"When our emotions are in check and we can prevent stressors from taking us off course, we are better able to tap into our frontal lobe, the region of the brain that powers executive functioning skills. When we achieve self-regulation, all of our cognitive resources are directed here. When we are agitated, stressed or otherwise unregulated (the norm during these times), the frontal lobe can't engage effectively. Instead the brainstem - the reactive part of the brain that puts us in fight, flight or freeze mode - is activated. We see this in action when children struggle to listen or focus. When it looks like they are ignoring our directions or actively resisting, chances are that they're actually not in the correct "headspace" to comply. In other words, they are dysregulated and cognitively in fight, flight or freeze mode..." - Elizabeth Sauter & Rebecca Branstetter
It has been the most challenging September of my life - and I know I am not alone when I write these words - this has been, more than likely, the most challenging September in most of our lives!
Just for the record, I have had many challenging Septembers - two of them were spent opening new schools (one - ours - without a finished building). I also spent one September starting a brand new administrative position that coincided with the death of a close family member - whose young child our family soon adopted - just four days before school began; a life adventure that also included emptying and preparing their family home for sale by the end of that same month. I think it would be safe to say challenging Septembers are a phenomenon with which I have had more than a passing relationship - and yet I remain quite confident this has been the most challenging September ever. Full stop. Ever.
Preparing the school for a successful re-entry has been a story of shifting sands and a staggering amount of information that seemed to require processing all at once. It has also meant working closely with staff to develop an unbelievable set of routines and expectations that superseded even the most rule-bound experiences of school any of us, ourselves, had ever experienced.
Re-organizing the spaces in the school numerous times over the past thirty days, we have attempted to meet both safety expectations for physical distancing with student numbers that did not correlate well with those expectations, as well as accommodate a vision of the use of physical space that did not correspond with the concrete, physical aspects of our learning environment.
As adult educators, we found ourselves stepping away from pedagogical understandings and beliefs we know constitute best possible learning opportunities in favour of the safest possible learning spaces for all children and staff.
Sometimes it seemed like yesterday's firm decision was the first one abandoned today.
Pressures and concerns from all stakeholders informed our discussions, our decisions and our actions - most times, the concerns we were trying to honour and acknowledge as we made these decisions were at odds with each other, yet equally important to each stakeholder expressing those concerns. Not least among the pressures were the concerns that accompanied announcements of positive cases in other schools and the resultant elevations of anxiety for all of us - families and staff - that corresponded with those announcements.
Learning seemed to take a back seat every day to implementing and practicing new safety measures, re-organizing to meet varied expectations, or re-aligning to accommodate changes in student population or online learning situations, or any number of other unexpected delays and adjustments.
Exhaustion and uncertainty have flavoured almost every day. It has only lasted 27 days so far - it is not even over yet - and I am finding it hard to remember who I was before it began - what were the plans we had anticipated with excitement just a few short weeks ago? What were my beliefs as an educator about best possible teaching and learning before the pandemic seemed to melt them all away?
To paraphrase my dad, it was a 'jim-dandy boondoggle' of a month, all told.
Yet - we all showed up. Every day. Together.
We worked through the toughest days and adjusted our sails. Moved furniture, rearranged spaces, redeployed staff, changed procedures, provoked each other to think differently and then more differently again.
I have never appreciated teachers and support staff more in a +30 year career than I have this September - their strength, determination, willingness to shift their thinking and try something new in a heartbeat, their absolute commitment to children, safety and learning despite everything - this has been a most amazing gift of this incredibly challenging month.
And I have been absolutely flabbergasted by the resiliency of the children. We may be working on their behalf, but they have risen to the occasion with such calm, responsible, generous spirits that it would be impossible not to stand in awe of these small humans every minute of every day.
The pandemic has dramatically altered their lives in so many small and enormously large ways. I feel like it has been the most challenging September ever - but I have lived a great many Septembers and, from those experiences, have somehow developed skills and strategies that (I hope) assisted me to somewhat successfully navigate the month.
Our children have not lived very many Septembers at all - their reserves of experiences and responses to challenges are miniscule at best.
Yet - they show up every day too.
They trust the adults in their lives.
They laugh and smile and follow rules they have never encountered before with grace and charm. And joy- such joy!
They came to school and put on masks, picked up hula hoops and learned to stand in 'X marks the spot' lines. To stop and sanitize or wash their hands many times a day. They wiggle and squirm and ask for different seating because they are used to learning with bodies that move - yet fully comply with every request to 'stay seated, don't cross the line, follow the taped alleyway in the class, don't touch your friend, don't crowd at the washroom, wear your mask, sanitize, sanitize, sanitize..'
There are more 'don'ts' in school than I have ever encountered in a lifetime spent in education yet our children are taking them all in stride. And learning at the same time, putting tremendous effort into both learning and being safe. Never giving up or refusing and never being upset when they forget and have to be redirected.
Our children are the rockstars of the pandemic. Full stop - just ROCKSTARS!!
They are so resilient, so purposeful, so willing to keep their friends, family and the world safe.
They are our superheroes and I stand in awe of every one of them.
September 2020 has been one very long, very tough month. Our children are much tougher!
They wear their masks and keep talking, laughing, asking questions like masks are the most normal thing in the world. They use their hoops to play as well as a reminder to distance. They line up 2 meters apart like they've been doing it since birth. They enter a room and look around to notice where the arrows go, how far away their friends are, where is the sanitizer as naturally as they used to hug each other. They are assimilating a zillion new pieces of information into their understanding of 'school' and carrying on with their days as if they have always attended school-in-a-pandemic way.
They are learning and excited to be here and that joy is absolutely irresistible!!
The children make all of us want to be in school too - despite all the challenges we are struggling to accommodate ourselves - so we can help make this a wonderful year of learning for them! The children deserve no less - they are giving this school year their all, just like they always do. COVID-19 for the students is an inconvenience but it is not interrupting their schooling - they are happy to be here and they share that happiness every day.
Sometimes they get anxious, sometimes they are afraid. Often they get annoyed by the restrictions imposed in their learning spaces or their play spaces. Yet they don't give up. They persevere, adjust, comply and shrug off what must seem like an unbelievable shift in their reality.
There is one great celebration I am going to take away from this most challenging September of my life:
The Kids are Going to be Okay. Full stop.
Their resilience is clearly on display and that is the greatest celebration of all!
Lorraine Kinsman, Principal
Eric Harvie School
(P.S. I am looking forward to a much gentler October :)
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