Sorry for the long hiatus! As you can imagine, it’s been a very busy, and extremely interesting start to this school year. This will not be a super long blog post. As we say here in East Tennessee, “With everything going on, aint nobody got time for that!” I just wanted to quickly share a little about the “word of the year” our school adopted.
Back at the end of the 2019-2020 school year, we decided our word for the upcoming year would be “Expectations”. I wanted everyone to focus on setting high expectations, and then push our students to achieve more. “Expectations” was our chosen word right up until the first of August. That’s when I realized that we needed to shift our mindset. Not that setting high expectations is a bad thing. I believe in any situation, it’s always good to have high expectations. However, as we got closer to the start of school, I realized that I didn’t want our focus primarily on expectations and pushing students. I began to pick up on the COVID related anxiety, fear, and stress from all my stakeholders. I ask myself, “How do I start to address this issue?” For me, it all comes down to mindset. I felt that we needed to shift our focus away from expectation (for a little bit). We needed to focus more on easing into this school year, to help our parents and students realize that everything will be ok...we got this!
Anxiety and fear causes uncertainty! Uncertainty causes stress! When students, parents, and teachers are stressed, there is no possible way to maximize learning. Therefore, by continuing to focus on expectations and pushing students during this difficult time would only compound our issues. The only way I could think to combat stress and uncertainty, is through “GRACE”. Grace is simply: Love, Kindness, and Forgiveness! Stress is frustrating, and causes people to become irritable, short tempered, and negative. By focusing on showing grace, we can alleviate the negative effects of stress, and help our stakeholders get through this crazy/difficult time. We have had to address issues, such as:
· Families that do not have internet, but sign up for virtual learning.
· Students that can’t get on Zoom during the teachers scheduled time.
· Students that don’t pay attention on Zoom.
. Parents that get on Zoom call during instruction times.
· Parents that ask you how to log on to Google Classroom fifty-thousand times.
· Students that cannot complete work because nobody is around to assist them at home.
· Parents that are technologically challenged, and refuse to even attempt to help their child.
· Parents assisting their children too much with virtual work.
· Parents releasing frustration on the teacher via email, Classroom Dojo, or phone call.
Our strategy is to address every issue with “GRACE”. We strive to let our stakeholders know that we care, and want to help…even if it is the fifty-thousandth time! The fact is, nobody ask for this. As educators, our mindset and disposition sets the tone for all stakeholders. If we handle our business with “GRACE”, we will all get through this pandemic TOGETHER!
Until Next Time...Wilds Out!