Returning to School Through Love and Care

 

Here are a few snippets that I took from the webinar along with my reflections. 

Carol Mutch:

Schools hold communities together as an anchor (keep people connected). Principals and teams can become community leaders who step up in a crisis. Teachers become front line trauma workers. 

Reflection: Communication is such a key part of this. Sharing timely information, reassuring people and giving practical direction to solve the problems, providing people with a focus. 

Take the support offered to you. Be kind to yourself. 

Reflection: I'm really grateful for the professional supervision offered by PES. I've had to be kind to myself by not expecting myself to complete 10 extra things while in lockdown. One thing might be manageable and I'm trying to include things that restore me. 

Students will all come back in different places. Share critical hope...

So knowing your learner is really important. I like the phrase critical hope... to me, it speaks of hope that is grounded, not wishy washy. Hope that recognises that things are difficult now, they may be difficult in the future, but we will get through together and there are good things to look forward to. 

Lynda Stewart 

Focus on the whole child including the community, the ainga and make it fun. 

Reflection: I really appreciated the way Lynda's school made returning to school a celebration. Also she was able to see her students as part of a wider community. 

Peter O'Connor 

Getting back (not to routine) but the rhythm and pattern of life... learning can be really joyful. 

Reflection: Rhythm, pattern and joyful are really important words to me, so I immediately connected when I heard Peter saying this. I think of rhythms being helpful actions on repeat. I think Peter is encouraging us to carefully think what are going to be the helpful actions for our kids and to repeat them. In contrast, we could continue with what we've always done (old routines). He says that to go back to 'old routine' when life has changed so significantly is to deny what we've all be through. A new time requires new rhythms. 

Kids are feeling worried and scared about people getting sick or dying. You don't want to have a class discussion about that. You want to have rich conversations between adult and child while they are doing a wonderful art project. 

Reflection: This felt really refreshing to me. It made me realise the content of what I'm teaching doesn't matter as much as I think. The adult/child conversations really do matter a lot. Marie Gillihan noted that keeping their students' hands busy was important. I think she was saying the doing was part of the healing and the growing, (as well as providing the space for adult/child and child/child conversations). 

Carol and Peter also mentioned some picture books - Tu Meke tuatara, Tu Meke Tui which can help you have conversations with kids. You can discuss how the characters managed their feelings and experiences. A picture book can make the big issues less threatening for teacher and student. When kids re-enter schools at different times, you can facilitate the students who have been back at school the longest, welcoming back the new-comers. For example, the "already settled student" tells a soft toy (e.g. bear) what they have been learning about coming back to school alongside the new comer. That way the new- comer gets to hear the 'already settled student' explain to the bear what they've been doing.  

Two questions to ask yourself: 

Do the things you do really matter? 

Do the kids know they matter? (pedagogy of love and care)

Reflection: What beautiful questions. One question is task focused and one is people focused. Some people are naturally task focused and others (me) are naturally people focused. I think as teachers we feel fulfilled in our job when we really know in our bones that what we are doing matters.As Peter said: Our job is to listen. We have to slow down and not be too busy.

Peter gave us a quote from the playwright William Lyon Phelps

“The greatest of all the arts is the art of living together!”