Oregon's Teacher of the Year is sounding an alarm.
Mercedes Muñoz has won accolades for her work as a special education teacher at Portland's Franklin High School. It's a career that follows a remarkable turnaround. She dropped out of high school when she was young, then went back, eventually graduated, and continued on to college.
As she continues her work from home this spring, Muñoz says that distance learning is a farce — that it’s no substitute for in-person community, care and attention, and that kids are going to fall through the digital cracks. She recently joined "Think Out Loud" host Dave Miller to talk about her experiences with distance learning, and to share her concerns.
Dave Miller: Mercedes Muñoz, welcome to "Think Out Loud."
Miller: Can you give us a sense of what your work used to look like? If I followed you around at Franklin for a day, what would I have seen?
Miller: This was on a Facebook post picked up by some education associations, and is how we thought to call you up. You wrote: “Our teaching practices are intimate. I strategize ways to build trust and rapport with the learners entrusted to my care. It starts in my heart and then manifests in the lessons that I cultivate based on knowing who they are, learning their idiosyncrasies, particular quirks, strengths, lagging skills, and needs; both spoken and the ones unsaid.” What are you looking for? What are you paying attention to when you’re among your students?
Miller: All of what you’ve been describing is the old reality, the old world that we’re not in right now. How much of what you just described can you do from home?
Miller: You’re paying for your own cellular data so you can connect with your students and do your required work?
Miller: How much are you able to check in with your students and really get a sense for how they’re doing?
Miller: In the post that you wrote on Facebook, you told a little bit about your own story, about trauma and abuse at home, and what the physical school building when you were in high school at Benson in Portland, what that meant to you. Can you describe what it meant for you to go to school?
Miller: Do you see younger versions of yourself in some of the students you’re working work with now?
Miller: Do you have a sense for what life is like now for many of your students? You gave us the example that you did this prep to give people mindfulness and social and emotional grounding for the day, and nobody showed up a couple hours later when the meeting was supposed to happen. If no one is there, I imagine it’s hard to know what’s happening in their lives at that moment. But in general, what are these days like for your students?
Miller: What are your biggest fears for this time?
Miller: Are you getting the support you need to support you students?
Miller: You are not just a teacher. You’re a parent as well. You have a seventh-grader. What has this time been like for her?
Miller: Is anything giving you hope right now?
Miller: What a profound thing to think about, that what’s hopeful at this time is acknowledging the grief. Mercedes Muñoz, thank you so much for spending time with us. Best of luck to you and all the work you’re doing.
This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity. Click on the "play" button above to listen to conversation.
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