(December 2020...)
(December 2021...)
"I think a hero is any person really intent on making this a better place for all people." - Maya Angelou
"Making difficulties into the path." - Buddha
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Just over three months into the 2020-21 school year, with a history of almost nine months of disrupted learning experiences behind us, I find myself having numerous - sometimes ongoing - conversations with parents, colleagues, family members and friends about the 'children' and how they are faring through this extended time of learning - and living - disruption.
These conversations have given me pause to thoughtfully consider what I am observing, hearing, noticing, encountering with students as we travel unfamiliar landscapes. Since none of us have lived through this type of experience before, it is impossible to 'know' with any certainty what the potential impacts or outcomes on children will be. Although we will all, I am certain, strive to apply our best knowledge and wisdom as we attempt to unpack the question of 'how are the children doing?' in the coming months and - perhaps most particularly - post-pandemic - when the world begins to tilt a bit more towards the familiarity of our past experiences.
One thing I am coming to know for sure is that there are losses and there are benefits, as there are in any life experience. And it is in the balancing of these experiences that the children will find a way forward. I also know they will look to the adults to help with the balancing and with finding ways to move forward successfully into what is sure to be a familiar yet significantly altered future.
As a child, I lived through the experience of losing my mother to complications from diabetes. She was almost 34 years old and I was 11, with two younger sisters. My paternal grandmother had always been the grounding influence in our large extended family and she attained mythic status for me during the years following the death of my mom. She gave me many 'stars to guide my way' through her words of wisdom and advice and when I consider the path ahead for the children I know, love and work with every day, I hear her words as crystal clear as if she were here:
Make the best of, not the worst of your experiences.
Since I am now a grandmother myself who has always held these words close to my heart, my goal will be to balance the losses and benefits children have experienced through this pandemic in such a way as to make moving forward into a post-pandemic experience a growth opportunity rather than embracing the impediments that might seem to be a challenge to relinquish.
And we are not post-pandemic yet; there may be many terrains to navigate still ahead.
Here is what I do know...
I have the great good fortune to teach the youngest children in the public school system - it is on my watch that they enter the world of school, learning, socialization and emotional development that will shape and guide their growth through some of the most formative years of their lives. How they come to see themselves as learners and humans reflects, to a large extent, the experiences they will have within the school environment I endeavour - with the help of many colleagues - to design, structure and invite them to participate in as students. Their elementary learning years are critically important - they are the times when children establish foundational skills, understandings and attitudes towards learning, thinking, relating, questioning, caring, wondering that will carry them forward to living successful, fulfilling lives.
It is a great good fortune, yet also a truly awesome responsibility.
I also know the routines, learning environment structures and strategies, supports and services, attention to learning challenges and successes, opportunities for engaging with ideas that provoke novel thinking, encountering multiplicities of information in various formats while feeling safe, secure and capable, provides learners with the essential qualities of a school environment that will promote both successful academic achievement and healthy personal growth and development.
And I absolutely know our youngest learners have experienced unparalleled disruptions to learning, the security of their learning environments, and their social interactions over the past nine months on a scale that really eludes clear comprehension by any of the adults in their world.
What I also know, however, is that humans are adaptable, flexible and have an enduring capacity to thrive even in the most unimaginable circumstances.
The challenges and losses due to pandemic disruptions are real and the true dimensions of these losses - academic, social, emotional, physical, familial - are not yet clearly revealed or finished accumulating.
We are seeing more young children displaying symptoms of anxiety - sometimes they are able to verbally express their concerns, sometimes they act them out as a call for our attention to concerns they cannot clearly understand or express.
There are numerous academic gaps that are surfacing as learners navigate typical academic learning expectations midst periods of isolation following the reduced, emergency learning situations from the spring.
Students who thrived as learners in a vibrant, lively school environment that encouraged and supported the social construction of knowledge as a collaborative, engaging exchange of ideas and practical applications are finding it very challenging to focus their thinking and energy on controlling their bodies 100% of the time under the constraints of physical distancing, mask wearing, vigilance to sanitizing surfaces and hands. As their minds are concentrated on keeping their bodies in one place, their learning energy is reduced and understanding new ideas takes much greater concentration and focus than ever before - sometimes more than seems possible in a learning moment. Out of necessity, learning environments are accommodating health precautions rather than promoting best learning practices.
Social interactions are tightly controlled and limited by adults with the very best interests of children and health safety at heart. Even lunches and outdoor experiences are controlled with physical limitations. Learning to share, negotiate, discuss, imagine together, invent, collaborate, compromise - these are just some of the skills that will need to be acquired at a later date in a different learning environment.
Children's expressions of emotions are visibly changing - anecdotally, we are observing less spontaneity in the school setting, fewer outright peals of laughter, greater frustration with trying to follow layers of directions and instructions, a 'flattening' of discussions and enthusiasm during interactions. When negative emotions erupt, they erupt quickly and fiercely. Children are holding in emotions as they hold their bodies in check too. There are conversations, smiles and laughter of course (sometimes well hidden behind masks), and children are naturally inclined to be cheerful and upbeat. However, these anecdotal observations are on display every day as some of the exuberance of learning and being together in school has been diminished and stifled within the school environment.
There are visible benefits to the pandemic constraints that will carry young learners forward successfully.
I have written in this blog about the resiliency students are demonstrating every day as they come to school - their willingness to adapt has been exceptional in so many ways! They wear their masks without comment, line up in physically distanced lines to enter school or go to the washrooms. They sanitize and handwash every time they enter or exit a space in the school almost without fail - often, as I collect a child to come and work with me in the Learning Commons or the Hub they will effortlessly and without reminders stop to sanitize before they leave their classroom and then again as they enter the Learning Commons well before I remember to do the same! Playground times and playmates may be controlled and cohorted but their play is still active, enthusiastic and noisy. Every invitation to try something new - like bang on pails for drums or find reading books online through Epic or use sign language to give 'voice' to a song performed in an assembly when singing is not allowed - is met with enthusiasm and delight as children thrive on the novelty of something new to do. The resiliency of our children remains strong, visible and beneficial for keeping our children active and engaged.
I have observed, as well, and gleaned through many conversations, that families are building different and sometimes stronger relationships as a result of cohorting and isolating at home. Many parents have mentioned to me (including my own children) that they will not be returning to the previous levels of social engagements, sports activities or the pursuits of other childhood interests with the same scope of commitment as before the pandemic hit, preferring this quieter, slower pace of life for their families. Family dinners are on the increase - a daily social interaction opportunity that is vitally important for building emotionally connected, happy families as well as sustaining and enhancing beginning social skills of young children - not to mention, greater appreciation for home-cooked meals!
Families are more aware of children's learning strengths, challenges and attitudes as a result of the pandemic school closures that began last March - for young children, sustained learning of any kind required a significant investment of time and energy on behalf of parents (greatly appreciated and valued by teachers and students alike!). As parents connected more deeply with their children around learning, they also came to appreciate the particular learning quirks and approaches specific to them. Recognizing individual differences related to learning, parents also became more aware of the best ways to meet their children's learning needs - information they have willingly shared with teachers to ensure ongoing successful achievement with their children.
So, there are notable losses and benefits for children surfacing as the pandemic continues to unfold.
We are not through the journey yet - not at all! As we work with children, their families, teachers and support staff to map both losses and benefits for both particular, as well as all students it is crucial for us to all remember humanity thrives with adversity - maybe not at first, maybe not completely visibly - but to adjust, to be flexible, to find a new path is the very nature of being human. As we seek to balance losses and benefits for the youngest learners in our care, I hope we never lose sight of human nature and the potential array of responses to adversity that have scattered across our history as humans on this planet Earth.
Yes, learning has been disrupted. It also continues. It is in the continuity of learning that we find a path to balancing losses with benefits and move forward with our children into a brighter, safer, healthier future.
Lorraine Kinsman, Principal
Eric Harvie School
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