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August 12, 2024
Amber Chandler is preparing for the new school year and is excited to bring joy into her classroom and foster a supportive and loving environment for her students. She encourages educators to embrace joy and make it the hero we've been looking for!
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I don’t know about you, but this summer I’ve been loving the joyous energy of the Harris-Walz campaign, the Olympics and Chappell Roan. Truth be told, at the end of the 2024 school year I had hit a wall personally and professionally as it seemed everywhere I looked there was anger, harshness and division. I was tired of fearing that my bumper stickers would get my car keyed and having just turned 50, feeling like I just had to get used to the way things had turned out post-pandemic. Luckily, this summer has completely shifted that energy, and for the first time in a long time I’m feeling optimistic.
July began with my “it movie” of the summer, Inside Out 2. (Last summer’s “it movie” was Barbie,which we could all stand to revisit!) Inside Out 2 does something I can’t stop thinking about: It unites Joy and Anxiety, a brand new character, as Riley enters the roller-coaster realm of teenagers. This sounds impossibly difficult because it is, but watch this explanation from the director, “How Inside Out 2 Battles Anxiety: Anatomy of a Scene.” This idea that Anxiety must be met with Joy, but that Joy has to acknowledge Anxiety and work with her, makes it clear: Joy is the hero we’ve been looking for. She’s asking us not to bury our head in the sand and let all of the possible projections of terrible situations go unchecked, but she’s also asking us to draw on our Joy to keep going, to keep trying, and above all, Joy tells Anxiety, “You’ve got to let her go.” When Anxiety literally loses her grip on Riley, I know I wasn’t the only one crying and dancing about this, as TikTok’s viewers agreed.
This idea that Anxiety must be met with Joy, but that Joy has to acknowledge Anxiety and work with her, makes it clear: Joy is the hero we’ve been looking for.
Just as this theory that Joy is the hero we’ve been looking for began to take hold, the political world was turned upside down with the candidacy of Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (aka “America’s Dad”). Big media took notice immediately to a new theme that has grown exponentially, and a movement was born: Joy over Anger. Political views about the presidency aside, America has had plenty to be angry about, for sure—a pandemic, the economy and the division that is homegrown. However, I, for one, am ready to embrace Joy, the hero we’ve been looking for!
Cue the Olympics. It’s almost too good to be true. Somehow Flavor Flav sponsors the USA Polo team, Snoop Dog is the (un)official ambassador of the Olympics sharing Skittles and being forced by Martha Stewart to try escargot. Simone Biles, who championed mental health by withdrawing from the Tokyo Olympics four years ago, is on fire, not only celebrating “putting in the work” for mental health, but also graciously bowing down, along with Jordan Chiles to Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade in “a lovely moment of sisterhood.” The feel-good moments never stop. Who isn’t a little in love with “Pommel Horse Guy,” sending young boys into gymnastics classes, because representation truly does matter? Don’t even get me started on Tom Daley and his knitting. What do all of these moments have in common? It’s joy. Joy is the hero we’ve been looking for.
When not getting the warm fuzzies from the Olympics, I’ve been blasting Chappell Roan, thanks to my daughter, Zoey. Unabashedly catchy, with an almost 1990’s vibe, Chappell Roan is the “unheard of” who skyrocketed to crazy success, and a Lollapalooza to remember—perhaps the biggest set of all time. What is so wonderful about Chappell Roan, besides her fresh approach to music (that she’s been perfecting for a decade, just listen to the lore here), is that she owns Chappell Roan as a Drag Queen to protect herself from being swallowed by her success and the industry. She tells us that there’s also a “Kayleigh” part of her identity worth protecting. Tell me more! Why do we love this so much? The sheer joy of singing “Hot to Go” knowing that we all are allowed to have versions of ourselves, not shackled to one label. Come on. This is Joy, the hero we’ve been looking for.
I’m excited to go back to school ... and I am ready to infuse that joy into my classroom community.
If this blog has seemed like a connect-the-dots of seemingly unrelated moments from the summer, I appreciate your patience. The fact is, I’m excited to go back to school; I’m excited to see what happens personally and politically this fall; and I am ready to infuse that joy into my classroom community. No, I will not be political, no I will not play Chappell Roan as my walk-up music, but I will have joy, which has been missing post-pandemic.
The good news is that there are many ways to infuse your classroom with joy. One of those you can read about on my website, is with the “Authority of Care” (or watch the webinar here). An authority of care is a philosophy that the adults are making decisions that are deeply rooted in love and the well-being of each child. An authority of care is not one size fits all; in fact, the value lies in analyzing what is best for each kiddo. Another way we can bring joy to our classrooms is by embracing the incredible ability we have as educators to change the world! In your classroom, you can create a community of learners who will cheer each other on, lift each other up, and never leave anyone out. You have the power to change the way humans treat one another. You have the ability to show students that there is a light at the end of this long journey—a place to learn that Joy is the hero we’ve been looking for.
As adults, if we have felt exhausted, depressed, anxious, and a multitude of other new emotions that one would experience during a pandemic and political upheaval, it only makes sense that we make sure to help our students find their own way. Not our way, not our politics, not our musical choices, but just like Joy in Inside Out 2 will not let Anxiety destroy Riley, we will not let division do that to us or to our students. I’d love to hear if you are seeing these same trends, noticing the return of joy, and how you plan to integrate joy in your classroom. I’d love to hear your ideas on how to allow poetry to take up residence in your classroom! Share in the comments or reach out via X @MsAmberChandler.
Get the new school year started off on the right track with more resources on topics such as classroom management, social-emotional learning, family engagement, supporting English-language learners, building successful community schools, and more.
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