealing yourself and your current situation to others you may or may not know can be stressful. There is enough anxiety to go around these days without adding to it, especially when our objective is for kids to be in both a physical place where they can learn, and an emotional one as well.
Even so, I hope my students will feel comfortable enough to show their faces, if only because it seems like the most direct way to connect with each other. In the show, the Mandalorian is a lonely soul, isolated from others by choice and The Way. (Okay, Baby Yoda may have changed all that.)
As for me, when I called one of my homeroom students this morning, his mother shared their disappointment and frustration with not being able to fully join the virtual open house our school conducted yesterday morning.
"But we saw you in the car parade!" she continued, mentioning the caravan of teachers who drove an announced route through all our school's neighborhoods yesterday, cars decorated and horns honking. "And that made us feel so much better!"
"I feel kind of bad," Heidi said, "because there wasn't anything wrong with the way he looked."
'I know," I agreed, "but it was kind of like that thing when you only hear someone on the radio, and then when you see a picture of them you're like--"
"That was NOT what I was expecting!" Heidi finished. We laughed for a minute, and then I thought back to all the phone calls I had made this week to parents and their students who will be starting in my class next week. To them I was only a disembodied voice on the line, and although they will see me on camera on Tuesday, I may as well have been wearing my helmet.
We teachers have been given strict guidance that we cannot require kids to turn on their cameras during virtual instruction, and I understand why. Revealing yourself and your current situation to others you may or may not know can be stressful. There is enough anxiety to go around these days without adding to it, especially when our objective is for kids to be in both a physical place where they can learn, and an emotional one as well.
Even so, I hope my students will feel comfortable enough to show their faces, if only because it seems like the most direct way to connect with each other. In the show, the Mandalorian is a lonely soul, isolated from others by choice and The Way. (Okay, Baby Yoda may have changed all that.)
As for me, when I called one of my homeroom students this morning, his mother shared their disappointment and frustration with not being able to fully join the virtual open house our school conducted yesterday morning.
"But we saw you in the car parade!" she continued, mentioning the caravan of teachers who drove an announced route through all our school's neighborhoods yesterday, cars decorated and horns honking. "And that made us feel so much better!"
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