Put your hands together for ...

As the whole world knows, we are currently all working from home. It’s a strange space to be in. Instead of driving between schools, going into classrooms to teach Cybersmart lessons, getting to know people, I’m at home in my little office. All around the world, people are doing the same thing (apart from our amazing and hard-working essential workers).

Teachers are essential workers too though. I’ve noticed a bit of flack in the comment space on Stuff that perhaps teachers are on an extended holiday. Surprising to think that people out there think teachers have been doing nothing over the past four weeks. The experience I’ve had would tell a different story.

So what have I noticed?

In no particular order:
Teachers who have said ‘bring it on!’ this is what I was born for.
Teachers who have freaked out, flapped around, and then got on with it, creating inviting spaces for their learners to engage with.
Teachers who have enhanced their collaboration with others in order to best serve their learners.
Teachers who have woken at 2am in their holidays to get an idea down
Teachers who have considered the parent’s roles in this strange new world and made things easy for them as the learner’s first teachers.
Teachers who want to celebrate the amazing things their learners are creating and their parents are doing.
Teachers who get that it is all about connections at the moment and who are fostering spaces that allow this to happen.
Teachers who spent most of their ‘holiday’ thinking, making, creating, learning in order to be ready for learning at home.
Teachers who are juggling their own children’s learning and their own class, and we all know teaching our own kids is never easy.
Teachers who said that this online thing was never for them but are now showing others how it is done.

I’m sure I’ve missed things on this list. What would you add?

I’m also in a very privileged position in being able to see how Principals have embraced this and led their staff. I know I’m still getting to know these schools, their cultures and the people that lead them but so far I’ve been impressed. All of these Principals care about their staff and students. This is their list:

Principals who were thinking and putting things into place long before it happened.
Principals who told vulnerable staff to go home and take care of themselves or their loved ones.
Principals who continue to tell staff to take care of themselves.
Principals who think about what their staff need and respond accordingly.
Principals who created ways of connecting with staff in a fun way; shared Jamboards, dress up staff drinks, game/quiz time …
Principals who are innovative and creative and inspire their staff to be.
Principals who are open to learning during this time and are sharing that learning with their staff.
Principals who share their learning and ideas with the wider community.
Principals who provide safe and consistent environments, where staff can express themselves.
Principals who know their context, understand it but won’t let it be a barrier to new things.
Principals who aren’t afraid to ask for help.
Principals who celebrate their staff and what they are doing.

I know that there will be facilitators, teachers, principals, support staff, friends, family … all who would say much the same thing. We have some pretty amazing people in Te Ara Tūhura. And some pretty amazing people around the country, working hard for their tamariki.

Tamariki are kinda the point though, aren’t they? They are often the reason we wake at 2am. The reason we turn up to work on those days we would rather stay in bed. The reason many of us decided to teach. (Not me though, I’m totally in it for the cash *wink*)

Which brings me to another question or three: What is it about how we are doing ‘school’ at the moment that is or isn’t engaging our tamariki? What are we noticing about our learners and their approach to the work? Am I as a teacher using these notices things I am noticing to make changes to my online practice? Will I take these things back into the classroom? Is there a shift happening in my practice?

One teacher I spoke to said that she is never going back to how she was teaching, that this way is far more engaging and she can’t wait to see how she is going to use it to turbocharge her face-to-face teaching. But another teacher said that while she has learnt a lot through this, she has no intention of it changing the way she does learning in a classroom.

Where are you sitting on this spectrum?

Someone asked me today if I’d noticed any teachers talking about their student’s voices? Had I noticed if teachers are asking their students how they are finding the lockdown learning? And, if the students had any thoughts about the future? I realised I didn’t know. This wasn’t a question I had thought to ask.

I’m going to start asking it though. Maybe you could join me.

What do you, the learner, want school to look like after Covid-19 is gone?

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step

This year, 2020, started differently for me. I didn’t have a class to prepare for. I didn’t have staff days to attend. I didn’t have the noise in my head as my holiday began to creep towards its natural end. Sure, I still had the excitement of what was to come. The nerves of starting. But I had the added nerves of starting something new. A new journey, a new job.

Almost three months later I feel I am finding my feet. As Term 1 drew to an end I was feeling more comfortable in this new skin as an Education Programme Leader. I had spent time getting to know the people I am working with, getting to know their context and their students. Getting to understand how each school functions and how they relate to each other. I’ve watched for the unspoken culture and felt my way with different parts of the job.

This job is kind of like walking into a room blindfolded. You know there are walls and doors even though you can’t see them initially and while you trust that the people around you aren’t there to trip you up or push you over, you still feel very much in the dark.

I’ve been lucky though. I’ve had Mark with me, holding my hand as I feel my way forward. Guiding and supporting me, cheering me on and gently reminding me not to try and run just yet. I’ve also had Kesley to my side. I’ve watched her navigate this role for a few years now, so she has given me a blueprint with which I can follow. What an imprint too! Again, I feel so blessed.  To have an amazing whāhine around me, showing me what great humble leadership looks like.

I have been struck by what I’ve missed though. And what I haven’t missed.

I knew that I would miss my work-wife Angela. And I have. Badly. It is hard to know how much you become in tune with each other when working in a close environment. It is a pretty powerful thing, a good partnership in a classroom. We have weathered many a storm together, professionally and personally. I know that I am a better teacher because of this relationship. And a better person. Thankfully, we can still catch up, even in this weird bubble time, we meet and laugh and groan together.

I knew I’d miss my classroom and in particular, the students. There have been a few tears shed over what I haven’t been able to do with them. Over the end of the journey, especially for the Year 8’s. 3+ years is a long time to journey with students, you really get to know them well.

I know I’ve also grieved what we (Angela and I) could have done with them this year. We had that class humming by the end of 2019 and this year would have been a gift of exploring and extending with those amazing learners into things we hadn’t been able to do before.

I’ve missed the staff team too. There are great, passionate people that work at my former school. They love every kid that walks through the gate each morning, even when it is hard and challenging and they aren’t so lovable. It’s weird not walking through the same gate every day. (It’s also strange knowing that if I do get to walk through that gate again this year that I will be met with change and with people who won’t know me or care why I’m there.)

I haven’t missed the stress though. The drama. The frustrations. The difficult bits. The unending lists of stuff that you have to do but have no time for. And let’s not forget the behaviour management. I really don’t miss that. Mostly I don’t miss the feeling that it doesn’t matter what you do because it won’t make a bit of difference fo that kid or their situation because what it really needs is money and 1:1 support and … (insert list here), sigh.

I see that struggle though, in every school and class, I enter now. I see the strength, the determination, the tenacity and the beauty that exists in every teacher as they fight daily for the best space for each student to learn. Sure, it isn’t perfect all the time. It is messy and sometimes things go wrong, failure happens. But, it is as real as it gets.

So I feel glad and blessed, afraid and happy, excited and nervous. But I know that this new journey I’m on is the right one. I have a new team, a new set of people who I can engage in this journey of educating and the chance to grow in new ways. What a gift.

I started this blog thinking I would share some learnings but as I’ve written I realise that in this weird, bubble space we currently exist opens itself for reflection. So this is a reflection blog on what was. Tomorrow I might write about the learnings and the current things. But today I reflect and I remember. I wonder if you are taking some time for reflecting too?