It’s 1:00 PM on a Monday — time for electives at The Little Middle School. This week, students can choose between photography, catapult-building, and creative writing.

However, one eighth-grader comes up to a member of our teaching team with a request. “Can I do some more math instead?”

As the adult in charge, it’s so easy to say no. It’s easy to justify that decision, too. We could say that our students should be open to learning new things even if they’re not immediately interested. We could point out the unfairness or inconvenience of granting a special request to one student.

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There is a phrase that brings joy to my teacher heart — three little words that make me feel like all my effort is worth it and my time on earth will leave some legacy.

When a student is willing to say these words after days, weeks, or months of working together, I know that they trust me and we can make rapid progress moving forward.

No, not “I love you.”

The three little words are, “I don’t know.”

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My middle school students in Atlanta have two short teleconferences every day to check in.

We are getting about half of the students on these calls regularly.

Of these, there are always three to five students who sit silently with their cameras off for the duration of the call, leaving the rest of us to gaze at a black box.

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In observing various reactions to our current circumstances, I’ve noticed a few patterns.

There are those who advocate for slowing down, conserving energy, and doing less.

And there are those who challenge us to push forward, seek opportunities to contribute, and make a mark.

These messages are meant for different audiences. Which one are you in?

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When we teach history, it’s easy to unwittingly imbue events with a sense of inevitability — of destiny.

After all, things happened the way they happened — the only forking paths we can create are imaginary, born of the “what ifs” that we ask ourselves.

It’s important to see that, at every step of the way, what we call history is the result of human activity. Individual human beings made choices, collectively creating movements or maintaining the status quo. Some choices are more influential than others, but change always comes from people making the decision to act.

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Young people are told they can be anything they want to be and exhorted to strive to achieve their dreams, but when the people around them are living mundane existences that leave little room for thinking big, what message are we actually sending?

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