High school teacher: Doing ‘emotional check-ins’ with students
For 14 freshmen at Dr. Howard Fuller Collegiate Academy, Gwen Miner is often the first person they see at school and the last one they see before going home.
Miner is the homeroom, seminar writing, and personalized learning teacher at the public charter school on North 29th Street, where Miner said fears of the coronavirus hit some of her students hard.
“Their main concern was if the city shuts down, how will their parents be able to go to work, pay rent, pay for food, things of that nature. If they don’t work, we don’t eat. That was their concern,” she said.
One student who lived with his grandmother told Miner that she was recently hospitalized for a respiratory illness. “I said it’s a valid concern. You can be concerned, but don’t let it consume you – keep that positive thought.”
Miner and other instructors are using Google Classroom, a communication app called Remind and several other technological tools to keep students on track to graduate to the next grade. She also does “emotional check-ins” with her students every day. She said she knows that school has a value beyond academics; for many, it also represents two free meals and a place away from home.
“We’re trying to support them, but we don’t know what that looks like and what we’re allowed to do,” she said.
Miner is also checking up on her parents, who are in their late 60s, and her grandparents. Miner’s mother, once a health department employee, has fought two bouts of pneumonia over the past 18 months. Miner’s grandfather, who is 84, has been living with COPD for the last decade. They both are considered part of the most vulnerable population.
Despite that, Miner said she’s not panicking. But between her students and her relatives, she realizes the magnitude of the moment.
“I’m 40 years old and I’ve witnessed a whole lot of diseases in the news, but it’s the first time one has had that much of an impact,” she said. “It’s the first time it’s been on this scale in my lifetime.”