Do you know what your students are carrying?

Educators, what are the things you carry?

What burdens can you not lay down because you are fully human?

Today, like the waves in this picture, it hit me how much we carry, as students, as educators, as humans.  Like these waves that can so violently crash against us and carry us away, the things we carry can surge, sweep us off our feet and make us feel completely at their will.

I have always had the privilege to work with diverse students in urban settings (as a K-12 and university educator). I have always been someone that my students have confided in when they are carrying burdens.

I have seen middle school students struggling with watching their friend(s) die. I have heard their stories of molestation and rape. I have seen their resilience as they help to care for their families, separated for a variety of reasons. I have seen their struggle with mental and physical health issues, bullying, and society’s discourses about their “ghetto school.”

I bore witness to these things and as I walked alongside my students, I carried some of these burdens with me. While I planned curriculum, graded work, worked with families, and offered support, I carried these things.

When I was teaching middle school, especially in my last few years, I was also carrying burdens.  I was struggling to parent my daughters who came to me carrying their own childhood trauma; I was working multiple jobs to sustain our family and move me towards the work I wanted to do at the university level; I was dealing with physical and mental health issues of my own.

I bore witness to these things and as I walked alongside my students, I carried some of these burdens with me. While I planned curriculum, graded work, worked with families, and offered support, I carried these things.

In some ways, I thought that moving to university level teacher education would afford me some of the privilege of less things to carry, but this hasn’t been true, and days like today remind me of the humanity of my students, regardless of their age.

This semester alone, I have had multiple students watch close family members battle and succumb to serious illnesses. I have had students deal with serious mental and physical health issues. I have had students take the responsibility of caring for friends and family members while also trying to balance school, work and their own lives.

I bear witness to these things and as I walk alongside my students, I carry some of these burdens with me. While I plan curriculum, grade lesson plans, manage my own family and a full research agenda, and offer support, I carry these things.

In our humanity, we are all carrying many things.

Perhaps the greatest gifts we can give to ourselves and one another are to be kind, to advocate, to support, to listen, to seek to understand, to hold space, to bear witness, to share the load.

If we truly stay present, we will recognize ourselves in one another’s humanity.