By Kristin Klingensmith
Bridges to Learning Managing Editor & Mathematics Fellow, Insititute for Learning
As we close out our inaugural year of being online, we want to thank each of you for being here, for making it through one of the toughest school years to date. This year has brought innumerable challenges, and in so many ways, we have collectively risen to meet those challenges.
Teachers, kudos! You showed up as you always do…live online, via pre-recorded videos, on You-Tube channels, and in-person (even if bubble wrapped and masked). You somehow found a way to make this year happen, often without the necessary supports, materials, time, or appreciation. You did it for your students, for your colleagues, for yourself.
We see you. We thank you.
Bridges to Learning
Managing Editor
Kristin Klingensmith
Editorial Committee
Aaron Anthony
Courtney Francis
Michael Telek
Denise Collier
Lorenzo Devine
Carol Chestnut
Administrators, this has been a year of tough decisions paired with the overwhelming need to be both flexible and creative while also tending to every detail. Your energy and efforts may have gone unnoticed, they may have even been questioned, but in so many ways you have shown up too.
And while we celebrate and take a much-needed deep breath, we know there is still so much work to do, and we are not done yet…
Bridges to Learning will be back in August with all new articles and recommended reads. While our articles will continue to be candid, genuine, educative, and useful to our readers, we will also push boundaries and explore spaces outside of the comfort zone.
We will
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- center and honor the lived experiences of educators and students.
- find joy and celebrate diverse perspectives and ways of knowing.
- challenge and expand what is typically thought of as the cannon.
- interrogate “educational best practices” to explore whose voices are heard and which beliefs are upheld.
- work to disrupt inequitable instructional systems so that every educator and student—regardless of skin color, country of origin, heritage language, sex, gender identity, or sexual orientation—can work and learn in a community that affirms and upholds their identity.
We hope that you will stay with us. We hope even more that you will contribute your voice, your words, and your stories to this space.
Be well and learn on,
Kristin