School Adaptation In Times Of Pandemic: What About Emotional Ventilation?

We have been back in the classroom for a few weeks now and, in the different media, there is a lot of talk about the fact that there are classrooms that have had to close because there are students who have tested positive, there is talk of isolated groups of children, or the threat of that they have to take online classes again.

I say threat because It has become clear that boys and girls need to be together, meet again and socialize, feel the support of your peer group, especially in the case of adolescence. They need to leave home and be in that other school environment that allows children and young people to develop so many things.

We have been talking about this for several weeks, and I think there is another issue that is little talked about and, in my opinion, is extremely important.

The importance of emotional ventilation in the little ones when they return to school

If we start from the basis that this course is different from many others, practically from all the others, if we take into account that the previous course closed in a totally unusual way, we will agree that we are in a different scenario, which never It had previously been produced with these characteristics.

I do not discover anything new if I remember that students of all levels have spent 6 months without going to class, without being in the school environment and without so many aspects of their daily lives that, in some cases, this has made a much bigger dent than is being taken into account

Therefore, I am greatly surprised that, after these weeks of the course, the classes intend to follow the curricular rhythm that they have. I think it is essential that teachers, management teams and whoever corresponds realize that they may be doing something wrong, something negative for the students.

Let’s go in parts: Does anyone really believe that asking boys and girls to write an essay about how they spent confinement and the pandemic is enough? This activity has been, in many centers, all they have dedicated to talking about what happened.

I think that a writing or a specific activity of any kind (drawing, dynamic exercises or games), a single activity or two in these weeks, is completely insufficient. I believe that we are leaving aside something very important, which is the need for emotional ventilation that many children (boys and girls) urgently need

I do not at all intend to question the importance of following the school curriculum, trying to make up for lost time, in the corresponding subjects, even though I consider that mathematical operations, knowledge of language or science, are insufficient in the development of people who have experienced something unprecedented and that may have affected them in the depths of their being and their psychological well-being.

To do?

I think it would be good if, In these weeks that we have been in the course, there would have been a lot, a lot, a lot of talk about how they have been, to have left room for their fears having been able to tell their life stories, who has lost a loved one, whether they were grandparents or parents, uncles, neighbors they passed in the doorway or in the park.

In my point of view, also Teachers should share their own life stories and thus allow us to understand that this is something that affects us all, share experiences without excessively conveying the fears or concerns that each person may have. I think that makes us human, close and connects people with people.

I think doing this is not easy; Perhaps not all teachers are prepared (although other professionals, psychologists for example, can be counted on), but Let’s not forget that we are talking about mental health which is health, after all.

If we do not realize the emotional needs of these new generations, we will have a serious risk of mental illness in society, in people who, although they have regained their rhythm in academic subjects, will not be able to face future situations, as adults, because emotionally, they will not have recovered from something very difficult and of great dimensions.

It draws my attention, in stories from well-known people who are dedicated to teaching, or in radio talk shows, to hear that in high schools there is not that hustle and bustle of classrooms, patios or hallways, among other things because care is taken to ensure that this is not the case. . I wonder if the teachers don’t realize that, In addition to preventing COVID-19 infections among students, we must help prevent depression, generalized anxiety or other more severe disorders that may arise in the future. Let’s talk about emotions, let’s talk about how everyone feels, let’s leave space for people to feel that they are important, let’s understand that, currently, people are more important than seeing the entire agenda.