Bridges to Hope and Beauty
Today, I was thinking about bridges. It is interesting how many ways we reference the bridges in our lives. What is your latest bridge? How do you know when it is a bridge too far? What are you doing to build bridges to support students during the pandemic?
Water under the bridge
Over the bridge
We’ve already crossed that bridge
Burnt that bridge
Built a bridge
Bridges force two groups to collaborate. Many small communities have refused to connect with another, leaving roads on both sides of a line but not a bridge to cross. I want to be a bridge-builder. Can we build a bridge to Hope and Beauty for our students?
Two bridge ideas that our students need RIGHT NOW are Hope and Beauty! Michael Linsin reminds us in “How to Give Your Students Hope” that building grit is a key to good mental health but that he is “drenching his students in a downpouring of hope.”
Help students find the Beauty in our current world. Our students are taking daily walks to alleviate the pod mindset. Why not encourage them to capture the beauty and hold on to it? Karrie Hui, a teacher in Ontario, encouraged her students to capture and create beauty, as shown in the example above.
Teachers do so much more than merely instill grit and academic rigor. They share the hope and beauty of the past, present, and future world. Encourage teachers you know to provide hope and beauty to their students. It could well be the lifesaver they need.
Suzanne M. Rogers, M.Ed.
