Maslow's New Normal

"I’m spending every spare minute I have scouring websites for resources and advice for online learning. I am creating lessons that are not my best teaching. I feel like a first year teacher all over again. My students look distracted. I can feel the parents watching in disappointment or frustration. It’s hard to tell which.”

This was the first part of a lament that Sarah, a 4^th grade Judaic Studies teacher whose New York area school has closed due to Coronavirus, recently shared with me. It made me wonder about the impact of the growing layers of frustration within teachers along with the potential loss of their professional sense of self. This is not a comfortable or safe place for Sarah or her colleagues to inhabit.

“A 2^nd grade General Studies teacher doesn’t have strong internet service in her apartment. When she prepares for school and needs internet; she usually goes to her friend’s apartment. With social distancing, that’s not an option. We are trying to figure out how to get her internet access so that she can prepare and teach her students online while the school is closed. This feels like a whole new set of problem solving skills for me” a day school administrator recently said. This is a problem that most school administrators never thought they would need to address

A thoughtful friend said to me recently, after one disappointing day of online learning for his daughter, “I don’t understand, why is it so hard for teachers to teach their lessons online? Can’t they just do what they would normally do in the classroom through Zoom?” We had a long talk about their question during which it occurred to me that as Jewish day schools across New York began closing, entirely new categories of need emerged within school cultures. Maslow’s Hierarchy Of Needs was a helpful lens to gain perspective on our current situation and the painful shifts that stakeholders in the education world are experiencing.

In the mid-20^th century, the psychologist Abraham Maslow stated that people are motivated to fulfill certain needs in a particular order - some needs take precedence over others. Our most basic need is for physical survival, before this need is met, our behavior is shaped by our drive to achieve it. Once that level is fulfilled the next level up is what motivates us, and so on. Using this popular framework as a guide, one can understand why educators are feeling particularly vulnerable right now. In the New York area, teachers and students in Jewish day schools were on the front lines of the Coronavirus outbreak. The bottom levels, physiology, safety - the supports that provide the foundation for thriving - were quickly redefined for them. The fast-spreading Coronavirus and long wait times for tests, stock markets crashing and closing have ruptured people’s feeling of safety around basic physiology and physical safety needs. Their behaviors are driven to secure a sense of safety on those basic levels.

Love/Belonging

The isolation of self-quarantine and social-distancing have dismantled many people’s sense of community. The support we get from colleagues, friends and family have, at best, been diminished by these safety measures. Many people I know have reported elevated levels of frustration, anxiety and stress. Minor annoyances are now magnified and relationships seemed frayed and less nourishing due to the stresses of way too much time together (when you are self-quarantined at home) or none at all (when you are separated by quarantine or strict social-distancing).

On the community level, some schools have sensed this loss and tried to creatively supply their students with a sense of community through a buffet of virtual experiences - Megilla readings, Purim parties, grade level meetings, advisory, musical havdallah….

The fourth layer of the pyramid – self-esteem - is now experienced very differently by teachers. Typically, much of the professional esteem/self-esteem they develop is through relationship with their students. Daily interactions with students on the playground, the “aha” moments when a student has a new insight, social-emotional learning and problem solving that signal a healthy classroom culture are also the places where teachers feel their worth and the evidence of their competencies. In the virtual classroom, teachers must create new structures, new routines and do it in a platform that is utterly foreign to the majority of teachers. Before joining The Jewish Education Project, I was a principal of a Jewish day school. In the day school world, I hadn’t even been on a Zoom call let alone created virtual lessons, crafted asynchronous lessons and sustained student attention online. Creating an online lesson is not at all like crafting a bricks and mortar lesson. Teachers cannot rely on their years of experience, their strong classroom management or their charisma. They need to learn new vocabulary, new timing and new tools of the trade. In the Maslow (Corona) hierarchy, teachers are on shaky ground and their professional life may no longer be a source of self-esteem; rather, it is a source of self-doubt, lack of competence and fear.

So, what are some practical take-aways?

1. Being able to identify and name what is happening can be calming and validating. Teachers, parents, administrators or students who are feeling overwhelmed may benefit from gaining a deeper understanding of their experience. Knowing that they are not alone or “out of their league” can be comforting.
2. Keep in contact with one another and create alternate touchpoints and community building experiences. This can be done on a macro level with community Zoom events and on the micro level by creating check-in groups. This can be done by individuals who decide to keep contact with teachers to be an empathetic ear. Or, webs of people who will be in touch with one another and provide support or find follow up support as needed.
3. Dig deeper when questions arise. When teachers ask for help on technical Zoom questions, try to understand, what is the real need?
   1. Are they asking for technical information?
   2. Are they asking for affirmation or seeking confidence?
   3. Are they seeking human contact, a sense of community?

At The Jewish Education Project, we are trying to keep these multiple needs front and center in contacts with partners in the field or providing resources. For example, as we run “Zoom trainings” we are aware that Zoom itself offers very effective training materials; but, they do not provide the community building aspect nor the check-ins that we imbed in our programming. At the end of our webinars, multiple people stay on the call to exchange ideas, ask questions and share their experiences.

During these crazy times, we must recognize that teachers and administrators are trying their best. They are learning new pedagogical methods, trying to keep tabs on the physical and mental wellbeing of their students, while simultaneously looking after their own health. As we prepare for Passover, let’s hope that next year, we will be free from the confines of social distancing and celebrating our liberation as families and school communities.

Judith Talesnick is the Director of Professional Learning and Growth for The Jewish Education Project.