It's back to school time

2020 - pandemic started - heard about a school that had a graduation for the 2020 students. Good on them.

2021 - The mask year

2022- the normal year filled with learning gaps, online/in-person teaching, and quarantines

2023 - Let's call this one back to normal. - so what do we need to do

The 3 most important things teachers should do this year

1. Get way into your subject and get consistent about communication and deadlines. Become a team with your students. Gen Z wants the subject first and you second. Millennials were a little bit the other way. Gen X was totally the other way. Remember to a Gen Z Wi-Fi and cell phones are like lights and running water. Deadlines are so important. Accountability will be key this year.
2. Increase and develop interpersonal skills.
   1. Handshaking with gloves if you have to.
   2. Encouraging them to speak up and develop their voice.
   3. I've heard many teachers talk about how they forgot how to act. Of course, they were forced into a zoom world and told to stay home and not touch anything for a long time. Mask up and stay 6 feet apart.
   4. Covid is still real but this has caused the strange behavior.
3. Stress that career and retirement are really important.
   1. Grades matter -       remember people with 4-year degrees make about double what people who don't have a college education do.
   2. Building some long-term career is super solid advice. How many people do you know will never be able to retire? This all starts in high school.
   3. Changing jobs every 3 years is hazardous. Wouldn't it be much better to figure out what you want to do and go all in on it? This is the point of high school.
   4. You may have little deflections on the way up, but you can't see what you don't aim at. High school is to teach people how to aim.