MENTAL HEALTH

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In Schools, Finding Hope at a Hopeless Tim

Research shows that hope is a measurable, learnable skill—and to feel hopeful, students and teachers have to work at it.

By Nora Fleming

March 26, 2021

In mid-February, three snowstorms knocked out the electricity for thousands of residents in Boyd County, Kentucky. As they waited for up to two weeks for the lights to come on, many residents were left snowbound in their homes in freezing temperatures. Two people died from hypothermia before power was restored.

The outages added insult to injury for a rural community struggling to keep students connected and engaged in remote learning for the past year, shared Christy Ford, a high school English teacher. With limited cell phone battery, Ford texted her students during the “dark days” to let them know she was thinking about them—and ask them what they’d do first when the power came on.  CONTINUE