Talk to any educator who taught both pre- and post-COVID and they’ll tell you a tale of two classrooms. Shutting school doors and bringing learning fully online had a huge impact on students academically, socially, and emotionally. This sometimes sounds unbelievable to the accountants and farmers and sales managers and CNC designers of the world—kids are still kids, right?—but those folks can likely tell you stories of how their fields changed after nearly two years of global disruption.

Though I can’t speak for every teacher, I’ll say that personally, I feel I can handle the academic challenges of our post-COVID students. We’ve still got some catching up to do, sure, but I know my subject area and I have lots of strategies (plus great institutional support) to help students learn at a high level. 

It’s the post-COVID gaps in social and emotional skills that still have me stumped. Students struggle to sit still, focus, be curious, stay organized, and interact appropriately with each other. Classroom management has become a challenge like never before; what used to work just doesn’t anymore. Researchers and educators worldwide are scrambling to locate the source of student struggles and find ways to help.

And on top of that, classroom management wasn’t exactly easy for all of us to begin with! New teachers tend to identify it as the hardest part of their first few years, and even the veterans with quiet, harmonious classrooms had to do a lot of trial and error to get there. 

When a student misbehaves—or, wait… we don’t say “misbehaves” anymore, right? There’s no such thing as “bad” behaviors, just ones inappropriate for the situation. So uh… when a student exhibits inappropriate behavior, teachers are told to dole out punishments—oops, I mean… uh…consequences! Even deciding what language we use to discuss behavior and management is fraught with debate. Regardless, when a student is struggling behaviorally in our classrooms, a lot goes through a teacher’s mind. Did I set clear expectations? Did the student understand them? Am I using systems to support those expectations? Have I dealt with this student’s behavior early enough? Am I being consistent? Have I built a relationship with this student? Is the student engaged, or is our current activity boring or too easy? Will I get administrative support if I discipline this student? Are they just hungry? Have I prayed for this student enough?

And on top of that, every single classroom is different and requires different methods. The teacher’s management style and preferences matter. The grade level matters. The individual students in the room matter. The combination of students matters. The set up of the room matters. The presence or absence of parapros or aides matters. Heck, the month and the day of the week and the time of day matter. 

Our task, then—as post-COVID, research-informed, faith-centered, student-loving educators—is simply to find something that works. This issue is full of great suggestions, and we hope that you’re able to gather some new techniques. The writers here give tips about everything from seating arrangements to restorative justice circles to social-emotional learning to using the wisdom of Proverbs to redirect struggling students. 

What works for me might not work for my hallway neighbor, and what works in Maine might not work in Manitoba, but be encouraged by the knowledge that we’re working together to find solutions for this new generation of students.