This unsolicited advice may serve more as a reminder for myself, then as actual advice for others, but here is the advice I’m giving myself right now:
First, recognize that the last three months of school have been CRAZY! The current Black Lives Matter movement has invoked a lot of emotions and possibly (hopefully) a lot of personal reflection and action. The switch to distance learning with zero prep time, the loss of regular human interaction, and the fear that has come with coronavirus (fear about everything including finances and health) have been stress upon stress. You have made it through the end of the semester (or will very soon) so take some time to recover and rebuild yourself.
Take the rest of the month to do three things: listen, learn, and rest.
Listen: Log onto social media and read and listen to what people are saying. Listen to what people of color are saying about Black Lives Matter and the racial disparities in education. Listen to what others, maybe those on the other side of the issue as you are saying, so you know what you are up against. Everyone should be listening, but especially white people should be listening. White culture has dominated the history books, the media, and pretty much all things Americana, so give space to hear a non-white perspective.
Learn: Research, read, do whatever you can to learn more about the inequalities in the education system. Find books to read, bloggers to follow, and podcasts to listen to that shed light on the systemic issues in schools (and in society).
Rest: Teaching is tough. Teaching during a world pandemic is really tough. Teaching during a time when people are calling out inequalities in our education system is really, really rough. (Notes: these inequalities have been there all along, they are just being brought to light and to mainstream - white people - attention more). Give yourself some grace and time to just be. Don’t grade papers. Don’t think about your classes for next year too much. Be bored if you need to be. Just be.
I love the saying, “Ain’t nobody happy unless momma is happy”, partly because I am a mom, but mostly because just like putting the oxygen mask on yourself first, you must prioritize yourself first to be of service to others. Right now you need to prioritize regenerating yourself and digging deep to make some fundamental shifts in how you view education.
For the rest of June, give yourself permission to not worry about how you are going to make changes. Instead, think about what you envision for education and your classroom in particular. Be very clear about the feeling you want students to have when they walk in the room. How you will implement and create this vision will be the work of July and early August.