tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2570517736743350022024-03-18T19:51:20.353-07:00The View from Here: Dimensions in LeadershipLorraine Kinsmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15415237016162373969noreply@blogger.comBlogger143125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-257051773674335002.post-74959073006217100512022-06-28T12:24:00.003-07:002022-06-28T12:25:41.028-07:00A Fond Farewell to Eric Harvie School <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9RQ2oNDMP-meMT9psB5CSmvUs_a9KZnUAj-PnSfD3jRwPOTSnpsEPKgxtiTX7yiqhzYPcp28Ex-Rf3Cl1DQGjH6qy8nzPeeW6F3lK2RQW25X9dq5KZ-nbGAO4imB5dSfn_H8MyGe0jMx9BIPeUjOsrhldLuNdjxoDD7Hczpnwy7fKd-vtoBPxz0ITJA/s3863/IMG_8696.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2128" data-original-width="3863" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9RQ2oNDMP-meMT9psB5CSmvUs_a9KZnUAj-PnSfD3jRwPOTSnpsEPKgxtiTX7yiqhzYPcp28Ex-Rf3Cl1DQGjH6qy8nzPeeW6F3lK2RQW25X9dq5KZ-nbGAO4imB5dSfn_H8MyGe0jMx9BIPeUjOsrhldLuNdjxoDD7Hczpnwy7fKd-vtoBPxz0ITJA/s320/IMG_8696.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsOwJbEWzR5Q28XqvrH0225JoiJnzWf_TfTHuhFbZB61w61kIjVp4cNLtfLVHxkZ2igTisUwXNgXCuiM5qqngdGR5Sohqkk0WuozRJPWpQxTBGUqMt3VCAaSvE__khRCYnqm0mbGjcIBvA_Jd1q76MCQwEN52QGolfiIye4u90E3U_E7S6ht3T46wGiA/s2559/IMG_8682.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2559" data-original-width="2345" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsOwJbEWzR5Q28XqvrH0225JoiJnzWf_TfTHuhFbZB61w61kIjVp4cNLtfLVHxkZ2igTisUwXNgXCuiM5qqngdGR5Sohqkk0WuozRJPWpQxTBGUqMt3VCAaSvE__khRCYnqm0mbGjcIBvA_Jd1q76MCQwEN52QGolfiIye4u90E3U_E7S6ht3T46wGiA/w239-h230/IMG_8682.jpeg" width="239" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: georgia;"><b><i>"No one should teach who is not in love with teaching.</i></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b style="color: #cc0000; font-family: georgia;"><i> - Margaret Elizabeth Sangster</i></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">******************</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">33 years ago, this day did not even seem remotely possible! As I entered my first school in the role of 'teacher', the excitement and anticipation of things to come was so overwhelming I couldn't imagine ever wanting to leave! Becoming a teacher had been a dream since childhood and I was a little late to the party - already 32 years old, already married (twice) and already the mother of four children. Achieving the goal of becoming a teacher was something I had worked hard to accomplish and I was overjoyed at having been finally offered the opportunity to fulfill the dream of my childhood!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Why would I ever want to leave??</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Actually, the truth is that I might never want to stop teaching - every time I sit with a child, read to a class, speak with a learner anywhere, anytime, I am immediately intrigued by the possibilities of what might happen for this learner - what we might discover and learn together. Teaching has been the most fulfilling, engaging and amazing experience and I believe I will ALWAYS want to be a teacher! I could, I am convinced, happily occupy a classroom teaching position until I am finished with my days on Earth. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">From September 19, 1989 through to today, I have simply loved and enjoyed every minute of being an educator - even the sad hours, the frustrating days, the days I felt like I was spinning both my wheels and the kids as we tried to figure out next steps in learning. I believe in the very centre of my being that EVERY child deserves the best learning experience we can possibly offer - I don't believe budgets, opinions, red tape, shortage of staff or resources or any other barrier should get in the way of offering every child the most accessible, meaningful and engaging learning available. And I have spent virtually all of my 33 years in the profession attempting to make that happen for every child. I am delighted with what I was able to accomplish and frustrated with what I was unable to do for children - because that was a reality I often had to grapple with regardless of my personal convictions. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">I have been absolutely blessed with the best teaching experiences, schools, administrators, students, staff, teachers ever possible. In my entire career, I have never felt diminished, dismissed or denied opportunities - I have always felt supported and capable, as unbelievable as that may seem. 'Right place, right time' managed to happen for me even when I worried or wondered about taking a new risk.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">As a result of retiring, people begin listing one's accomplishments out loud and I feel a little overwhelmed when I see it on paper:</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">- 33 years with CBE</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">- principal for 18 years</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">- opened two brand new schools (Cranston & Eric Harvie)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">- Canada's Music Principal 2012</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">- Canada' Outstanding Principal 2014</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">And a whole bunch of other things like Calgary Young Writers Conference for 31 years, Women in Leadership ATA Committee, presenting at numerous conferences, etc. Seems like it must have been someone else doing all those things while we were also raising five children, welcoming 7 grandchildren, building a cottage and maintaining a family home full of children, sports and activities and also completing two additional degrees!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Then, I stop and I realize that I have not walked one step of this teaching journey alone. Every step of the way, I have been accompanied by amazing colleagues who dreamed as big as me - or bigger - and were willing to take risks on behalf of children with as much enthusiasm and energy as I would ever be able to muster! </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Every step of the way, I have been accompanied by a patient spouse, equally invested in allowing me to pursue every dream and ambition while keeping our family healthy and together. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Every step of the way, I have been accompanied by children and grandchildren who recognized the value of commitment to learning, to children, to dreams. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">I have been so truly blessed and I am so very, very grateful for all these people who have supported, laughed and cried with me throughout the years - colleagues, friends, family. Without their connection and faith and willingness to work hard too, this would be a very different ending to an amazing career.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">I have also been blessed to build daily relationships with so many learners, so many families, so many children whose passions, curiosities and energies needed to be fostered rather than diminished. I never expected or planned to be a principal but, when the opportunity presented itself and I jumped in, I realized the pedagogy I had embraced all my life could now be enacted within schools by likeminded, willing and caring teachers. Peace Education, inquiry, borderless schools, moving learning outside to be more experiential - these were just a few ways we could make a difference for learners. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">I am retiring from CBE to write a different chapter in my life as a Program Director with the Calgary Bridge Foundation for Youth, a non-profit agency supporting immigrant learners and families in Calgary for almost as long as I have been teaching. I will no longer work in schools but I will continue to be connected to them and to children. As I slow my life down just a little to make room for one more grandchild and try to reclaim my evenings and weekends, I am tremendously grateful for all the people, children and relationships that have permeated my life and helped me write such a beautiful story of learning, teaching and growing in life.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">It is June 28, 2022 and in two short days I will say a fond farewell to Eric Harvie School, staff, teachers, students and families. This beautiful centre of learning will forever hold a huge piece of my heart and be a filter for learning going forward. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Thank you to all the families, children, staff, teachers, leaders and colleagues that have made these past six years - the last six years of my teaching career - an absolute joy despite the pandemic and every other challenge that came along. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">I am proud to have spent 33 years teaching and that I can unequivocally say "I am definitely in love with teaching!"</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">**********************</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b style="color: #cc0000; font-family: georgia;"><i>"I dwell in possibility." - Emily Dickinson </i></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b style="color: #cc0000; font-family: georgia;"><i><br /></i></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b style="color: #cc0000; font-family: georgia;"><i><br /></i></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><i>Lorraine Kinsman, Principal</i></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><i>Eric Harvie School (for 2 more days!)</i></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><br /><p></p>Lorraine Kinsmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15415237016162373969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-257051773674335002.post-18244270452943006262022-06-24T12:26:00.003-07:002022-06-24T12:27:39.754-07:00The Last Big Conversation Post: What happens if we don't deal with learning issues?<p style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE7H9KtHj_0Zf15KqB3tCM9zuPws95bU8CujeEppkuPAdc_N3GypJTJTnJdSc5PAq56qUuqYgidEkyJfj2tIWirV8radK4PvwTDsvmm6hbPnH7Qg2m5oQKUtFL61rbcCY_KsGVUnJkaE2A7zFaWjqFpsclNBK-_S65F9IqgkMKmDcdP0kucEk8Q-8F1g/s2048/IMG_8793.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE7H9KtHj_0Zf15KqB3tCM9zuPws95bU8CujeEppkuPAdc_N3GypJTJTnJdSc5PAq56qUuqYgidEkyJfj2tIWirV8radK4PvwTDsvmm6hbPnH7Qg2m5oQKUtFL61rbcCY_KsGVUnJkaE2A7zFaWjqFpsclNBK-_S65F9IqgkMKmDcdP0kucEk8Q-8F1g/s320/IMG_8793.jpeg" width="240" /></a></p><p></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: georgia;"><b><i>"Adults who have <a href="https://www.additudemag.com/what-is-adhd-symptoms-causes-treatments/" sl-processed="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">ADHD</a> but do not know it are at much higher risk than the general population for serious problems. Mood disorders, extreme sadness, and anxiety often occur when ADHD goes undiagnosed. Even if these conditions are are treated, the underlying problem, if left untreated, leads to other problems.</i></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: georgia;"><b><i>Adults with undiagnosed ADHD get fired from their jobs more frequently, or they impulsively quit, or they underachieve, slowly losing self-esteem, confidence, drive, and joy in life. They often resign themselves to a life with less success and luster than it could have were they diagnosed and treated." - Dr. Edward Hallowell, 2021</i></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: georgia;"><b><i>******************</i></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; text-align: center;"><b style="color: #800180; font-family: georgia;"><i>"Left untreated, learning disabilities often lead to debilitating low self-esteem, drug use, teenage pregnancy, crime and lifelong poverty.</i></b></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; text-align: center;"><b style="color: #800180; font-family: georgia;"><i>80% of students with serious learning disabilities will not graduate</i></b></p><ul style="background-color: white; list-style: outside square; margin: 0px 0px 1.75rem 1rem; padding: 0px; width: 540px;"><ul><li style="left: 1rem; margin: 0px 0px 0.5rem; padding: 0px 1em 0px 0px; position: relative; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: georgia;"><b><i>60% of teens being treated for substance abuse have learning disabilities </i></b></span></li><li style="left: 1rem; margin: 0px 0px 0.5rem; padding: 0px 1em 0px 0px; position: relative; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: georgia;"><b><i>75% of juvenile offenders in NYC have undetected learning disabilities" </i></b></span><b style="color: #800180; font-family: georgia;"><i>- Promise Project, 2021</i></b></li></ul></ul><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: georgia;"><b><i>***********************</i></b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: georgia;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #800180; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1rem; padding: 0px; text-align: center; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">"Anxiety disorders have the potential to affect every part of a young person’s life, including their physical health, emotional well-being and social skill development. The combined impact can lead to kids feeling socially isolated, stigmatized, and incapable of being active members of their community.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #800180; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1rem; padding: 0px; text-align: center; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">Mental health has a direct relationship with a child’s physical health. Both physical and mental health influence how children think, feel, and act on both the inside and out." - Dr. Lisa W. Coyne 2021</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #800180; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1rem; padding: 0px; text-align: center; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">***************************</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1rem; padding: 0px; text-align: center; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">It is clear from these three quotes - and I could include data from many, many studies with detailed statistics to corroborate these statements - that not diagnosing and treating concerns that impact learning in schools, or trying to downplay, ignore or inappropriately treat these issues has longterm, potentially devastating effects on children as they grow into adulthood. What we don't manage in our children comes back to haunt them in adulthood - a sad but true statement.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Perhaps an even more distressing fact is that even when we do attend to learning issues, sometimes the impact of the children's experiences as learners prior to interventions being put in place linger well into adulthood anyway, impacting self-esteem, confidence and adult relationships. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">It is important to take note of potential concerns early in a child's life - even before preschool - and monitor closely. If, as a parent, I notice a pattern through to grade one of inattention, anxiety or frustration resulting from my child not feeling successful with small tasks, there are things I can do to support my child while also monitoring for either an escalation or diminishment of impact on learning. Although grade one may be too soon to seek a diagnosis, it is important to bring a family doctor or pediatrician into the conversation to explore whether there are any biological issues (such as a vitamin deficiency, sleep concern, etc ) that might be at the root of the issue. Beginning with a biological exploration is essential, in my opinion - there have been many, many incidents over the years where other medical concerns were at the root of learning issues and those are treated much differently. In fact, treatment for ADHD and anxiety differ greatly, and are even more diverse than treatment for learning disabilities.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">If the issue is not biological in nature and persists into grades two and three, it may be a good idea to seek further support from a psychologist and/or counselor - perhaps a speech and language therapist or occupational therapist may be appropriate as well. The school can be an essential point of contact at this point because they will be able to offer insights to professionals that sometimes are not as obvious at home. Occasionally - although far less often in 2022 than in previous years - the school will have access to some of these supports and may be in a position to pursue assistance or assessment free of costs.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">If a formal diagnosis is made, it will include specific supports and recommendations for your child's learning needs, regardless if the diagnosis comes from a psychologist, a pediatrician, or some other clinician. For the school, this is the most important information - knowing specifically what interventions and supports we are able to offer that will target the issues most directly. Often these are shared supports and recommendations for both the school and home to follow - when we say education is a partnership between school and home, this is a great example of what we mean :)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">As mentioned in this blog before, a diagnosis may also lead to the creation of an Individual Program Plan that specifically describes the strategies and supports being put in place at the school for your child. The IPP also means the parents and teachers will meet 2 - 3 times through the school year to share how things are going and if any strategies need to be adjusted. Parents sign off to say they have met with the teacher and may either agree or disagree with the strategies. Usually parents and teachers are able to agree on approaches that support the child both at school and at home. In Alberta, a formal diagnosis can also mean accommodations may be continued to support student success through post-secondary learning as well - a huge benefit for young adults leaving the school system.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Like everything in life, there are no guarantees. Having spent 33 years navigating challenging learning situations and concerns with families, I do know early awareness and appropriate interventions can make a world of difference for a child. Every young learner wants to grow up to be as functional, happy, connected and successful in relationships and work - just like we all did when we were young learners ourselves. It is my hope that these last three blog posts on the 'big conversations' will help parents and families understand the processes involved in ensuring every child has a successful learning experience. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Our kiddos are not all the same and neither are their learning needs. Schools are here to help navigate the journey with children and parents even when it is an uncertain path. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">"It takes a village to raise a child" is an old African proverb. At Eric Harvie School, we like to add "Welcome to the village!"</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Lorraine Kinsman, Principal </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Eric Harvie School </div><br /><br /></div><br /><br /><p></p></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: georgia;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div>Lorraine Kinsmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15415237016162373969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-257051773674335002.post-34082165102651041882022-06-12T22:28:00.001-07:002022-06-12T22:28:27.685-07:00Big Conversations: What Does THAT Mean for My Child?<p> </p><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1g8wGgmnRRT-VmHfORq5PVOGBCzOl7oThCmpn0XgOf4nVhI-UTP5fIoD3uSdDSV3cRyoor2nVvqYBDpR-CTVjI1w2wfQzLcJScoB32i4hlx7BV_lRff9WXAxuX5SeahOR-gwSCpUlm2liYTktNX1EPAV1CVmH4T8N5O2N5K-gBZGr0THFnWVMDuEChg/s1280/IMG_3336.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="960" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1g8wGgmnRRT-VmHfORq5PVOGBCzOl7oThCmpn0XgOf4nVhI-UTP5fIoD3uSdDSV3cRyoor2nVvqYBDpR-CTVjI1w2wfQzLcJScoB32i4hlx7BV_lRff9WXAxuX5SeahOR-gwSCpUlm2liYTktNX1EPAV1CVmH4T8N5O2N5K-gBZGr0THFnWVMDuEChg/w127-h169/IMG_3336.jpeg" width="127" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8Wfkt3nwKqE372JFAjqZ6YYg6oF9D3xYBHmbR-yLkSC1-j38jKb4grXSsLl9j8TgFGNR3sSh_LSXQYgM4UbM2NGiJa8AEV3_ENJo28psC5JZ0k7tcjJ7MTOPK0qjUSOwmZqfC_Ve-4-oDPyGqvu_VGHEVn-RqCAI1UULtrk2dh1D7-vV2r75qAx8YNg/s4032/IMG_8051.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8Wfkt3nwKqE372JFAjqZ6YYg6oF9D3xYBHmbR-yLkSC1-j38jKb4grXSsLl9j8TgFGNR3sSh_LSXQYgM4UbM2NGiJa8AEV3_ENJo28psC5JZ0k7tcjJ7MTOPK0qjUSOwmZqfC_Ve-4-oDPyGqvu_VGHEVn-RqCAI1UULtrk2dh1D7-vV2r75qAx8YNg/w222-h166/IMG_8051.jpeg" width="222" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-family: georgia;"><b><i>"Psychologists at the University of Colorado and the University of Denver (found)...self-directed executive functions develop most during childhood...and include any mental processes that help us work towards achieving goals - like planning, decision making, manipulating information, switching between tasks and inhibiting unwanted thoughts and feelings. It is an early indicator of school readiness and academic performance...and even predicts success into adulthood. Children with higher executive function will be healthier, wealthier and more socially stable throughout their lives." - Ellen Wexler (edweek.org)</i></b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-family: georgia;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-family: georgia;"><b><i>***********************</i></b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: red; font-family: georgia;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">It is clear to parents and educators that executive functioning is critically important for children of all ages. The indicators mentioned in the quote above translate into skills schools develop learning experiences around - including planning, working memory, attention, flexibility, time management, task initiation, self-control, perseverance and metacognition (knowing what you know and using it to help you learn). These skills are not, of course, fully developed when children enter school - these are skills that continue to develop and are enhanced throughout children's learning careers and into adulthood.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Like all other areas of child development and growth, executive functions develop idiosyncratically, reflecting each child's physical make-up. And there are neurological conditions and interruptions that may present as children continue through school, like attention and focus issues, anxiety, behaviour or communication concerns, as well as specific learning disabilities. When challenges to learning present for any of these reasons - including delays in appropriate executive functioning overall - schools respond with strategies and supports that are specifically aligned with the evident learning challenges and will often create an Individual Program Plan that details both the strategies and the progress of students through each school year. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">It is important to understand that young learners will often appear to be struggling with attention, communication, task initiation or perseverance or time management as they enter school. While schools will work with families to mitigate these challenges and support learners, the majority of young learners will have adjusted to school and these challenges will have disappeared or been reduced significantly within the first couple of years of school. Issues that persist through grades 2 and 3 are most likely indicators of ongoing neurological, learning or social/emotional concerns that will require a more focused, diagnostic approach to longterm support for learning in school.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Those of us who went to school in the 20th century may have memories of special needs classes, codes and segregated learning for children exhibiting challenges in school of any nature. Those strategies were appropriate for their time but our understandings of how the brain develops, how to best address various indications that might interrupt learning and how to set learners up for success for longterm learning have changed significantly over the past twenty years. Our students are embraced and surrounded with inclusive learning practices as well as principles of peace education, ensuring best-possible learning experiences in school. Additionally, we work very hard with all our learners to encourage them to be independent thinkers and problem solvers, and to advance positive self-esteem and confidence in all our students. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Perhaps the greatest advance in the past twenty years has been the acknowledgement and understanding that everyone continues to be a learner throughout their whole life time - brains continually grow and change throughout all our lives. Universities, trade schools and colleges are aware of this as well and will accept learners with IPPs in school into their programs willingly as students continually demonstrate their abilities to learn with appropriate supports. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">These big conversations between families and schools are sometimes challenging to work through - different perspectives and past experiences always colour the way each of us engages with unanticipated bumps in the road - particularly when those bumps are associated with our children. It is important to approach these conversations with a growth mindset - things will improve and success will be redefined but occur nonetheless. Children's brains continue to grow and change throughout their lives and, as parents and schools work together, new paths and journeys are designed and travelled successfully. Respect, care and confidence in the work we all accomplish in concert together will ensure positive outcomes for learners, families and schools.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">I encourage families to contact the school anytime there are questions, concerns or issues that emerge unexpectedly - the stronger our shared bonds of understanding are the greater the opportunities for success will be for learners. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-family: georgia;"><b><i>**********************</i></b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-family: georgia;"><b><i>"It takes a village to raise a child. Welcome to the village!" - African Proverb</i></b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-family: georgia;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-family: georgia;"><b><i>**********************</i></b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-family: georgia;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Lorraine Kinsman, Principal </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Eric Harvie School </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div></div></div>Lorraine Kinsmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15415237016162373969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-257051773674335002.post-4985220984965132312022-05-24T12:05:00.002-07:002022-05-24T12:05:43.165-07:00Big Conversations: When Learners Struggle in School<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRW_RdQuFllRYwjW0iK5aQfMsRHE074DGbPIp7bt12M-E5hPe7asETKungGTjd0lGP7Kt5DvtcGcFbvyxVmOOS1YaFhn16xPNAra7LQqwKlZqN03OaHKEeoAVoLlmD-tL9uzPGDHd_VMpOcrnmeycK_klDXfBc5Vuy3PkL-HdlRQB8CKDQY7Mhp2Msfw/s4032/IMG_4590.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="117" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRW_RdQuFllRYwjW0iK5aQfMsRHE074DGbPIp7bt12M-E5hPe7asETKungGTjd0lGP7Kt5DvtcGcFbvyxVmOOS1YaFhn16xPNAra7LQqwKlZqN03OaHKEeoAVoLlmD-tL9uzPGDHd_VMpOcrnmeycK_klDXfBc5Vuy3PkL-HdlRQB8CKDQY7Mhp2Msfw/w156-h117/IMG_4590.jpeg" width="156" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY8NIIeyidBLI-PeH_chS6PIMdmoRA5fOGpYMB_02H8Tg9W5x4PkugCDdafDE6uPgSurCMMts5s0OsY8teQj1sX9Y6MUUOUpGtPuvi-Iw8MBof8spL3X4GGQH1fFRBrfv7d_oLyaFID6t2fxNP3Mz5kN0MDZeXLmAhUP70T00BthZAvRuHnPC8Q6lmWg/s4032/IMG_4030.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="113" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY8NIIeyidBLI-PeH_chS6PIMdmoRA5fOGpYMB_02H8Tg9W5x4PkugCDdafDE6uPgSurCMMts5s0OsY8teQj1sX9Y6MUUOUpGtPuvi-Iw8MBof8spL3X4GGQH1fFRBrfv7d_oLyaFID6t2fxNP3Mz5kN0MDZeXLmAhUP70T00BthZAvRuHnPC8Q6lmWg/w151-h113/IMG_4030.jpeg" width="151" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>"There is no standard child. Every child has talents, passions and abilities unique to them." </i></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i> - Brad Johnson (author)</i></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Sometimes, despite the best of circumstances, children will struggle with learning when they are in school. Occasionally, the challenges appear soon after a child begins school, while other times challenges emerge as the elementary years progress. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">And whenever challenges begin to appear, there are big conversations to be had between parents and the school.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">I have been on both sides of the table, so to speak - as the parent of a child experiencing challenges at school - and many, many times as a teacher and/or school administrator attempting to support a family whose child has begun to demonstrate learning complexities. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">It is not easy being in either position - these are our <i>children, </i>the humans who embody the greatest emotional investments of our lives. Knowing they are encountering challenging experiences impacts us emotionally - our job is to protect them after all - as well as logically as we try to figure out a cause and the shortest route to a resolution of any problems. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">We are their protectors and we are also their life-guides, especially when children are very young. Navigating school-related challenges feels like something we should be able to do quite easily because we were all students ourselves at one time.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Emotional responses from parents are essential because they ensure the family will be there to support their child no matter what happens - ever! Emotional responses require empathy and patience on behalf of the school as we all come to accept and understand whatever challenges a child is encountering, and together we continue to place the emotional safety and physical well-being of each child at the centre of our thinking. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Logical responses from parents are essential as well - the questions, suggestions, approaches offered from a learner's family are the beginning steps towards discovering and implementing the best possible supports for each child. And logical responses from the school should offer a pathway to discovery and implementation of those supports.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">It is when the emotional responses and the logical responses become tangled together that the biggest conversations occur. It's been my experience this almost always happens whenever any child is finding school to be a struggle for any reason - it is almost inevitable that families and school staff will spend time working through possibilities, concerns, fears, questions, suggestions together before any learner is able to feel supported with whatever learning challenge they are facing in school. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">I am going to try and unpack these processes a bit over the final few blog entries I will be writing as Principal of Eric Harvie School, since my retirement from this position will occur in just a few weeks. Supporting families, learners and school staff through the processes that emerge when a learner begins to struggle in school requires a significant investment of time, focus and opportunities by school administrators. It is my hope to clarify some of what occurs and what parents might expect that will be of greatest benefit to learners who find themselves encountering challenges in their school. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The most important thing to never forget is that successful support for learners encountering difficulties in schools <i>demands</i> a collaborative, team effort on behalf of both the school and families. Success for learners requires collaboration, sharing and open communication between home and school at all times. It will require their entwined emotional and logical responses to successfully implementation of support for learners.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">****************************</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">When learners begin to experience school as an overly challenging situation, their challenges will usually be presented in six key ways:</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: medium;">executive functioning concerns </span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;">issues related to attention and focus</span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;">anxiety</span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;">behaviour </span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;">communication </span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;">significant challenges with learning </span></li></ul><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Sometimes more than one challenge will be represented with one child - this is a fairly common situation and one that schools are well-prepared to respond to with appropriate supports. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Schools always have an organized approach to any issue that becomes a clear indiction a learner is struggling. Often these challenges are best met with suggestions from the teacher - perhaps a checklist to help with organization, or reinforcement at both home and school focused on sharing, asking questions, making requests to go to the bathroom, etc. Simple challenges that are quite quickly resolved are the daily work of classroom teachers and families, working together. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">When struggles with learning become too impactful to be handled simply - whether the struggles reflect an actual learning component or an interruption to learning in some way that is prompted by inappropriate behaviour, attention issues, anxieties, communication or self-regulation - then the concern is usually elevated to 'the school learning team' (SLT). This might include any or all Resource or Diversity support teachers, Learning Leaders or school administration. The purpose of the SLT is to acknowledge a child's learning concern and then begin to explore best strategies for meeting that child's learning needs in the school. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The SLT might recommend in-school support with an Educational Assistant, additional teacher support for literacy or math, small group instruction or a school program such as SPARK, Discovery, CALM or another school-developed support approach. Or they might recommend a learner be seen for a speech and language referral, OT/PT assessment, pediatric assessment, social/emotional assessment, psycho-educational assessment, counseling or behaviour support assessment. There are many strategies the SLT might recommend to begin the process of assessing the best ways to mitigate and support a learner who is struggling.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Once the SLT has met, then the parents will be engaged in more formal conversations regarding the recommendations. Communication between school and home becomes more frequent and directed - this might include a 'day book' or frequent messaging communication between home and school, with the intention of tracking successes and misses related to strategy implementation. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">An external recommendation for one of these types of assessment may also result in the creation of an IPP (Individual Program Plan) that clearly describes the goals and processes to support each student in achieving their best learning. Not every learning challenge requires an IPP; however, when one is required it is a way to formalize the support and the IPP will also ensure support for a learner through to high school and even college/university. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Whenever a learner is struggling, communication between school and home becomes of paramount importance. Keeping an open mind and honouring the very best interests of the child, the family and the school will be what ultimately supports the best learner success, no matter what the nature of the learning challenges might be.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">There will need to be big conversations about the what, the why, next steps and ongoing adjustments. The most important thing to remember - no matter which side of the table one is sitting - is to hold the child at the centre of the discussion, the decisions and the adjustments.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> We are a team, collaborating to best meet the child's learning needs at all times.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Next blog entry I will explore the nature and representations of the various challenges children most frequently demonstrate at school, to build understanding and clarity of the processes schools often suggest.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Lorraine Kinsman, Principal</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Eric Harvie School </span></div></div><p></p>Lorraine Kinsmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15415237016162373969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-257051773674335002.post-37439308421045329102022-05-01T15:54:00.001-07:002022-05-01T15:54:27.472-07:00Eyes on Student Learning...Using our Infinite Mindsets <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitmUNZW93Tcwc4PK2MAG-3_5PHzMSQqFKMIJUKj5YFOWUX9yrQiyB2HJhC-o7J3dpVPO77Ag1P2K629F7mHKxAz1kIGkVVZaGQToOOs0cJNfOY-X8dkm39VGPkTF5MXg2Ss80gETwjJSF9J5Jq9HkW0AVQgl0oaQGL16G2fh8nYl5ec0f3S3oWiD0rxA/s4032/IMG_6968.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitmUNZW93Tcwc4PK2MAG-3_5PHzMSQqFKMIJUKj5YFOWUX9yrQiyB2HJhC-o7J3dpVPO77Ag1P2K629F7mHKxAz1kIGkVVZaGQToOOs0cJNfOY-X8dkm39VGPkTF5MXg2Ss80gETwjJSF9J5Jq9HkW0AVQgl0oaQGL16G2fh8nYl5ec0f3S3oWiD0rxA/s320/IMG_6968.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhtJdXCqUyEuxrWbsleHVZ3Hg85WY1dhTh8hCV8Njs2xkw1reqP6rnc7iQrp35RQO5Of9ZA--cOUZ2MNf03bGPzcilWu_GSzIleLJf5YGXaaQm0uW5bxB2a568bjTY2qrv9gApfsItYyEh56eTDywqQebmbKz8We3PH0Y8cURIi5Si9fbYsXmE7GpKRw/s4032/IMG_6969.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhtJdXCqUyEuxrWbsleHVZ3Hg85WY1dhTh8hCV8Njs2xkw1reqP6rnc7iQrp35RQO5Of9ZA--cOUZ2MNf03bGPzcilWu_GSzIleLJf5YGXaaQm0uW5bxB2a568bjTY2qrv9gApfsItYyEh56eTDywqQebmbKz8We3PH0Y8cURIi5Si9fbYsXmE7GpKRw/s320/IMG_6969.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: georgia;"><b><i>"...to establish and sustain a learning environment that fosters creativity and innovation in a peaceful community of connected, independent thinkers, problem solvers and learners." </i></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: georgia;"><b><i> - Eric Harvie School Vision Statement 2016-2022</i></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: georgia;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">***************</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: georgia;"><b><i><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px; text-align: start;">'...navigating what will come to be known as this </span><span data-key="10" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: 0.2px; text-align: start;">inter-pandemic</span><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px; text-align: start;"> space—a time between what our traditional notions of schooling once were and what they have the potential to become." - Allison Rodman, 2022 ASCD</span></i></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />***************</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Since we are a Kindergarten through Grade 4 school, over half our school population has never experienced what we would typically consider a full 'school year' experience. Children currently in Kindergarten, Grade 1 and Grade 2 have never participated in a spring concert, a year-end celebration of learning at the school with their families present, seen our Magician (Steve Harmer) perform in person, participated in a year-end sports day, been part of a parent-attended Peace Assembly. Even our current Grade 3 students would have experienced these things through the lens of a Kindergarten student with modified participation due to the half-time nature of the program itself. And for our Grade 4 students, participating in all these new experiences only once as Grade 1 learners may seem very much like distant memories. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">This is without considering how learning itself has also looked and sounded vastly different over the past 2 years and 2 months than it ever did before.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Should we consider this a loss for our students currently enrolled in our K - 4 school?</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Well, it is a loss of what used to be for sure - yet, perhaps not a loss of what is now 0r might be in the future. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Children don't actually have a sense of loss for such experiences as spring concerts and sports days, anymore than they have a sense of loss for field trips or guest speakers or reading clubs in the library they have yet to experience either. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The children and babies I've encountered over the years have a lot to teach us about living each day for the experience and the joys of living in that experience - they do not mourn what they do not know they have lost. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">While </span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">adults seek to restore some sense of normalcy - or what we remember as normal - the children come to school every day excited to do whatever the day offers to the best of their abilities. They learn, they laugh, they attempt new things, sometimes they get frustrated - or even angry, sometimes they are sad but they are always actively <i>doing</i> something with their brains and bodies active. They are not living regretfully, lamenting lost experiences.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Even when we were enveloped in online learning, the children still were children. Some of them found ways to talk all the time regardless of mute buttons and turned off cameras. Stories continued to be told. They emailed written work and read books digitally, sent photographs and videos of themselves learning. They built relationships with their teachers and peers - differently, for sure - yet they were nonetheless relationships. They still trusted and cared, helped one another and smiled, grateful to see each other without masks without even making note of the difference.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">When we look back on these past 2+ years, I have a hunch we are going to notice children who consider school, life and each other a bit differently than what we adults recall. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">I believe we will see overall greater resiliency - our youngest learners have grown up needing to adapt quickly to new circumstances - learning at home with parents physically present and their peers absent, going back to school with masks, constraints and lots of adult control for 2020-21, and then returning to school again, in the fall of 2021-22, to an unpredictable school year where masks, constraints and vaccinations were defined and monitored initially. Quickly these constraints gave way to a less-structured approach accompanied by much higher levels of illness for both children and adults, significant school absences, a huge focus on assessment for learning gaps and, finally, the presence of new curriculum waiting to make their next school year yet another one of uncertainty and much-needed adaptability.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">And still the children persevere - with smiles! </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">They put forth effort, seek discoveries, ask questions, wonder aloud at all things unfamiliar. Their spirits are resilient and they do not see themselves as enduring learning losses in any way. They are learners, they are learning at their own pace. They are quicker to notice emotional responses in each other and in adults, and they are more willing to help if they are able.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">They also squabble more than they used to, often with the peers they know best. Their patience for each other is less obvious; they are wearying of the specific company of some of their peers. Familiarity, on occasion, will sometimes breed contempt...</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Are they reading, writing, counting, printing, etc at grade level? There is a ton of data to sift through and we are trying to make sense of it all. Truthfully, the non-strugglers will forever be the non-strugglers. Other learners will find some tasks to be challenging and other tasks much easier. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">All the children will, however, find a way to persevere and try again, to adapt and adjust and find a way to grow, learn and succeed. This is the trajectory of learning, teaching, human existence. Children living through this inter-pandemic space will find ways to thrive, to survive, to adapt and grow. Their ways will not necessarily echo the 'before pandemic' times, yet will define the characters and qualities of this generation. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">If we look forward with infinite mindsets, there is a clarity required that is essential for sustaining quality teaching and learning into the future. It is clarity that acknowledges adaptability, resiliency, the capacities to accept a situation as it is temporarily and still make the most of it. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"> These are qualities humans have exhibited for centuries when confronted with wars, famines, drought, disease, pestilence, poor governance. The human qualities necessary to thrive despite life's challenges have been blanketed by a few decades of prosperity and gentler living requirements - at least in western countries. As learners, as parents, as teachers we became accustomed to every option being readily accessible for as many learners - as well as ourselves - as possible. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">And then it seemed like everything stopped, walloped by COVID-19. Everything we wanted was no longer easily accessible - especially to schools and learning as we understood them to be. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">We mourned the loss of predictable patterns to the school year, of ritual and sharing and growth, yet the children really did not. They got up and adjusted to a different reality and acquired resiliency and adaptability as a result. It was not a perfect process - not for anyone - for sure. Nonetheless, we have children in schools now who are thriving despite the loss of field trips, football teams spring concerts and big graduation ceremonies. They will become, instead, resilient, thinking, adaptable adults. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Infinite mindsets allow us to imagine a much different future for all of us as a result of a generation of children faced with unpredictable, inexplicable, challenging life experiences. All that is required is staying aware, awake to possibilities, being encouraging, positive and recognizing the potential provoked by two years of interrupted routines and events. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Given what we have endured through the pandemic so far, being hopeful seems like the best possible strategy. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">I remain hopeful.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Lorraine Kinsman, Principal </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div></div></div><p></p>Lorraine Kinsmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15415237016162373969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-257051773674335002.post-90880758595948751932022-04-20T08:42:00.000-07:002022-04-20T08:42:01.147-07:00Seeing the World From a Child's Perspective: The Incredible Benefits of Play <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><i>"Adultification is the failure to see the world from a child’s perspective."</i></b></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB7QoH9H6SaQJ2afuRAlIlCZv4vJUVNeeO1f5EyBMmtIgPdUqZTlfzmZVbtULpjZqqSERnpiTryHCmuTvedjoCgwasWmvijWZ9U1U6_CZTMFhtEvVY8t0SB5gVJSYqxMLHRCEHFtePyvqUBsG0lispDGrokKRf-4-GvlfGBAuzcZL2uVAt577wiO8YsQ/s941/PART_1505879256906.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="941" data-original-width="706" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB7QoH9H6SaQJ2afuRAlIlCZv4vJUVNeeO1f5EyBMmtIgPdUqZTlfzmZVbtULpjZqqSERnpiTryHCmuTvedjoCgwasWmvijWZ9U1U6_CZTMFhtEvVY8t0SB5gVJSYqxMLHRCEHFtePyvqUBsG0lispDGrokKRf-4-GvlfGBAuzcZL2uVAt577wiO8YsQ/s320/PART_1505879256906.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: georgia;"><i><b>“Being little” is of critical importance because we see the signature of early childhood experience literally in people’s bodies: their life expectancies are longer and their social-emotional capabilities are more robust when they have a chance to learn through play and through deep relationships, and when their developing brains are given the chance to grow in a nurturing, language-rich, and relatively unhurried environment. It’s clearer than ever before that young children are not simply mini-adults." - Emily Kaplan</b></i></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: georgia;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: georgia;"><i><b>********************************</b></i></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">It is tempting to see the world of children through adult eyes - after all, we are older, wiser, better prepared to protect them from all the known and unknown uncertainties that might invade their young lives - plus, we are the keepers of the keys (for driving), the vaults (for purchasing) and the pantries (for nourishment) so we carry a lot of influence around the smaller versions of humanity.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">We think we know what is best for them, what will help them grow and thrive in the long term, what they 'need' to succeed in living and in life.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px;">The truth, however, is far different from what we think as adults. The truth is that we should be trying to see the world through the eyes of the children, not the adults. We have already learned the 'how and why' of the world, already experienced joys and sorrows, rejection and loss, already not counted ourselves 'good enough' at particular games or activities. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px;">We are well-insulated from experiencing the world first hand and with wonder; as adults, we are great anticipators and we pride ourselves on 'knowing' the outcome of a situation even before it happens, based on our previous experiences. Most importantly, we know about 'time' and that it is quickly running out on us so we must ensure our children have all the experiences in life they need before 'time' runs out on them as well.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px;">Except that 'time' as we think of it was envisioned by adults and is managed by adults. For children, time is defined by adults and mostly never passes too quickly or too slowly - unless an adult has noted that particularly unfathomable phenomenon!</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px;"><span style="color: #e69138;">**********************************</span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: georgia;"><b><i>"...we’re in danger of losing the child in childhood. The notion that there is something of value in being a little kid—with little kid desires and, above all, needs—seems to have fallen out of favor. We talk about young children, increasingly, as commodities to “invest” in for future payoffs. Parents express enormous anxiety about their children’s futures, and seem to be curating their children’s life experiences in a way that would look quite unnatural and even rather joyless to previous generations." - Emily Kaplan </i></b></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: georgia;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: georgia;"><b><i>*****************************************</i></b></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: georgia;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Especially in schools, we need to remember the world we are a part of has been intentionally developed to acknowledge and meet the learning needs of children. If we continually approach all learning from an adult perspective, our interactions will become adult-focused as well, interrupting the natural paths of learning children are hard-wired to be an integral part of all the time. They need to experience interactions where imagination, collaborative dreaming, pretending and posing questions is considered to be perfectly okay and worthwhile. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">We must hold the child at the front of all our decisions, our plans, our ideas for facilitating and supporting learning. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Learning spaces need to be designed with children in mind - how will they move? climb? play? imagine? engage in cooperative play? solve a problem? How will they sit? stand? jump? lie on their tummies? What makes them happy, sad, tired, revived? How do we design multi-functional learning spaces that meet the learning and physical needs of all? </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Additionally, the learning engagements and activities the children will be engaged with must be considered as part of the whole educational experiences. If we want children to take risks with their thinking, they need to first take risks with their doing - find their 'brave' and try it on. Children are much more inclined to do something active than listen passively and understand. They hear with their ears but they learn with their whole bodies.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Children learn by doing, building relationships through shared activities and demonstrating their own abilities for finding their way in the world. Whether they are thinkers, jumpers, doers, climbers, assemblers, designers or any other kind of learner, they are constantly processing and assessing their deep understandings of the world as they know it, and how it works.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #e69138;">********************************</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: georgia;"><b><i>"Play is the defining feature of mammalian development: the impulse is hardwired into us and can’t be suppressed. However, it’s crucial that we recognize that while the play impulse is one thing, the play know-how—the nuts and bolts of playing—is not always so natural, and requires careful cultivation." - Emily Kaplan</i></b></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px;"><b><i>*************************</i></b></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px;">Our current Kindergarten program is a play-based program, with the intention that children will learn to do many things through play - develop social skills, knowledge and awareness of their community and each other, begin to understand concepts of print and basic math, engage with basic science and environmental concepts and become familiar with the routines of school and collegial interactions. As they create and imagine, playing together through much of their school day, the value of play is clearly demonstrated through the language they use with each other, the physical movements they use to accommodate each other in the room and in games, the smiles and encouragement they offer to each other when something is a little tougher than they anticipated. There are always offers to help in Kindergarten - I think of it as the place where the growth and development of the first five years begins to encounter the social structures that will guide them appropriately through the rest of their lives. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px;"><i style="color: #e69138; font-weight: bold;">"All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten" (Robert Fulghum)</i><span style="font-size: medium;"> was a popular book in the 1990's that still holds true today - and we learned all those things - like sharing, playing fairly, say you're sorry when you hit someone, clean up after yourself - through the medium of play. Seeing the world from a child's perspective allows the Kindergarten year in school to offer multiple opportunities to 'try out' new skills and understandings without pressure and overt assessment. I consider it be an indispensable part of our education system and believe we have many lessons to learn, as educators, about the value of play from children's experiences in Kindergarten. </span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px;">Kindergarten programs offer both structured and unstructured play times - always with the understanding and intention that children will use these times to coalesce their perceptions and appreciations of interacting with others in specific situations. Organized learning times throughout the rest of a child's educational experiences will - ideally - continue to offer structured play-like opportunities infused throughout the learning day. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px;">When learners engage in maker space activities, art, drama, music, science, social studies, reading, writing, math or any other academic pursuit, there are always numerous opportunities for children to learn through playful activities that will both enhance their skills and knowledge as well as their social interactions, creativity, imagination, physical movements and collegial communication. The value of play in school cannot be overstated - most adults prefer to be playful with their work when possible and most of us definitely prefer our hobbies and fun pursuits over going to work. Play is where we find our joy most often - and play can make learning in school more joyful too!</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px;">Unstructured play has enormous value, as well, for both children and adults. While organized sports certainly offer significant opportunities for children to learn to play collegially, follow rules, acquire specific skills and strategies and understand the boundaries of structured team sports, unstructured play offers students unlimited opportunities to think creatively, imagine without boundaries and engage in both physical and mental 'stretching' that will carry through into future learning situations. Unstructured play offers children opportunities to pretend without concern about meeting specific requirements and this kind of play is invaluable for promoting unconventional thinking that will serve to stretch the boundaries of conventional thinking in educational settings.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px;">It is at the intersection of unconventional and conventional thinking that the dreamers, inventors, designers, writers, poets, musicians, artists all find their ways to push social considerations and thinking continually forward in our thinking, our doing and our evolving as a society. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i style="color: #e69138; font-family: georgia; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 0.8px;"> ********************************</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i style="color: #e69138; font-family: georgia; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 0.8px;"><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px;"><span style="color: #e69138; font-size: medium;"><b><i>"The physical exercise and emotional stretching that children enjoy in unorganized play is more varied and less time-bound than is found in organized sports. </i></b></span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px;"><b><i>Play-time - especially unstructured, imaginative, exploratory play - is increasingly recognized as an essential component of wholesome child development." - Richard Louv (Author, 'Last Child in the Woods')</i></b></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px;"><b><i>*******************************</i></b></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px;">There is no doubt that play is something we need to sustain and hold in the front of our minds as we plan for learning in our schools, for it is play that will shape the lives of our children forever.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px;"><br />Lorraine Kinsman, Principal</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px;">Eric Harvie School </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></span></div><h4 style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></span></h4><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: georgia;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: georgia;"><b><i> </i></b></span><p></p>Lorraine Kinsmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15415237016162373969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-257051773674335002.post-32570074734042721572022-04-12T10:54:00.003-07:002022-04-12T10:54:56.166-07:00Why we Need to Personalize Learning for Our Students - Especially in 2022!<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr6k3SWUU4OFCGwb13GRyOjWfVLksuYrC7KTkqwLA9-VhogSh7Suy7974sULbC9LgPP0keJ8pyshGfT9L1t-1rUjS7IQHKDVIMZ0y8hRPXpP0EtckAaiBw_fYGuADBt9BItSByR_7krfsgo8rcDyvzEd2e8fsxL5W3ZEgS2ADNVeQq4ItOKVhoFAHQtA/s2048/IMG_5492.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="159" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr6k3SWUU4OFCGwb13GRyOjWfVLksuYrC7KTkqwLA9-VhogSh7Suy7974sULbC9LgPP0keJ8pyshGfT9L1t-1rUjS7IQHKDVIMZ0y8hRPXpP0EtckAaiBw_fYGuADBt9BItSByR_7krfsgo8rcDyvzEd2e8fsxL5W3ZEgS2ADNVeQq4ItOKVhoFAHQtA/w120-h159/IMG_5492.jpeg" width="120" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxspSAVZITzOxxp5sAinhqdVrfToAF-tPeeeJBYxl6ACsp8LXTRhs-nt8C6_NY-KWse0vRn-4JK6LZ5F7hWRDSTGJBtPpTwCgDojH8YaAZKhCKejBa5FrlwZvnXo7_hQGTCPYasso4yy0qUEAQCJ43ECm5sSrSAQDfLckP0rK4VvDSAyE6pclJM0PEow/s1600/IMG_5590.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="144" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxspSAVZITzOxxp5sAinhqdVrfToAF-tPeeeJBYxl6ACsp8LXTRhs-nt8C6_NY-KWse0vRn-4JK6LZ5F7hWRDSTGJBtPpTwCgDojH8YaAZKhCKejBa5FrlwZvnXo7_hQGTCPYasso4yy0qUEAQCJ43ECm5sSrSAQDfLckP0rK4VvDSAyE6pclJM0PEow/w108-h144/IMG_5590.jpeg" width="108" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRa180ny1L6l5kRQuCWdUDL2XYl0we0jQ7xB54LiLfRx1cUqauRDGAmTOXDiGNrg3-18xWl2oxSkoSDXUdDQv89xnK4FEtjnCGrJ86Ai5r9J_qrnG4piu3QmrLQVICy2paywQsqsAqJYl2ODMWuso4yugbip_xfwK6A2tXgvNpetnpHlL2fR1I-ESpwQ/s2048/IMG_4037.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="136" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRa180ny1L6l5kRQuCWdUDL2XYl0we0jQ7xB54LiLfRx1cUqauRDGAmTOXDiGNrg3-18xWl2oxSkoSDXUdDQv89xnK4FEtjnCGrJ86Ai5r9J_qrnG4piu3QmrLQVICy2paywQsqsAqJYl2ODMWuso4yugbip_xfwK6A2tXgvNpetnpHlL2fR1I-ESpwQ/w102-h136/IMG_4037.jpeg" width="102" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCCr1my3oAM336fJFJewgak2soyop7Md7h7pDRNaV7SultV_LPsS6HJoryhh6tNteV29XC0WKhEXy-Trgp7T5l4rJ5b49YNwa8WEY62XiGWObNT3l2XJKiQAEj5YBjdDvRm6NeOsVKSwRkaM3VRUYvnqBQtfMKNvDI6Md5HH69Bl5KCO0_fXdPWovebA/s4032/IMG_5821.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="109" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCCr1my3oAM336fJFJewgak2soyop7Md7h7pDRNaV7SultV_LPsS6HJoryhh6tNteV29XC0WKhEXy-Trgp7T5l4rJ5b49YNwa8WEY62XiGWObNT3l2XJKiQAEj5YBjdDvRm6NeOsVKSwRkaM3VRUYvnqBQtfMKNvDI6Md5HH69Bl5KCO0_fXdPWovebA/w146-h109/IMG_5821.jpeg" width="146" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: georgia;"><i><b>"Every student is unique, with different learning styles, </b></i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: georgia;"><i><b>strengths, and areas of growth. </b></i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: georgia;"><i><b>Personalized learning encourages and challenges </b></i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: georgia;"><i><b>students to achieve their best.</b></i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: georgia;"><i><b> It is not a one-size-fits-all approach. </b></i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: georgia;"><i><b>Instead, personalized learning customizes </b></i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: georgia;"><i><b>activities to align with each student’s strengths, </b></i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: georgia;"><i><b>needs, and interests." - Sandy Sutty, Sanford University (2018)</b></i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: georgia;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: georgia;"><i><b>****************************</b></i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: georgia;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">As we are attempting to either live with various iterations of the COVID-19 virus - or to be hopeful it is fading into oblivion - schools are, of necessity, continuing to consider how to best meet the needs of our learners every day, as we have through the past two years' pandemic constrained living. Regardless of our beliefs, wishes, hopes related to the impact of the virus itself, children show up to learn and, as teachers, we are doing our very best to make professional judgements and decisions that will benefit each child to maximize their possibilities for learning.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">There are numerous ways to approach teaching and learning on a daily basis in classrooms. Probably the one I knew best prior to becoming a teacher was the one-instruction-for-all model I experienced as a student myself. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">My teachers planned daily lessons and taught them to all of us each class every day - sometimes there were activities to do as well as the more 'academic' pursuits of reading, answering questions, calculating mathematical problems, completing worksheets, writing tests. I do not remember any diversity in teaching, all the students in every class from Kindergarten through to grade 12 were taught the same lessons and we either understood and could represent those understandings on tests and worksheets or answering questions and writing essays - or we did not. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Those who did not ultimately left school early and pursued other interests. Learning came easily to me and I came from an academically-inclined family who introduced me early to the public library, museums, historical and biological institutions so I was able to experience success in school. Approximately 60% of the students I started Kindergarten with in my small Nova Scotia community graduated from high school together, and perhaps 25% pursued opportunities in higher education. I have not gone back and researched whether this was a typical graduating rate for the time; I do know for the three years my sisters and I were in school, this was a typical graduating rate.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">One-instruction-for-all clearly did not serve everyone well.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">32 years as part of the education profession has offered me numerous opportunities to both implement and observe other approaches to teaching and learning, including using a whole language approach, a balanced approach, a centres approach, self-guided approach, digital approach, hybrid approach, research approach - among several other approaches. Every approach has been implemented with the best of attentions: to improve access for learners to the knowledge, skills and strategies associated with the various subject areas and enhance student success and improve achievement. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">A few years ago, we began to hear about personalized learning - or the practice of determining teaching and learning practices that are tailored to reflect individual needs, strengths and interests of each student to maximize their engagement in learning and, therefore improve their opportunities to be successful as a learner in school.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Personalized learning does not require writing a separate lesson plan for every student - many learners are able to engage in a wide variety of activities that are quite similar to each other as long as students are able to approach it from their own area of strength first. For example, if a child is not an auditory learner first, engaging them in a visual or hands-on initial task will help them grasp a new concept before being asked to listen and respond or participate in a conversation about that concept prior to truly understanding the meaning of the new idea. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Personalizing tasks for learners takes a bit of preparation for sure, on the part of teachers. There are multiple strategies for personalizing tasks, including considering visual/auditory/kinesthetic approaches to similar tasks or learnings as well as tasks that are highly adapted using digital tools, specific manipulatives to support specific student challenges. In a somewhat typical classroom, personalizing tasks that require significant adaptations are usually needed for one or two students while personalizing through the three lenses of auditory/visual/kinesthetic will meet different needs of many learners.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-size: medium;"><b>***********************</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: georgia;"><b><i>"One challenge with schooling is that teachers want students to focus on the curriculum they’ve chosen, and students have other interests and concerns that lead them to daydream or disrupt instruction...</i></b></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Bitstream Charter", serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: start;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: georgia;"><b><i>about half of our students in grades 5-12 are engaged with their learning. About a quarter are passively disengaged, and another quarter are actively disengaged." - Dennis Shirley (5 Paths of Student Engagement)</i></b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Personalizing learning really gets to the heart of student engagement. Knowing how learners best connect with understanding and appreciating new ideas is immensely valuable knowledge for teachers to have about their learners to facilitate active learning all day long - there should not be gaps in the day where students are simply not paying attention or learning anything new because they have lost interest.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Teachers weave learning opportunities carefully for their learners, acknowledging their differentiated learning needs while also embracing student interests, motivating activities such as music or art and empowering learners with active learning tasks that provoke their thinking and energize them to pursue new understandings through the lenses (visual/auditory/kinesthetic) that appeal to them the most effectively.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Differentiating learning through the teaching day so it is personalized to the needs of students is not difficult or unusual. It is what meets the needs of learners' best to advance their opportunities for success. We cannot devolve to one-instruction-for-all when we know so much more about designing engaging and effective learning for our learners. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Personalizing learning elevates the need to know and appreciate our students as individuals with needs we are capable of meeting every day in classrooms. To do less is to deny what we know to be true about children as well as about teaching. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">And in 2022, as we are trying to navigate a social climate that is simply impossible to clearly understand, our learners warrant all the individualized attention and support we are able to offer - this is not only a new social climate for them, it is the only one they have ever known or navigated as a learner. They deserve our best opportunities for learning in every situation, all day, every day if we are to generate enthusiasm for learning and promote life-long learning in what is certainly a precarious social circumstance.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Schools are consistently places where kids land and seek affirmations of worth and viability. Personalized learning offers educators the strategies to ensure they are affirmed capable and ready to engage in learning every day.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Lorraine Kinsman, Principal </div><div style="text-align: left;">Eric Harvie School </div></div><p></p>Lorraine Kinsmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15415237016162373969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-257051773674335002.post-49829614881895204002022-03-28T10:11:00.000-07:002022-03-28T10:11:15.295-07:00Intentionally Connecting with New Beginnings (Because There Is No 'Normal' to Return To!)<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: georgia;"><i><b></b></i></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: georgia;"><i><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRMFzI593mSrHfKNzRu88RPKBHDCDn8CUyclZv-dQIVV6-iaYCGjeedpvQrbdS2A2ba8Us-88E8_eax-So2oiGc8oXhoogauew45Tae2-P57QAsPSakE3QyedWJdge2kPqBiPZEIB7ZJ7QeLrfJPsxrhg_7DvOPOzL2o-cxRcB3p5E5wq6DGxxhHRhpQ/s1800/IMG_6124.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1800" data-original-width="1800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRMFzI593mSrHfKNzRu88RPKBHDCDn8CUyclZv-dQIVV6-iaYCGjeedpvQrbdS2A2ba8Us-88E8_eax-So2oiGc8oXhoogauew45Tae2-P57QAsPSakE3QyedWJdge2kPqBiPZEIB7ZJ7QeLrfJPsxrhg_7DvOPOzL2o-cxRcB3p5E5wq6DGxxhHRhpQ/s320/IMG_6124.jpeg" width="320" /></a></b></i></span></div><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: georgia;"><i><b><br />"If you’re involved in education in any way, then you are acutely aware of how challenging the last few school years have been for our students. This is especially true for our youngest learners. While young children can quickly adapt to new situations and are astoundingly resilient, they are coping with a lot—both in and outside of school. " - Jennifer Orr</b></i></span><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: georgia; font-style: italic; font-weight: 700;"><br />***************************</span></div><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px;">We are a Kindergarten - Grade 4 school - learners who register with us for Kindergarten have the opportunity to spend five years in our school if they register for our half-day Kindie program and stay in the community for all five years. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px;"> This is the ideal situation for learners because it provides opportunities for them to build expected behaviours, routines and learning practices the school intentionally plans to provide successful, engaging academic and social experiences for every child. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px;">Since the spring of 2020 when the pandemic first impacted our world, educators have not been able to provide the same opportunities for children to learn, socialize, engage and participate in 'school' experiences that we know will provide optimum academic achievement and social growth. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px;">Our routines have orbited around safe health practices, as have our learning opportunities. When routines and learning opportunities are not able to be offered in the intentional ways we know will best meet our young learners' needs, their social/emotional development is impacted as well, since the situations where they would typically learn to interact, solve problems and develop positive communication strategies are interrupted too.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px;">******************</span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><b><i> "T</i></b></span></span><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: georgia;"><b><i>here have been many difficult moments for many different students and problem solving with them has not been easy. Some students can talk through difficult moments, problem solve together, and advocate for their needs. Many other students cannot. " - Jennifer Orr</i></b></span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: georgia;"><b><i>**********************</i></b></span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">As a Peace Education school, we have intentionally developed routines and strategies intended to support our learners' overall academic/social/emotional growth from Kindergarten through to Grade 4. Teaching principles of kindness, joy, harmony and peace through literature, service projects, exploring simple social justice issues, community initiatives, stories, Roots of Empathy and shared experiences, our learners gradually build on early experiences with understanding how to approach the world through lenses of kindness, joy, harmony and peace to support each other and communicate effectively.</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"> As learners progress from Kindergarten through to Grade 4, they begin to see themselves as positive members of a community and acquire communication skills that effectively solve problems, support children to see each other as capable and unique, approach adverse situations from a solutions-focused perspective. This is achieved through developing intentional opportunities for active learning in a wide variety of situations throughout the school year, and offering opportunities for children to engage in whatever learning supports that will help them learn and socialize most successfully (such as SPARK, Calm, Ignite Time, Wonder Time, Discovery, etc). </span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">When we opened EHS, we began this intentional weaving of multiple learning opportunities with social/emotional teachings, knowing this would yield a pattern of student leaders across the school as each year's incoming new learners would be immersed with peers who have already developed communication and learning strategies to support optimum growth. And we were able to celebrate and experience this for the first four years - the sudden pandemic shut down of March, 2020 also slammed the door on this best laid plan.</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">We now have three years' of learners - those who entered grade 1 in 2020, 2021 and 2022 - whose beginning experiences of school have not included the usual level of interaction, group learning, shared experiences and shared communication we would typically design and offer in our school. While we have worked hard to try and offer as many learning opportunities as possible, with the various constraints and occasional episodes of online learning, most learners have not been able to participate in the more open, spontaneous learning and socialization experiences that best support optimal academic growth and communication development. While I have noted the three years of grade 1 entry as experiencing significant interruptions, there have been impacts on all students - even students in grade 4 this year have only had two years (grades 1 and 2) of expected, intentional school-based experiences.</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Simultaneously, social interactions outside of school such as participation with sports teams, birthday parties, play dates, dance, music lessons, family or friend gatherings, etc. have all been interrupted too. </span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">As all of society begins to grapple with 'living with COVID', there is considerable conversation occurring about 'getting back to normal'. The problem with the call to return to normal is that there really isn't any normal to return to in a school setting - for most of our learners, not communicating with anyone outside of a select group (i.e. your classmates) is what they know and, when they do try to interact with someone new outside of their tightly cohorted circle, there are very few problem solving strategies that have been practiced successfully ready to be used immediately. Students do not have previous experiences working in bigger spaces with multiple learners from other classes or grade levels so entering into a new learning opportunity is no longer routine and knowing how to do this successfully is a skill many children have yet to acquire. </span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: georgia;"><b><i>**************************</i></b></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: georgia;"><b><i></i></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: georgia;"><b><i>"We are social beings - we are not meant to struggle on our own...Our children will have a reservoir of resilience from living through the pandemic, they have learned to cope with levels of isolation. Social situations opening up will present challenges...Learning to work through issues together will become the goal as children adapt to new stressors in their worlds." - Dr. Mona Delahooke </i></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: georgia;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: georgia;"><b><i>************************</i></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">As a school, we are exploring gentle ways of opening back up again to the multiple learning opportunities and experiences that previously defined our school, with the intention to scaffold our learners into situations where they will be able to try out positive communication strategies, problem solve, be supportive of each other, accept, embrace and understand each learner is unique and brings gifts and talents of their own. Appreciate and value each other in a wide variety of learning situations. We will be nudging children away from just one 'best friend' towards developing connections with many friends, in both academic and social situations.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Fortunately, we have not encountered huge learning losses and gaps amongst our youngest students - with some additional support and the help of amazing parents, most of our learners are where we would expect them to be, 3/4 of the way through the school year. However, the social/emotional interactions are proving to be more noticeable and also more challenging to deal with as we begin to explore a world without constraints - even as the virus maintains its presence in our school and in our communities. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">While there may not be a 'normal' to return to in a K - 4 school significantly impacted by the virus itself as well as the constraints put in place to protect the health of our learning community as much as possible, there are learners eager to find all possible paths to successful growth academically and socially. And that is why we will be building intentional connections amongst all our students in the coming weeks and months to foster new beginnings relationally across the student population. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Lorraine Kinsman, Principal</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Eric Harvie School </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: georgia;"><b><i><br /><br /></i></b></span><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></p></div>Lorraine Kinsmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15415237016162373969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-257051773674335002.post-92104495870994076552022-02-27T21:30:00.002-08:002022-02-27T21:30:40.906-08:00Conversations with Children About Hard Things - like War<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjaUvKJR2mzHsJHhSLznZyPYpY6Txmmgm9-E6PFsds88dRpYUv9PeXoVGLOi9I40Z1u_f6TOpPFFgVtpftaq4vI_ixTQmnmp9W_9C9BJ-yWEZRiaMDoeuNzt5IaWm0yIJSnAivOkX8yQNOy2IXsyWvevEzlAUHF-zEqKEtT7wn3ohpPgbsc5nuHQQK5aw=s508" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="338" data-original-width="508" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjaUvKJR2mzHsJHhSLznZyPYpY6Txmmgm9-E6PFsds88dRpYUv9PeXoVGLOi9I40Z1u_f6TOpPFFgVtpftaq4vI_ixTQmnmp9W_9C9BJ-yWEZRiaMDoeuNzt5IaWm0yIJSnAivOkX8yQNOy2IXsyWvevEzlAUHF-zEqKEtT7wn3ohpPgbsc5nuHQQK5aw=w209-h176" width="209" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjAwLNohLoOEiC7Jv_0fK7KZENWb4SMrhiKWfxv3_2xJjmucAZJ_GvfmvBGhkkwy5ZKXvpgyAsP33yXYXBwaMP46p1F92RWVc0E_wcZd9RBYLr5uMnQnScRGatvrgzB4lRzSTCzpWlXqav3lEQ30axTrbu9xaNQa-4TeusrpAUh3dakWjT06GJwmqqxqg=s366" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="366" data-original-width="366" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjAwLNohLoOEiC7Jv_0fK7KZENWb4SMrhiKWfxv3_2xJjmucAZJ_GvfmvBGhkkwy5ZKXvpgyAsP33yXYXBwaMP46p1F92RWVc0E_wcZd9RBYLr5uMnQnScRGatvrgzB4lRzSTCzpWlXqav3lEQ30axTrbu9xaNQa-4TeusrpAUh3dakWjT06GJwmqqxqg=w175-h175" width="175" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p></p><div data-share-highlightable="true" style="background-color: white;"><div class="ad2k81qe f9o22wc5 pwh3vvf2 jb3vyjys hv4rvrfc qt6c0cv9 dati1w0a sjgh65i0" style="margin-bottom: 16px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-width: 700px; padding: 0px 16px;"><p class="gh1tjcio c9zspvje ir6dinai" style="margin: 24px 0px; min-height: 30px;"><span class="a8c37x1j hihg3u9x ggxiycxj l9j0dhe7 d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz lis9t9rg qv66sw1b c1et5uql fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 oi732d6d ik7dh3pa mkak05xi b0k1zwb0 b1v8xokw oercdik2 oo9gr5id hzawbc8m embtmqzv teo7jy3c" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; display: block; letter-spacing: -0.32px; line-height: 32px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: visible; position: relative; text-align: center; white-space: pre-line; word-break: break-word;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>"When events in the world are scary and tragic, it's totally understandable to want to protect our children from it. Our instinct is to let them keep believing that the world is safe and that bad things don't happen, for as long as possible.</i></b></span></span></p></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div data-share-highlightable="true" style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><div class="ad2k81qe f9o22wc5 pwh3vvf2 jb3vyjys hv4rvrfc qt6c0cv9 dati1w0a sjgh65i0" style="margin-bottom: 16px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-width: 700px; padding: 0px 16px;"><p class="gh1tjcio c9zspvje ir6dinai" style="margin: 24px 0px; min-height: 30px;"><span class="a8c37x1j hihg3u9x ggxiycxj l9j0dhe7 d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz lis9t9rg qv66sw1b c1et5uql fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 oi732d6d ik7dh3pa mkak05xi b0k1zwb0 b1v8xokw oercdik2 oo9gr5id hzawbc8m embtmqzv teo7jy3c" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; display: block; letter-spacing: -0.32px; line-height: 32px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: visible; position: relative; text-align: center; white-space: pre-line; word-break: break-word;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>But kids are incredibly attuned to our emotional states, stressed expressions and any tension at home. They easily sense when something's going on or when things aren't right. Without an adult to explain what is happening, children’s imaginations often create scenarios that are even worse than reality." - Dr. Aliza W. Pressman (Raising Good Humans)</i></b></span></span><span class="a8c37x1j hihg3u9x ggxiycxj l9j0dhe7 d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz lis9t9rg qv66sw1b c1et5uql fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 oi732d6d ik7dh3pa mkak05xi b0k1zwb0 b1v8xokw oercdik2 oo9gr5id hzawbc8m embtmqzv teo7jy3c" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; display: block; letter-spacing: -0.32px; line-height: 32px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: visible; position: relative; text-align: center; white-space: pre-line; word-break: break-word;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>****************************</i></b></span></span><span class="a8c37x1j hihg3u9x ggxiycxj l9j0dhe7 d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz lis9t9rg qv66sw1b c1et5uql fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 oi732d6d ik7dh3pa mkak05xi b0k1zwb0 b1v8xokw oercdik2 oo9gr5id hzawbc8m embtmqzv teo7jy3c" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; display: block; letter-spacing: -0.32px; line-height: 32px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: visible; position: relative; text-align: left; white-space: pre-line; word-break: break-word;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">There is a war happening in Ukraine. Just typing these words seems surreal in the 21st century - yet again, our histories continue to haunt us into our futures. And the children who are already living through an unprecedented pandemic are now exposed to a war that is highly visible in western societies - especially those whose populations are linked to Ukraine as we are in Alberta and in Canada. </span></span><span class="a8c37x1j hihg3u9x ggxiycxj l9j0dhe7 d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz lis9t9rg qv66sw1b c1et5uql fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 oi732d6d ik7dh3pa mkak05xi b0k1zwb0 b1v8xokw oercdik2 oo9gr5id hzawbc8m embtmqzv teo7jy3c" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; display: block; letter-spacing: -0.32px; line-height: 32px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: visible; position: relative; text-align: left; white-space: pre-line; word-break: break-word;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">
In my 32-year career, I have taught children connected to 9/11, the Bosnian/Serbian war, the Iraq war, the Syrian war and the Afghan war - not to mention numerous other conflicts around the world. I believe it is important to respond appropriately and honestly to children when they ask questions, when they are trying to make sense of incomprehensible events and help them find a way to process strange things in a strange world to carry forward with hope and without fear.</span></span><span class="a8c37x1j hihg3u9x ggxiycxj l9j0dhe7 d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz lis9t9rg qv66sw1b c1et5uql fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 oi732d6d ik7dh3pa mkak05xi b0k1zwb0 b1v8xokw oercdik2 oo9gr5id hzawbc8m embtmqzv teo7jy3c" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; display: block; letter-spacing: -0.32px; line-height: 32px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: visible; position: relative; text-align: left; white-space: pre-line; word-break: break-word;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span><span class="a8c37x1j hihg3u9x ggxiycxj l9j0dhe7 d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz lis9t9rg qv66sw1b c1et5uql fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 oi732d6d ik7dh3pa mkak05xi b0k1zwb0 b1v8xokw oercdik2 oo9gr5id hzawbc8m embtmqzv teo7jy3c" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; display: block; letter-spacing: -0.32px; line-height: 32px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: visible; position: relative; text-align: left; white-space: pre-line; word-break: break-word;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Our learners are very young - ages 5 - 10 years for the most part. Dr. Aliza W. Pressman, clinical psychologist and Director of the Mt. Sinai Parenting Foundation, author and podcast presenter of the 'Raising Good Humans' books and podcasts, specializes in resiliency and supporting parents with guiding healthy childhood development. When considering how to best approach conversations about the Ukraine/Russia war with my grandchildren and our students, it is in Dr. Pressman's words that I find best guidance. I do recommend checking out her podcast, <i>Raising Good Humans </i>on a wide variety of parenting topics as well.</span></span><span class="a8c37x1j hihg3u9x ggxiycxj l9j0dhe7 d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz lis9t9rg qv66sw1b c1et5uql fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 oi732d6d ik7dh3pa mkak05xi b0k1zwb0 b1v8xokw oercdik2 oo9gr5id hzawbc8m embtmqzv teo7jy3c" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; display: block; letter-spacing: -0.32px; line-height: 32px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: visible; position: relative; text-align: center; white-space: pre-line; word-break: break-word;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: georgia;">************************</span></span><span class="a8c37x1j hihg3u9x ggxiycxj l9j0dhe7 d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz lis9t9rg qv66sw1b c1et5uql fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 oi732d6d ik7dh3pa mkak05xi b0k1zwb0 b1v8xokw oercdik2 oo9gr5id hzawbc8m embtmqzv teo7jy3c" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; display: block; letter-spacing: -0.32px; line-height: 32px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: visible; position: relative; text-align: left; white-space: pre-line; word-break: break-word;"><b style="color: #0b5394; font-family: georgia; font-size: small; font-style: italic; letter-spacing: -0.32px;"></b></span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="color: #0b5394; font-family: georgia; font-size: small; font-style: italic; letter-spacing: -0.32px;"><b style="letter-spacing: -0.32px;">"There is a war in Ukraine. This is all over the news, all over social media, all of our hearts and minds. If we don’t get in front of explaining this to our kids, they will explain it to themselves." </b></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="color: #0b5394; font-family: georgia; font-size: small; font-style: italic; letter-spacing: -0.32px;"><b style="letter-spacing: -0.32px;">- Dr. Aliza W. Pressman</b></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="color: #0b5394; font-family: georgia; font-size: small; font-style: italic; letter-spacing: -0.32px;"><b style="letter-spacing: -0.32px;">*****************************</b></b></div><span class="a8c37x1j hihg3u9x ggxiycxj l9j0dhe7 d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz lis9t9rg qv66sw1b c1et5uql fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 oi732d6d ik7dh3pa mkak05xi b0k1zwb0 b1v8xokw oercdik2 oo9gr5id hzawbc8m embtmqzv teo7jy3c" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; display: block; line-height: 32px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: visible; position: relative; text-align: left; word-break: break-word;"><span style="font-family: georgia; letter-spacing: -0.32px; white-space: pre-line;">Dr. Pressman offers 9 key points for discussing the war in Ukraine with our children, included in her bulletin at </span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.32px; white-space: pre-line;"><a href="https://draliza.bulletin.com/talking-about-ukraine-with-our-children">https://draliza.bulletin.com/talking-about-ukraine-with-our-children</a></span></span></span><span class="a8c37x1j hihg3u9x ggxiycxj l9j0dhe7 d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz lis9t9rg qv66sw1b c1et5uql fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 oi732d6d ik7dh3pa mkak05xi b0k1zwb0 b1v8xokw oercdik2 oo9gr5id hzawbc8m embtmqzv teo7jy3c" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; display: block; line-height: 32px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: visible; position: relative; text-align: left; word-break: break-word;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.32px; white-space: pre-line;">I am including them here as well:</span></span></span><p></p><ol class="a8c37x1j o3w64lxj pghbfmu1 cxmmr5t8 hcukyx3x a6aqsbx2 fl8dtwsd" style="color: #1c1e21; margin: 1em 0px; padding-left: 40px;"><li><div data-share-highlightable="true"><p class="gh1tjcio c9zspvje ir6dinai" style="margin: 24px 0px; min-height: 30px;"><span class="a8c37x1j hihg3u9x ggxiycxj l9j0dhe7 d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz lis9t9rg qv66sw1b c1et5uql fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 oi732d6d ik7dh3pa mkak05xi b0k1zwb0 b1v8xokw oercdik2 oo9gr5id hzawbc8m embtmqzv teo7jy3c" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: var(--primary-text); display: block; letter-spacing: -0.32px; line-height: 32px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: visible; position: relative; white-space: pre-line; word-break: break-word;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Take a deep breath, so you are calm and regulated. It can help to physically put your hand on your heart to soothe your nervous system.</i></span></span></p></div></li><li><div data-share-highlightable="true"><p class="gh1tjcio c9zspvje ir6dinai" style="margin: 24px 0px; min-height: 30px;"><span class="a8c37x1j hihg3u9x ggxiycxj l9j0dhe7 d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz lis9t9rg qv66sw1b c1et5uql fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 oi732d6d ik7dh3pa mkak05xi b0k1zwb0 b1v8xokw oercdik2 oo9gr5id hzawbc8m embtmqzv teo7jy3c" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: var(--primary-text); display: block; letter-spacing: -0.32px; line-height: 32px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: visible; position: relative; white-space: pre-line; word-break: break-word;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>See what they know. “You may have heard about what is happening in Ukraine. I’m curious what you know and I’m here to answer questions.”</i></span></span></p></div></li><li><div data-share-highlightable="true"><p class="gh1tjcio c9zspvje ir6dinai" style="margin: 24px 0px; min-height: 30px;"><span class="a8c37x1j hihg3u9x ggxiycxj l9j0dhe7 d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz lis9t9rg qv66sw1b c1et5uql fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 oi732d6d ik7dh3pa mkak05xi b0k1zwb0 b1v8xokw oercdik2 oo9gr5id hzawbc8m embtmqzv teo7jy3c" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: var(--primary-text); display: block; letter-spacing: -0.32px; line-height: 32px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: visible; position: relative; white-space: pre-line; word-break: break-word;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Be honest and clear. “Russia has invaded Ukraine, and as with any war, people will be hurt and killed. That’s why you’re seeing so many grown-ups who are so sad. You are safe, we are safe, but we care about the experience of people even when they are far away.”</i></span></span></p></div></li><li><div data-share-highlightable="true"><p class="gh1tjcio c9zspvje ir6dinai" style="margin: 24px 0px; min-height: 30px;"><span class="a8c37x1j hihg3u9x ggxiycxj l9j0dhe7 d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz lis9t9rg qv66sw1b c1et5uql fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 oi732d6d ik7dh3pa mkak05xi b0k1zwb0 b1v8xokw oercdik2 oo9gr5id hzawbc8m embtmqzv teo7jy3c" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: var(--primary-text); display: block; letter-spacing: -0.32px; line-height: 32px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: visible; position: relative; white-space: pre-line; word-break: break-word;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Pause. Let the information land. See what your child has to say.</i></span></span></p></div></li><li><div data-share-highlightable="true"><p class="gh1tjcio c9zspvje ir6dinai" style="margin: 24px 0px; min-height: 30px;"><span class="a8c37x1j hihg3u9x ggxiycxj l9j0dhe7 d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz lis9t9rg qv66sw1b c1et5uql fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 oi732d6d ik7dh3pa mkak05xi b0k1zwb0 b1v8xokw oercdik2 oo9gr5id hzawbc8m embtmqzv teo7jy3c" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: var(--primary-text); display: block; letter-spacing: -0.32px; line-height: 32px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: visible; position: relative; white-space: pre-line; word-break: break-word;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Listen. Make room for any reaction. Your child does not need to be interested, or sad, we just need to tell them so that they don’t pick up on unspoken cues of our collective distress.</i></span></span></p></div></li><li><div data-share-highlightable="true"><p class="gh1tjcio c9zspvje ir6dinai" style="margin: 24px 0px; min-height: 30px;"><span class="a8c37x1j hihg3u9x ggxiycxj l9j0dhe7 d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz lis9t9rg qv66sw1b c1et5uql fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 oi732d6d ik7dh3pa mkak05xi b0k1zwb0 b1v8xokw oercdik2 oo9gr5id hzawbc8m embtmqzv teo7jy3c" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: var(--primary-text); display: block; letter-spacing: -0.32px; line-height: 32px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: visible; position: relative; white-space: pre-line; word-break: break-word;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Describe the age-appropriate facts. If your child has questions, look up answers together on child-friendly news sources, like Newsela. If your child is repeating mis-information, help them to think through more reliable sources. Answer only the questions they’ve asked and resist going into longer explanations. This is not one conversation, but unfortunately an ongoing discussion.</i></span></span></p></div></li><li><div data-share-highlightable="true"><p class="gh1tjcio c9zspvje ir6dinai" style="margin: 24px 0px; min-height: 30px;"><span class="a8c37x1j hihg3u9x ggxiycxj l9j0dhe7 d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz lis9t9rg qv66sw1b c1et5uql fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 oi732d6d ik7dh3pa mkak05xi b0k1zwb0 b1v8xokw oercdik2 oo9gr5id hzawbc8m embtmqzv teo7jy3c" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: var(--primary-text); display: block; letter-spacing: -0.32px; line-height: 32px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: visible; position: relative; white-space: pre-line; word-break: break-word;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>When you can’t answer a question, acknowledge it. These are complicated questions that are an opportunity for critical thinking, investigation, and the acceptance of a reality where we don’t always have answers. Get comfortable with the idea that we can’t solve these problems for our children or ourselves, but that we can help make peace with the discomfort and uncertainty.</i></span></span></p></div></li><li><div data-share-highlightable="true"><p class="gh1tjcio c9zspvje ir6dinai" style="margin: 24px 0px; min-height: 30px;"><span class="a8c37x1j hihg3u9x ggxiycxj l9j0dhe7 d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz lis9t9rg qv66sw1b c1et5uql fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 oi732d6d ik7dh3pa mkak05xi b0k1zwb0 b1v8xokw oercdik2 oo9gr5id hzawbc8m embtmqzv teo7jy3c" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: var(--primary-text); display: block; letter-spacing: -0.32px; line-height: 32px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: visible; position: relative; white-space: pre-line; word-break: break-word;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Stick to routines. Whenever things in the world feel uncertain, even far away, it’s important to lean on routines to keep things as stable as possible for your child. This is also helpful to manage your own emotions and be present for your family.</i></span></span></p></div></li><li><div data-share-highlightable="true"><p class="gh1tjcio c9zspvje ir6dinai" style="margin: 24px 0px; min-height: 30px;"><span class="a8c37x1j hihg3u9x ggxiycxj l9j0dhe7 d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz lis9t9rg qv66sw1b c1et5uql fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 oi732d6d ik7dh3pa mkak05xi b0k1zwb0 b1v8xokw oercdik2 oo9gr5id hzawbc8m embtmqzv teo7jy3c" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: var(--primary-text); display: block; letter-spacing: -0.32px; line-height: 32px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: visible; position: relative; white-space: pre-line; word-break: break-word;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>If you notice your child is having anxiety around current events, after this discussion or at any point, let them know that you are there and strategize ways for them to remain informed while also taking care of their own emotions. Reassure them that it makes sense to feel anxious right now, and that we all feel similarly.</i></span></span></p></div></li></ol><p class="gh1tjcio c9zspvje ir6dinai" style="margin: 24px 0px; min-height: 30px;"><span class="a8c37x1j hihg3u9x ggxiycxj l9j0dhe7 d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz lis9t9rg qv66sw1b c1et5uql fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 oi732d6d ik7dh3pa mkak05xi b0k1zwb0 b1v8xokw oercdik2 oo9gr5id hzawbc8m embtmqzv teo7jy3c" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; display: block; line-height: 32px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: visible; position: relative; text-align: left; word-break: break-word;"></span><span class="a8c37x1j hihg3u9x ggxiycxj l9j0dhe7 d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz lis9t9rg qv66sw1b c1et5uql fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 oi732d6d ik7dh3pa mkak05xi b0k1zwb0 b1v8xokw oercdik2 oo9gr5id hzawbc8m embtmqzv teo7jy3c" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; display: block; line-height: 32px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: visible; position: relative; text-align: center; word-break: break-word;"><span style="font-family: georgia; letter-spacing: -0.32px; white-space: pre-line;"> </span><b style="color: #0b5394; font-family: georgia; font-size: small; font-style: italic; letter-spacing: -0.32px; white-space: pre-line;">*****************************</b></span><span class="a8c37x1j hihg3u9x ggxiycxj l9j0dhe7 d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz lis9t9rg qv66sw1b c1et5uql fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 oi732d6d ik7dh3pa mkak05xi b0k1zwb0 b1v8xokw oercdik2 oo9gr5id hzawbc8m embtmqzv teo7jy3c" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; display: block; line-height: 32px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: visible; position: relative; text-align: left; word-break: break-word;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.32px; white-space: pre-line;">As a peace education school, we focus on building empathy, care and harmony in every circumstance, and on the ways in which we can help build a peaceful community. Many of Dr. Pressman's suggestions are likely to be included in any conversations with students that occur in the coming days, and possibly weeks, about the war in Ukraine, as well as making deliberate connections to literature, poetry and specific efforts to build peaceful communities together. </span></span></span><span class="a8c37x1j hihg3u9x ggxiycxj l9j0dhe7 d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz lis9t9rg qv66sw1b c1et5uql fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 oi732d6d ik7dh3pa mkak05xi b0k1zwb0 b1v8xokw oercdik2 oo9gr5id hzawbc8m embtmqzv teo7jy3c" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; display: block; line-height: 32px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: visible; position: relative; text-align: left; word-break: break-word;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.32px; white-space: pre-line;"><br /></span></span></span><span class="a8c37x1j hihg3u9x ggxiycxj l9j0dhe7 d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz lis9t9rg qv66sw1b c1et5uql fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 oi732d6d ik7dh3pa mkak05xi b0k1zwb0 b1v8xokw oercdik2 oo9gr5id hzawbc8m embtmqzv teo7jy3c" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; display: block; line-height: 32px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: visible; position: relative; text-align: left; word-break: break-word;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.32px; white-space: pre-line;">We do this by showing our solidarity with Ukrainians in the face of invasion, by answering questions honestly and fairly without alarmist or accusatory language, by reassuring anxieties that might suddenly emerge and by ensuring our conversations with children acknowledge truths while also encouraging critical thinking, questioning and research to make as much sense as possible of specific events and stories that emerge from the conflict. </span></span></span><span class="a8c37x1j hihg3u9x ggxiycxj l9j0dhe7 d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz lis9t9rg qv66sw1b c1et5uql fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 oi732d6d ik7dh3pa mkak05xi b0k1zwb0 b1v8xokw oercdik2 oo9gr5id hzawbc8m embtmqzv teo7jy3c" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; display: block; line-height: 32px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: visible; position: relative; text-align: left; word-break: break-word;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span><span class="a8c37x1j hihg3u9x ggxiycxj l9j0dhe7 d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz lis9t9rg qv66sw1b c1et5uql fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 oi732d6d ik7dh3pa mkak05xi b0k1zwb0 b1v8xokw oercdik2 oo9gr5id hzawbc8m embtmqzv teo7jy3c" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; display: block; line-height: 32px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: visible; position: relative; text-align: left; word-break: break-word;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">We will stick to routines as much as possible at school, as always, and develop engaging learning activities for our students to keep their minds actively making sense of new concepts and weaving new understandings. A world where war casts a shadow impacts the experience of childhood but it does not destroy childhood, nor love, nor imagination. Carefully navigated, even making sense of war has the potential to be a positive learning experience where children build resiliency, empathy and care for the world.</span></span><span class="a8c37x1j hihg3u9x ggxiycxj l9j0dhe7 d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz lis9t9rg qv66sw1b c1et5uql fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 oi732d6d ik7dh3pa mkak05xi b0k1zwb0 b1v8xokw oercdik2 oo9gr5id hzawbc8m embtmqzv teo7jy3c" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; display: block; line-height: 32px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: visible; position: relative; text-align: left; word-break: break-word;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span><span class="a8c37x1j hihg3u9x ggxiycxj l9j0dhe7 d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz lis9t9rg qv66sw1b c1et5uql fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 oi732d6d ik7dh3pa mkak05xi b0k1zwb0 b1v8xokw oercdik2 oo9gr5id hzawbc8m embtmqzv teo7jy3c" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; display: block; line-height: 32px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: visible; position: relative; text-align: left; word-break: break-word;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">And just now, it seems like that might be the most important work we do with children in these first decades of the 21st century. </span></span><span class="a8c37x1j hihg3u9x ggxiycxj l9j0dhe7 d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz lis9t9rg qv66sw1b c1et5uql fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 oi732d6d ik7dh3pa mkak05xi b0k1zwb0 b1v8xokw oercdik2 oo9gr5id hzawbc8m embtmqzv teo7jy3c" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; display: block; line-height: 32px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: visible; position: relative; text-align: center; word-break: break-word;"><b style="color: #0b5394; font-family: georgia; font-size: small; font-style: italic; letter-spacing: -0.32px; white-space: pre-line;">*****************************</b></span><span class="a8c37x1j hihg3u9x ggxiycxj l9j0dhe7 d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz lis9t9rg qv66sw1b c1et5uql fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 oi732d6d ik7dh3pa mkak05xi b0k1zwb0 b1v8xokw oercdik2 oo9gr5id hzawbc8m embtmqzv teo7jy3c" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; display: block; line-height: 32px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: visible; position: relative; text-align: center; word-break: break-word;"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.32px; white-space: pre-line;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>"Keep in mind that there is really never a reason to expose children to TV news reports and graphic details of scary topics. Large doses of media coverage can be very harmful even to adults. The news is built on keeping an audience engaged and anxious. Turn it off the minute you feel your nervous system become activated. You can keep informed without obsessively watching the news, and are modeling for your family how to keep connected without becoming unhinged." </i></b></span></span></span><span class="a8c37x1j hihg3u9x ggxiycxj l9j0dhe7 d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz lis9t9rg qv66sw1b c1et5uql fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 oi732d6d ik7dh3pa mkak05xi b0k1zwb0 b1v8xokw oercdik2 oo9gr5id hzawbc8m embtmqzv teo7jy3c" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; display: block; line-height: 32px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: visible; position: relative; text-align: center; word-break: break-word;"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.32px; white-space: pre-line;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>- Dr. Aliza W. Pressman (Raising Good Humans)</i></b></span></span></span><span class="a8c37x1j hihg3u9x ggxiycxj l9j0dhe7 d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz lis9t9rg qv66sw1b c1et5uql fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 oi732d6d ik7dh3pa mkak05xi b0k1zwb0 b1v8xokw oercdik2 oo9gr5id hzawbc8m embtmqzv teo7jy3c" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; display: block; line-height: 32px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: visible; position: relative; text-align: center; word-break: break-word;"><b style="color: #0b5394; font-family: georgia; font-size: small; font-style: italic; letter-spacing: -0.32px; white-space: pre-line;">*****************************</b></span><span class="a8c37x1j hihg3u9x ggxiycxj l9j0dhe7 d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz lis9t9rg qv66sw1b c1et5uql fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 oi732d6d ik7dh3pa mkak05xi b0k1zwb0 b1v8xokw oercdik2 oo9gr5id hzawbc8m embtmqzv teo7jy3c" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; display: block; line-height: 32px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: visible; position: relative; text-align: left; word-break: break-word;"><b style="color: #0b5394; font-family: georgia; font-size: small; font-style: italic; letter-spacing: -0.32px; white-space: pre-line;"><br /></b></span><span class="a8c37x1j hihg3u9x ggxiycxj l9j0dhe7 d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz lis9t9rg qv66sw1b c1et5uql fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 oi732d6d ik7dh3pa mkak05xi b0k1zwb0 b1v8xokw oercdik2 oo9gr5id hzawbc8m embtmqzv teo7jy3c" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; display: block; line-height: 32px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: visible; position: relative; text-align: left; word-break: break-word;"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.32px; white-space: pre-line;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Lorraine Kinsman, Principal</span></span></span><span class="a8c37x1j hihg3u9x ggxiycxj l9j0dhe7 d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz lis9t9rg qv66sw1b c1et5uql fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 oi732d6d ik7dh3pa mkak05xi b0k1zwb0 b1v8xokw oercdik2 oo9gr5id hzawbc8m embtmqzv teo7jy3c" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; display: block; line-height: 32px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: visible; position: relative; text-align: left; word-break: break-word;"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.32px; white-space: pre-line;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Eric Harvie School</span></span><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: georgia; font-size: small; font-style: italic; letter-spacing: -0.32px; white-space: pre-line;"> </span></span><span class="a8c37x1j hihg3u9x ggxiycxj l9j0dhe7 d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz lis9t9rg qv66sw1b c1et5uql fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 oi732d6d ik7dh3pa mkak05xi b0k1zwb0 b1v8xokw oercdik2 oo9gr5id hzawbc8m embtmqzv teo7jy3c" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; display: block; letter-spacing: -0.32px; line-height: 32px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: visible; position: relative; text-align: left; white-space: pre-line; word-break: break-word;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span><span class="a8c37x1j hihg3u9x ggxiycxj l9j0dhe7 d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz lis9t9rg qv66sw1b c1et5uql fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 oi732d6d ik7dh3pa mkak05xi b0k1zwb0 b1v8xokw oercdik2 oo9gr5id hzawbc8m embtmqzv teo7jy3c" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; display: block; letter-spacing: -0.32px; line-height: 32px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: visible; position: relative; text-align: left; white-space: pre-line; word-break: break-word;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span><span class="a8c37x1j hihg3u9x ggxiycxj l9j0dhe7 d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz lis9t9rg qv66sw1b c1et5uql fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 oi732d6d ik7dh3pa mkak05xi b0k1zwb0 b1v8xokw oercdik2 oo9gr5id hzawbc8m embtmqzv teo7jy3c" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; display: block; letter-spacing: -0.32px; line-height: 32px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: visible; position: relative; text-align: left; white-space: pre-line; word-break: break-word;"><br /></span><span class="a8c37x1j hihg3u9x ggxiycxj l9j0dhe7 d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz lis9t9rg qv66sw1b c1et5uql fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 oi732d6d ik7dh3pa mkak05xi b0k1zwb0 b1v8xokw oercdik2 oo9gr5id hzawbc8m embtmqzv teo7jy3c" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; display: block; letter-spacing: -0.32px; line-height: 32px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: visible; position: relative; text-align: center; white-space: pre-line; word-break: break-word;"><br /></span><span class="a8c37x1j hihg3u9x ggxiycxj l9j0dhe7 d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz lis9t9rg qv66sw1b c1et5uql fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 oi732d6d ik7dh3pa mkak05xi b0k1zwb0 b1v8xokw oercdik2 oo9gr5id hzawbc8m embtmqzv teo7jy3c" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; display: block; letter-spacing: -0.32px; line-height: 32px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: visible; position: relative; text-align: center; white-space: pre-line; word-break: break-word;"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.32px; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span></span></span><span class="a8c37x1j hihg3u9x ggxiycxj l9j0dhe7 d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz lis9t9rg qv66sw1b c1et5uql fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 oi732d6d ik7dh3pa mkak05xi b0k1zwb0 b1v8xokw oercdik2 oo9gr5id hzawbc8m embtmqzv teo7jy3c" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; display: block; letter-spacing: -0.32px; line-height: 32px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: visible; position: relative; text-align: left; white-space: pre-line; word-break: break-word;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span><span class="a8c37x1j hihg3u9x ggxiycxj l9j0dhe7 d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz lis9t9rg qv66sw1b c1et5uql fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 oi732d6d ik7dh3pa mkak05xi b0k1zwb0 b1v8xokw oercdik2 oo9gr5id hzawbc8m embtmqzv teo7jy3c" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; display: block; letter-spacing: -0.32px; line-height: 32px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: visible; position: relative; text-align: left; white-space: pre-line; word-break: break-word;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span><span class="a8c37x1j hihg3u9x ggxiycxj l9j0dhe7 d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz lis9t9rg qv66sw1b c1et5uql fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 oi732d6d ik7dh3pa mkak05xi b0k1zwb0 b1v8xokw oercdik2 oo9gr5id hzawbc8m embtmqzv teo7jy3c" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; display: block; letter-spacing: -0.32px; line-height: 32px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: visible; position: relative; text-align: left; white-space: pre-line; word-break: break-word;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></span></p></div></div></div><p> </p>Lorraine Kinsmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15415237016162373969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-257051773674335002.post-45709594482413609212022-02-21T19:47:00.001-08:002022-02-21T19:52:11.654-08:00Next Steps as COVID Precautions are Removed - Especially for Anxious Learners<p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgSgQduKswYMk6L8POrJzGRpasvf4fl3c8OIk-QhrNZ80yW_lOBISMKhfKuxSwZb3h0ZMLBrJApPJW52L5poP2RBAQl0aAp5IjrxOlRKdbd7PS-51YDOFp6u08ipbca-jfLmaCzBGv4J10yZOC2BW-Gsc0wiXhIpHv14SfyKa67425fMYsMWalp0qe6Sw=s4032" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="120" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgSgQduKswYMk6L8POrJzGRpasvf4fl3c8OIk-QhrNZ80yW_lOBISMKhfKuxSwZb3h0ZMLBrJApPJW52L5poP2RBAQl0aAp5IjrxOlRKdbd7PS-51YDOFp6u08ipbca-jfLmaCzBGv4J10yZOC2BW-Gsc0wiXhIpHv14SfyKa67425fMYsMWalp0qe6Sw=w160-h120" width="160" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiL78eUHWnR-8IM9nwQzKvVgym0IjFkiVxKfGIDFdCa5_Qb1soSoTOdea5FkdVPCx1UBL95tJj3xddYw7BtdOKL766MNud1y_QWQrJCJAWHVH1SX_-C6Hfsmeuaq7yohLFcwWkkIxNWEngEqa8RDw8-rlsmxo-tRJaOStiMqsDBRhFeV3twQujkwGH0Zw=s4032" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="115" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiL78eUHWnR-8IM9nwQzKvVgym0IjFkiVxKfGIDFdCa5_Qb1soSoTOdea5FkdVPCx1UBL95tJj3xddYw7BtdOKL766MNud1y_QWQrJCJAWHVH1SX_-C6Hfsmeuaq7yohLFcwWkkIxNWEngEqa8RDw8-rlsmxo-tRJaOStiMqsDBRhFeV3twQujkwGH0Zw=w153-h115" width="153" /></a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span face="gothamrounded, "helvetica neue", Arial, sans-serif" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #4a4a4a; font-size: 15px; outline: 0px; text-align: left; text-size-adjust: none;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span face="gothamrounded, "helvetica neue", Arial, sans-serif" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #4a4a4a; font-size: 15px; outline: 0px; text-align: left; text-size-adjust: none;"><br /></span></div><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 25px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: center; text-size-adjust: none;"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>"No amount of planning will prevent students from being anxious. </i></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 25px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: center; text-size-adjust: none;"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>Therefore, encouraging tolerance of fear and anxiety, </i></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 25px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: center; text-size-adjust: none;"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>rather than avoidance, will be essential." - Anxiety Canada </i></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 25px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: center; text-size-adjust: none;"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>************************************</i></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 25px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: center; text-size-adjust: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">We have had a first few days at school with learners no longer required to wear masks. </span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 25px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: center; text-size-adjust: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">For many adults, this is excellent news - we are pandemic weary of masks and restrictions and have a great desire to 'get back to normal!' For others, we are cautiously optimistic the worst of the pandemic may be behind us - even as we encounter new infections and isolations reminding us COVID has not left the planet at all. For the children - especially our youngest learners who have never known school without masks, distancing, frequent hand sanitizing and constrained use of school resources and spaces - suddenly changing things quite drastically and visibly may cause unexpected anxieties and concerns. </span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 25px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: center; text-size-adjust: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Last week, we encountered some children who are anxious about the changes, while other students seem ambivalent one way or the other. Our goal, as educators, is to support every child with their experiences through the pandemic/endemic/disappearance (hopefully!) phases of COVID-19. To do this successfully, we need to share our plans for supporting children with our families, knowing we are all partners in this COVID journey together.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 25px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: center; text-size-adjust: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Eric Harvie School has been fortunate to have experienced few actual cases and infections over the past two years. This has been achieved through the tremendous support of our families with vaccinations, vigilant mask-wearing, enhanced handwashing/sanitizing, distancing, heightened cleaning, appropriate ventilation and cohorting and constraining students. As we remove these supports in the coming weeks, we do expect the questions from children will increase as they begin to notice the differences - fewer masks, greater flexibility with grouping/regrouping, reduced focus on cohorting, more resources brought into the classrooms and other learning areas, etc. And, while children will thrive overall in these new situations, there will be concerns that come up as well - perhaps fears, always questions.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 25px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: center; text-size-adjust: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">They will hear different perspectives from other children about whether they should/should not be wearing masks, should/should not be keeping their distances, should/should not frequently sanitize/handwash or touch items that have not been separated or cleaned between uses by different children. These differences may cause confusion for some children, worries or anxieties for others and even deep-seated fears for a few. </span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 25px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: center; text-size-adjust: none;"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: georgia;">************************</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 25px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: center; text-size-adjust: none;"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; outline: 0px; text-align: left; text-size-adjust: none;">"As educators, it is important to listen to students’ concerns and, even if the emotions are extreme, </span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; outline: 0px; text-align: left; text-size-adjust: none;">express understanding and empathy</span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; outline: 0px; text-align: left; text-size-adjust: none;">. Letting families know you understand and appreciate their perspective will help open up a dialogue for problem solving." - Anxiety Canada</span></i></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 25px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: center; text-size-adjust: none;"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; outline: 0px; text-align: left; text-size-adjust: none;">********************************</span></i></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 25px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: center; text-size-adjust: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">In keeping with our work around Peace Education, we continually work with our students to accept each others' ideas, thoughts, feelings as real and valid at all times. There are no right or wrong sides to anything that happens in school - we are all on a learning journey together and learning to value differences of opinion openly and honestly and respecting differences is a significant lesson in building peaceful communities together. </span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 25px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: center; text-size-adjust: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">We will also always answer learner questions as openly and honestly as we possibly can, within the developmental range of each child. We will, for example, support any student who is concerned to understand that at some point, our school <i>might </i>be closed due to additional illnesses or a short period of time - not <i>will </i> be but <i>might </i>be and we would work with them to help them understand the differences between <i>might </i>and <i>will. </i></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 25px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: left; text-size-adjust: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">We will acknowledge with them that someone - or several someones- they know will become ill with COVID-19 - or they might as well. <i>May </i>become ill rather than <i>will</i> become ill, and we will encourage them to recognize COVID illnesses are managed differently now than they were two years ago - we have medications, vaccinations, better knowledge about the illness so medical professionals can support us to recovery. We will also continue to help learners understand responsibility for illness rests with everyone, not just one of us. The government sets policies to keep the public safe, the school board sets rules for schools based on the government policies and the school keeps the children safe by following the rules. And each of us can help keep ourselves safe with handwashing/sanitizing, distancing or wearing masks as needed. We work together to stay safe and we are not solely responsible if someone becomes ill. </span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 25px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: center; text-size-adjust: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">When questions or concerns surface about COVID 'coming back' or perhaps having to resume masking or some other precaution, we will encourage learners to remember they were able to cope before when things changed and they will cope capably again. </span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 25px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: center; text-size-adjust: none;"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>******************</i></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 25px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: center; text-size-adjust: none;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; outline: 0px; text-size-adjust: none;"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>"Educators can let students know these situations can be upsetting to think about, but that we can try to take things one day at a time and enjoy the current day rather than worry about what the future holds – especially when that future can be somewhat uncertain.</i></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 25px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: center; text-size-adjust: none;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; outline: 0px; text-size-adjust: none;"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>These are challenging discussions that aren’t easy for anyone, but helping students develop an ability to be ‘<span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; outline: 0px; text-size-adjust: none;">comfortable being uncomfortable</span>’ may help them cope with future anxieties." - Anxiety Canada</i></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 25px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: center; text-size-adjust: none;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; outline: 0px; text-size-adjust: none;"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>*************************</i></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 25px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: center; text-size-adjust: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">There may be some children who experience elevated anxiousness to the point of fear - they may even be afraid to come to school because it is such an unfamiliar way for them to experience school. Should that happen, we will work with families to gradually build tolerance of uncertainty and use strategies to help them face their fears. As learners work through their fears, their anxieties and their questions, they are building resiliency and coping strategies that will serve them well should there be another wave of COVID-19 infections in our forseeable future - or any other future significant societal event. </span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 25px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: center; text-size-adjust: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Teachers and school staff are also working to manage quick transitions to the removal of precautions and will always do our best to model calm, honest, caring and encouraging behaviours for our students to see and emulate in their own relationships with each other as we enter this next 'living with' endemic phase of COVID-19. Whether this is too quick or too slow, necessary or a whim, based in science or in fatigue really isn't the issue. We are here, the precautions are lifting and we are learning to both cope and model coping with our learners and our families. As always, we are on this journey together. </span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 25px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: center; text-size-adjust: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">As a school, we are committed to staying in clear contact with families at all times. We will let you know whatever changes are coming for your children and for yourselves through our Monday Connect, our school website, family Messenger emails and this blog. </span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 25px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: center; text-size-adjust: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">And, hopefully, we will be able to welcome you into our beautiful school where your children are focused on learning through active engagement every day! That is one of the most enticing aspects of the removal of precautions - bringing all our learning spaces alive with children for sure, but also welcoming their parents inside the school to share in the excitement as learners represent their learning!</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 25px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: center; text-size-adjust: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Finally, I had the great pleasure of listening to Alan Doyle last Friday as part of the Teachers' Convention presentations. One comment in particular has stayed with me all weekend as I contemplate a return to school with diminishing precautions, knowing we are entering uncharted territory yet again.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 25px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: center; text-size-adjust: none;"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: georgia;"><b><i>"When you can't do what you do, do what you can do." (Alan Doyle)</i></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 25px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: center; text-size-adjust: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Quite honestly, this has been what schools have done for the past two years. Moving forward into the next months of uncertainty, it is how we will continue to ensure schools are centres of learning, of excitement, of energy and enthusiasm for all our learners. </span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 25px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: center; text-size-adjust: none;">Lorraine Kinsman, Principal</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 25px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: center; text-size-adjust: none;">Eric Harvie School </p><br /><p></p><div><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #4a4a4a; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: center; text-size-adjust: none;"><b><i><span style="font-family: georgia;">Anxiety Canada's website:<a href=" https://www.anxietycanada.com/articles/7-tips-for-educators-returning-to-school-during-covid-19/" target="_blank"> </a></span></i></b><span style="font-family: gothamrounded, helvetica neue, Arial, sans-serif;"><a href=" https://www.anxietycanada.com/articles/7-tips-for-educators-returning-to-school-during-covid-19/" target="_blank"> <u>https://www.anxietycanada.com/articles/7-tips-for-educators-returning-to-school-during-covid-19/</u></a></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #4a4a4a; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: center; text-size-adjust: none;"><span style="font-family: gothamrounded, helvetica neue, Arial, sans-serif;"><u><br /></u></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #4a4a4a; font-family: gothamrounded, "helvetica neue", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-size-adjust: none;"><br /></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #4a4a4a; font-family: gothamrounded, "helvetica neue", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-size-adjust: none;"><br /></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #4a4a4a; font-family: gothamrounded, "helvetica neue", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-size-adjust: none;"><br /></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #4a4a4a; font-family: gothamrounded, "helvetica neue", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-size-adjust: none;"><br /></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #4a4a4a; font-family: gothamrounded, "helvetica neue", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-size-adjust: none;"><br /></p></div>Lorraine Kinsmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15415237016162373969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-257051773674335002.post-32463278017252883012022-02-06T20:30:00.007-08:002022-02-07T13:10:29.671-08:00 Tired, Frustrated, Grateful. Hopeful. <p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.85); color: #444444; font-family: "Segoe UI", Segoe, Tahoma, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"></p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.85); color: #444444; font-family: "Segoe UI", Segoe, Tahoma, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: center;"><strong><em><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></em></strong></p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.85); color: #444444; font-family: "Segoe UI", Segoe, Tahoma, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: center;"><strong><em></em></strong></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><strong><em><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlDMlbMh9Y8CO1T99IlX5fj4I1qUOVr1aNP3CwRs24ph3a1Z4TBDyvfOmtYDPYcdN8TUq5tZ8mk1RaSo3KvZ4rcOgHUYx1MLmAfwkM1kI90YZwRKfU3jpqROT-AHwFPZyb5MKpMEp5DaAeFKRW64MlVU_jQn-hal8VESE1OwTx_LlJlBOJ8uqJkbDqeA/s4032/IMG_5016.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlDMlbMh9Y8CO1T99IlX5fj4I1qUOVr1aNP3CwRs24ph3a1Z4TBDyvfOmtYDPYcdN8TUq5tZ8mk1RaSo3KvZ4rcOgHUYx1MLmAfwkM1kI90YZwRKfU3jpqROT-AHwFPZyb5MKpMEp5DaAeFKRW64MlVU_jQn-hal8VESE1OwTx_LlJlBOJ8uqJkbDqeA/w155-h206/IMG_5016.jpeg" width="155" /></a></em></strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><strong><br /></strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><i>"Sometimes you have to let go of the picture of what you thought life would be like and learn to find joy in the story you are actually living." - Rachel Marie Martin </i></span></div><strong><em><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></em></strong><p></p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.85); color: #444444; font-family: "Segoe UI", Segoe, Tahoma, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: center;"><strong><em><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: georgia;">There is a lot of discontent evident across Canada just now. </span></em></strong></p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.85); color: #444444; font-family: "Segoe UI", Segoe, Tahoma, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: georgia;"><strong><em>Pandemic fatigue has erupted.</em></strong></span></p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.85); color: #444444; font-family: "Segoe UI", Segoe, Tahoma, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: georgia;"><b><i>It seems like an appropriate time to take stock and reflect for a few moments on my own experiences through this pandemic. </i></b></span></p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.85); color: #444444; font-family: "Segoe UI", Segoe, Tahoma, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: georgia;"><strong><em>I understand that fatigue - I too am often tired of constraints and restrictions and imposing them at school and home - even with the very best of intentions - has been exhausting. </em></strong></span></p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.85); color: #444444; font-family: "Segoe UI", Segoe, Tahoma, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: georgia;"><strong><em>I am frustrated with not seeing my family and friends like I used to, and with restricting all the little things - and the big things like travel - that we were so used to doing whenever we chose.</em></strong></span></p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.85); color: #444444; font-family: "Segoe UI", Segoe, Tahoma, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: georgia;"><strong><em>I am frustrated with schools not being open to families, with teaching and learning not looking and sounding the way I believe it works best for children.</em></strong></span></p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.85); color: #444444; font-family: "Segoe UI", Segoe, Tahoma, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: georgia;"><b><i>I am saddened and frustrated that so many families lost loved ones sooner than they might have in a COVID-free world - having experienced unexpected and early loss of loved ones far too often in my own life, it is heartbreaking to consider the depth of pain these losses have caused over the past two years, and the bright lights of human life that have been prematurely shortened and lost to the world. </i></b></span></p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.85); color: #444444; font-family: "Segoe UI", Segoe, Tahoma, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: georgia;"><b><i>I am frustrated with the deferred surgeries and medical procedures that have resulted from an over-taxed medical system that simply couldn't manage both COVID patients and other patients at the same time. </i></b></span></p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.85); color: #444444; font-family: "Segoe UI", Segoe, Tahoma, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: georgia;"><strong><em>I had no idea when the pandemic began that it would go on this long either - I have never lived through a pandemic before.</em></strong></span></p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.85); color: #444444; font-family: "Segoe UI", Segoe, Tahoma, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: georgia;"><strong><em>But I am also grateful. Grateful that I have been guided carefully through this situation by a school board that demonstrates repeatedly they care about children and about learning. </em></strong></span></p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.85); color: #444444; font-family: "Segoe UI", Segoe, Tahoma, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: georgia;"><strong><em>That our community has consistently supported our efforts to both keep children safe and learning continuing to the very best of the school's ability. </em></strong></span></p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.85); color: #444444; font-family: "Segoe UI", Segoe, Tahoma, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: georgia;"><strong><em>I am grateful for vaccines that have kept so many of us safe and will continue to do so - I was born part of the 'vaccination generation' and I have confidence in medical breakthroughs - there have been so many over the decades that have kept my family and friends safe!</em></strong></span></p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.85); color: #444444; font-family: "Segoe UI", Segoe, Tahoma, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: georgia;"><strong><em>I am grateful for a government that had the courage to recognize potential harm and strive to keep all it's citizens as safe as possible - there have been rules but also funding for vaccination research, to keep people surviving when jobs disappeared, for tests and vaccinations and medical equipment and personnel to ensure those who did become ill were cared for - especially during the previous waves that were so virulent.</em></strong></span></p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.85); color: #444444; font-family: "Segoe UI", Segoe, Tahoma, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: georgia;"><strong><em>I am grateful for free healthcare and frontline workers who continue to strive to keep our hospitals open and available to help. </em></strong></span></p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.85); color: #444444; font-family: "Segoe UI", Segoe, Tahoma, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: georgia;"><strong><em>And for the Canadians who have kept our grocery stores filled, our online orders delivered (especially books!) and our heat and electricity managed.<br /></em></strong></span></p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.85); color: #444444; font-family: "Segoe UI", Segoe, Tahoma, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: georgia;"><strong><em>I am grateful our family has stayed healthy and safe.</em></strong></span></p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.85); color: #444444; font-family: "Segoe UI", Segoe, Tahoma, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: georgia;"><strong><em>And I am grateful for everyone who was willing to wear masks, get vaccinations and follow public health guidelines to reduce the impact of COVID around the world - to keep themselves protected but also to boost the health and safety of others. It was a choice and I am grateful we had opportunities to make choices that could help others as well as ourselves. </em></strong></span></p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.85); color: #444444; font-family: "Segoe UI", Segoe, Tahoma, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: georgia;"><strong><em>More recently vaccinations became an expectation, temporarily, to stay employed in many cases (including mine), also to to safeguard public health. And I am grateful, as a public employee, for all the people who have been willing to continue to keep our schools as safe as possible, as well as many other public spaces. </em></strong></span></p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.85); color: #444444; font-family: "Segoe UI", Segoe, Tahoma, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: georgia;"><strong><em>And I am so grateful I have been able to come to our beautiful school everyday, work with dedicated, deeply caring staff who persevered through so many changes to ensure learning happened in a joyous way each and every day with our curious, engaged, amazing learners. </em></strong></span></p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.85); color: #444444; font-family: "Segoe UI", Segoe, Tahoma, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: georgia;"><strong><em>Perhaps I am most grateful to have had the opportunity to see our country come together - initially anyway - reaching out to each other, sharing things like window art and sidewalk chalk pictures or words of encouragement, baking bread and sharing photos on social media, visiting virtually, working from home and trying to support each other through the initial lockdowns with words of encouragement. This was a shared experience such as I have never experienced before. </em></strong></span></p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.85); color: #444444; font-family: "Segoe UI", Segoe, Tahoma, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: georgia;"><strong><em>Finally, I am hopeful for the future because of the lessons this pandemic has bestowed upon humanity. </em></strong></span></p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.85); color: #444444; font-family: "Segoe UI", Segoe, Tahoma, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: georgia;"><strong><em>I am hopeful we are more attentive to global human health in the future, to the realization the Earth has complexities and impacts on humans that are not predictable and life cannot always offer everything we want when we want it, just because we want it. There are checks and balances that must be acknowledged, honoured and accommodated to ensure the endurance of human living on this planet. </em></strong></span></p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.85); color: #444444; font-family: "Segoe UI", Segoe, Tahoma, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: georgia;"><strong><em>I am most hopeful for the future because of the children - they have learned these lessons early in life and are developing both resiliency and a respect for the planet that I, personally, don't think I understood as a child. </em></strong></span></p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.85); color: #444444; font-family: "Segoe UI", Segoe, Tahoma, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: georgia;"><strong><em><br /></em></strong></span></p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.85); color: #444444; font-family: "Segoe UI", Segoe, Tahoma, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: georgia;"><strong><em>These have been my personal gifts from the pandemic - I have lived long enough to know life is completely unpredictable and things happen all the time we never anticipate might occur. </em></strong></span></p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.85); color: #444444; font-family: "Segoe UI", Segoe, Tahoma, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: georgia;"><strong><em>My personal approach to life has always been to figure out the best path through the challenges and look for the nuggets - the small gifts that redeem the moments I truly would have rather skipped, given the choice. And I am grateful there were so many nuggets to appreciate through this whole experience. </em></strong></span></p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.85); color: #444444; font-family: "Segoe UI", Segoe, Tahoma, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: georgia;"><em><b>I do get tired. And frustrated. But I am also grateful, and it is with gratitude that I will continue to follow the masks, vaccinations, distancing and other protocols until the world feels as safe as we all would truly </b><b>like </b><b>it to be. </b></em></span></p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.85); color: #444444; font-family: "Segoe UI", Segoe, Tahoma, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: georgia;"><strong><em>For me, that is not now. </em></strong></span></p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.85); color: #444444; font-family: "Segoe UI", Segoe, Tahoma, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: georgia;"><strong><em>There is still work to be done and perhaps the best gift of all is knowing we are all able to persevere until the time is right to make significant changes, in a safe world, rather than a precarious one. </em></strong></span></p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.85); color: #444444; font-family: "Segoe UI", Segoe, Tahoma, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: georgia;"><strong><em>For me, living through this first pandemic of my lifetime has afforded me new insights into building peaceful communities together. </em></strong></span></p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.85); color: #444444; font-family: "Segoe UI", Segoe, Tahoma, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: georgia;"><strong><em>Yes, I am tired - like everyone else - from the efforts, frustrated they are required longer than we would lke, yet so grateful to be part of the endeavours to sustain public health and well-being of both big and small humans. </em></strong></span></p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.85); color: #444444; font-family: "Segoe UI", Segoe, Tahoma, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: georgia;"><strong><em>This is, from my perspective, the very essence of building peaceful communities together. </em></strong></span></p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.85); color: #444444; font-family: "Segoe UI", Segoe, Tahoma, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: georgia;"><strong><em><br /></em></strong></span></p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.85); color: #444444; font-family: "Segoe UI", Segoe, Tahoma, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: georgia;"><strong><em>Lorraine Kinsman, Principal</em></strong></span></p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.85); color: #444444; font-family: "Segoe UI", Segoe, Tahoma, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: georgia;"><strong><em>Eric Harvie School </em></strong></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p>Lorraine Kinsmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15415237016162373969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-257051773674335002.post-68817613452582127362022-02-01T22:53:00.003-08:002022-02-01T22:54:43.594-08:00Teaching Children Skills to Build Independence & Make Sense of the World<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi5uAardfpjU07J5i7LyiHoAJy9T3sNa_vVSy9W_Eu9j5BxeiOYnY0YmqG-6S6XdzqC0980Z0xueQdJv2wi-FkWW7ldhqmTrIuJbCq9r66xX74JuAFbFqJbFUoMJ6WlMrJCmTr0NHkCwEx_qfg29hrI9ECaV6f1QldnHUnqG9SspvSzXcJBpWOhGpP2-A=s1800" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1800" data-original-width="1800" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi5uAardfpjU07J5i7LyiHoAJy9T3sNa_vVSy9W_Eu9j5BxeiOYnY0YmqG-6S6XdzqC0980Z0xueQdJv2wi-FkWW7ldhqmTrIuJbCq9r66xX74JuAFbFqJbFUoMJ6WlMrJCmTr0NHkCwEx_qfg29hrI9ECaV6f1QldnHUnqG9SspvSzXcJBpWOhGpP2-A=w175-h175" width="175" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhJrLQiXF2s-iLLCHFo30IYrlgIJOnQLJGGpP-Qxb6WaWAA8J7SudX__7Ca1k9J0TXbE_6SLCDVD7KQ84Vyk1NFSZFdXhw_UUHPaMmDdjzpYCcOZrDxnQaGmx9qZ5ldBY9E5Uw6cYsFMrFT-uFkhgl6AN7_iT1GvvfEjQvNOSPiDCCSC6uwNvJBxtqdDg=s1800" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1800" data-original-width="1800" height="165" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhJrLQiXF2s-iLLCHFo30IYrlgIJOnQLJGGpP-Qxb6WaWAA8J7SudX__7Ca1k9J0TXbE_6SLCDVD7KQ84Vyk1NFSZFdXhw_UUHPaMmDdjzpYCcOZrDxnQaGmx9qZ5ldBY9E5Uw6cYsFMrFT-uFkhgl6AN7_iT1GvvfEjQvNOSPiDCCSC6uwNvJBxtqdDg=w165-h165" width="165" /></a><br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px;">"Learning is a social act, and talking with peers and adults helps students clarify misunderstandings, work through confusion, and deepen their thinking... (there are) </span><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px;">ways to help students use talk to deepen their learning and understanding of academic content. But in this moment, as students are coping with constant change and uncertainties, talk can also be a strategy for dealing with emotional challenges." - Jennifer Orr, Author/Educator</span></i></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Literata, Poppins, Arial; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">One of the primary roles school plays in a child's life is to provide a safe, supportive place to develop independence, begin to establish personal identity and be inquisitive as they approach new situations and information. When children enter Kindergarten, we begin a slow dance with them, scaffolding experiences and gradually releasing responsibilities related to making choices about learning, friendships, engaging in tasks, communicating with care and respect, asking questions, making responsible decisions about their actions, applying critical thinking to novel situations and furthering the growth of their personal identities as they progress through school.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">As educators, we intentionally employ numerous strategies to engage children in activities and situations where they are able to consider options, discuss their perspectives, explore different possibilities, generate new ideas and practice new skills, gently nudging them towards independence as learners and as individuals. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Despite the restrictive circumstances that have emerged through the pandemic and impacted the flexible operation of schools, we have continued to offer these teachable experiences and interactions with our students, albeit in constricted conditions. The ever-changing nature of the COVID-19 situation has interrupted the typical flow of experiences schools are able to offer as well, subsequently disrupting the usual progression towards independence of our learners over the past couple of years. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Yet children need to develop independence, critical thinking, empathy and responsibility for healthy maturation and growth. And teachers - educators - all possess an array of possible experiences that will foster opportunities for in-person learners to continue their gradual journey towards independence and help them to make sense of a suddenly very crazy world no one was prepared to navigate. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span></div><p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px;">"Students of all ages must be able to talk to advocate for themselves (and quite possibly for others). I</span></span><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px;">f students can articulate what they feel and need, we can help them more effectively." </span></i></b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px;">- Jennifer Orr, Author & Educator </span></i></b></span></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Some strategies we use in schools to support learners with building independence and developing skills to make sense of their world - even in the time of COVID - are briefly described below. These strategies are simple in concept and may be easily adapted by families who may be considering how to best support fostering independence and positive social-emotional growth during these days of unexpected events that so frequently rock the predictability of the world in which our children are currently living. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">using picture books to encourage students to identify their own feelings and needs will offer opportunities for children to share stories and experiences, to question and imagine, explain or investigate events and situations from a secure place and perspective, even when their world feels uncertain; as they identify with characters, they also identify with themselves and begin to make better sense of what may often seem like an incomprehensible world at times and they come to understand their emotions are completely okay and others are feeling the same way from time to time</span></span></li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">another strategy that supports students' independence is to celebrate small successes with them - this requires helping children understand the tasks being asked of them can be broken down into small steps and that small steps are much more doable than trying to accomplish one large task all at the same time</span></span></li><ul><li><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">as we help learners understand the smaller steps, we also note when they have accomplished one small thing, and then another and another; they build on one small success after the other and are motivated to continue growing and learning </span></span></li><li><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">sometimes teachers use checklists to help children understand the small steps, or exit slips, visual or sequential charts as well - these scaffolds (or supports) build confidence and independence </span></span></li></ul></ul><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia; font-size: small; text-align: left;"><i>"The power of the small wins...(are) straightforward and convincing." - Mike Gaskell</i></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia; font-size: small; text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia; font-size: small; text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></b></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><p></p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Sometimes children need a framework to help them express their feelings, questions, ideas, concerns that might be impeding their journey to independence - when these situations occur, educators (and families) might use sentence starters or a skeleton of ideas to support children in capturing, identifying and understanding what they might be worried about, or might be causing them to hold back from trying something new or expressing their own perspective </span></span></li></ul><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><br /></span></span></div><ul style="text-align: left;"><ul><li><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.2px;">a few sentence starters might include such things as:</span></span></li><ul><ul><ul><li style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="MuiBox-root css-1ebprri" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-top: 16px;"><p class="MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-body1 jss73 jss81 jss135 undefined css-1pjjel4" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: inherit; letter-spacing: 0.2px; line-height: 1.875rem; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It would be helpful if I had… </span></p></div></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="MuiBox-root css-1ebprri" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-top: 16px;"><p class="MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-body1 jss73 jss81 jss136 undefined css-1pjjel4" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: inherit; letter-spacing: 0.2px; line-height: 1.875rem; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Right now, I need… </span></p></div></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="MuiBox-root css-1ebprri" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-top: 16px;"><p class="MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-body1 jss73 jss81 jss137 undefined css-1pjjel4" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: inherit; letter-spacing: 0.2px; line-height: 1.875rem; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I am finding this really hard because… </span></p></div></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="MuiBox-root css-1ebprri" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-top: 16px;"><p class="MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-body1 jss73 jss81 jss138 undefined css-1pjjel4" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: inherit; letter-spacing: 0.2px; line-height: 1.875rem; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I wish I could…</span><span style="font-family: Literata, Poppins, Arial; font-size: 1.125rem;"> </span></p></div></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit;"><p class="MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-body1 jss73 jss81 jss138 undefined css-1pjjel4" style="box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: 0.2px; line-height: 1.875rem; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I’m feeling really ______ because…</span></span></p></li></ul></ul></ul></ul></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><ul><ul><ul><ul><li style="box-sizing: inherit;"><p class="MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-body1 jss73 jss81 jss138 undefined css-1pjjel4" style="box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: 0.2px; line-height: 1.875rem; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I’m feeling _______ and I don’t know why.</span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia; letter-spacing: 0.2px;"> </span></p></li></ul></ul></ul></ul></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><ul><ul><ul><ul><li style="box-sizing: inherit;"><p class="MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-body1 jss73 jss81 jss138 undefined css-1pjjel4" style="box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: 0.2px; line-height: 1.875rem; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I am really _______ and I don’t know what to do</span></span></p></li></ul></ul></ul></ul></ul><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span><i><span style="color: #ffa400; font-size: x-small;"> (Jennifer Orr)</span></i></span><br /></span></span></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>"Every moment, our brains are bombarded with millions of bits of information—far too much to process. Which means we tend to ignore most of what's happening around us, paying attention only to what we find interesting, novel, or compelling." - Bryan Goodwin </i></b></span></span></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">If students are able to articulate their feelings, ask for help to get their needs met, identify small goals and celebrate achieving them, these emotional supports and understandings will move them successfully towards independence as they celebrate their small successes and begin to identify who they are going to become in life. Developing oral language skills (also called 'talk skills') encourages children to work through their own personal challenges and emotions, as well as foster self-advocacy and, ultimately, independence.</span></span></span></div><div><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Lorraine Kinsman, Principal</span></span></span></div><div><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Eric Harvie School </span></span></span></div><div><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="MuiBox-root css-1ebprri" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Poppins, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-top: 16px;"><p class="MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-body1 jss73 jss81 jss126 undefined css-1pjjel4" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: inherit; font-family: Literata, Poppins, Arial; font-size: 1.125rem; letter-spacing: 0.2px; line-height: 1.875rem; margin: 0px;"><br /></p></div><div class="MuiBox-root css-1ebprri" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-top: 16px;"><p class="MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-body1 jss73 jss81 jss127 undefined css-1pjjel4" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: inherit; font-family: Literata, Poppins, Arial; font-size: 1.125rem; letter-spacing: 0.2px; line-height: 1.875rem; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-body1 jss73 jss81 jss127 undefined css-1pjjel4" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: inherit; font-family: Literata, Poppins, Arial; font-size: 1.125rem; letter-spacing: 0.2px; line-height: 1.875rem; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><div class="MuiBox-root css-1ebprri" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-top: 16px;"><div><h2 class="MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-h3 css-1gh0auv" id="" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Poppins, sans-serif; font-size: 1.5rem; letter-spacing: 0.2px; line-height: 2rem; margin-block: 48px 16px; margin: 0px;"><br /></h2><div><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: Literata, Poppins, Arial; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: Literata, Poppins, Arial; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: Literata, Poppins, Arial; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><br /></div></div></div></div></span></div><p><br /></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Literata, Poppins, Arial; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Literata, Poppins, Arial; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: 0.2px;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div>Lorraine Kinsmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15415237016162373969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-257051773674335002.post-44883260306517903792022-01-23T18:11:00.001-08:002022-01-31T18:10:27.715-08:00Parenting in Sharp Focus: Lessons from a Pandemic <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjpjo6Sx6d5jD0oO5PZGMmOqmDytgTXhNEFoEKYD-M7-reKrmz8WHrHlz_zsxOb87WPkpw6DzjIlxBg4uQS-IHgDq9kKSQHKs-ML14COBmUrv2mrpE456Z9IzzdhghX6tA-f2cbH-Zv2WMvqhTCzDWh8KAG4OTeScSfQPAmFB-B9oKFQhuDJ3rIwTHabw=s2048" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="148" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjpjo6Sx6d5jD0oO5PZGMmOqmDytgTXhNEFoEKYD-M7-reKrmz8WHrHlz_zsxOb87WPkpw6DzjIlxBg4uQS-IHgDq9kKSQHKs-ML14COBmUrv2mrpE456Z9IzzdhghX6tA-f2cbH-Zv2WMvqhTCzDWh8KAG4OTeScSfQPAmFB-B9oKFQhuDJ3rIwTHabw=w111-h148" width="111" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjRiex9fHZ32rReiWyfizO1EVBt58NP91yfFmOcO4H7twXNSWFkqTLZExyNYjIMEJwuXCC98FSu1D4Knbb1MP8uBoxiC3I8jhUjsfJ0aHNV8SbRQllCMtOrGi5pfnKm-McRCG-IR-YEymiQlC775KJZ672KQGibiQaB9RUlBfNcb2QNU7RxrduoyGnhNQ=s4032" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="157" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjRiex9fHZ32rReiWyfizO1EVBt58NP91yfFmOcO4H7twXNSWFkqTLZExyNYjIMEJwuXCC98FSu1D4Knbb1MP8uBoxiC3I8jhUjsfJ0aHNV8SbRQllCMtOrGi5pfnKm-McRCG-IR-YEymiQlC775KJZ672KQGibiQaB9RUlBfNcb2QNU7RxrduoyGnhNQ=w210-h157" width="210" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhAd8EbN2WlRU3DY3UdlSgAGIaeskPlu2Oj4lWJ6Mt8HkYPyW3mtlOa3LYuPM26-AE2i93uUXwue_sW6YmJWoD-Y8bi5iJwcKIjsiSzO2nkrSmknQGz4_YpiqNRtGLtP-9O50Jpf2GNzMF9UlRcdqQmBBYhzRaMG1_UBE4XUiXkpFCKkomq1FiZiDN_3g=s4032" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="154" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhAd8EbN2WlRU3DY3UdlSgAGIaeskPlu2Oj4lWJ6Mt8HkYPyW3mtlOa3LYuPM26-AE2i93uUXwue_sW6YmJWoD-Y8bi5iJwcKIjsiSzO2nkrSmknQGz4_YpiqNRtGLtP-9O50Jpf2GNzMF9UlRcdqQmBBYhzRaMG1_UBE4XUiXkpFCKkomq1FiZiDN_3g=w206-h154" width="206" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh18Y_IcNCAsTVu3tBFsT8P0Xv0eqqRz8VncgoKpN78BsapArTXci3jCunLJU-iJe0cb9Q-McnK8MXM_QdKdEs9ccmmHzPaawMwZEsgZ2Y_kCWL-axCokmJlZTN0df2M42EWnHjzhCtfJrIR4_jcw6QuOpKeVi9RsM7jfk7kk401kK0NL-hqZjyV-yJkQ=s4032" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="162" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh18Y_IcNCAsTVu3tBFsT8P0Xv0eqqRz8VncgoKpN78BsapArTXci3jCunLJU-iJe0cb9Q-McnK8MXM_QdKdEs9ccmmHzPaawMwZEsgZ2Y_kCWL-axCokmJlZTN0df2M42EWnHjzhCtfJrIR4_jcw6QuOpKeVi9RsM7jfk7kk401kK0NL-hqZjyV-yJkQ=w121-h162" width="121" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: georgia;"><b><i>“Being little” is of critical importance because we see the signature of early childhood experience literally in people’s bodies: their life expectancies are longer and their social-emotional capabilities are more robust when they have a chance to learn through play and through deep relationships, and when their developing brains are given the chance to grow in a nurturing, language-rich, and relatively unhurried environment. It’s clearer than ever before that young children are not simply mini-adults." </i></b></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: georgia;"><b><i>Erika Christakis (Author: <u>The Importance of Being Little)</u></i></b></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: georgia;"><b><i><u><br /></u></i></b></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: georgia;"><b><i>***********************</i></b></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.8px; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: georgia;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I have lived through three years of this pandemic (almost!) in a unique position - very closely affiliated with parents as a parent myself, as a grandmother of seven, and as an elementary school principal directly connected to children and families. What began as a 'we are all in this together!' movement has morphed into what often feels like an 'every person for themselves' situation with competing images, unclear directions and a general sense of fatigue and uncertainty.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> While I could ruminate on many lessons - both negative and positive - I will hold in my heart from this pandemic when it finally subsides, perhaps the most profound observation I have made is how sharply this pandemic has pulled parenting into focus. I believe this may fall on the side of a positive lesson although, in some instances, it has emerged as an unexpected and perhaps puzzling aspect for many of us - grandparents included!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Before the pandemic punched holes in our world views (remember those days? They do seem to have happened so long ago...), our children were busy, active, involved little folks as they played minor sports, took music lessons, art lessons, dance lessons, swimming lessons, engaged in martial arts sessions, filled weekends with vibrant, sometimes excessive-but-entertaining birthday parties, spent their spare time in large indoor play spaces with names like The Flying Squirrel or Ninja Games, and kept their parents and grandparents very busy managing their social activities. While this scenario did not play out exactly the same way for every child, dependent as it was on socio-economic and/or family status, there is no doubt children of three years ago were overall much more committed to their external activities than it even seems possible to imagine today. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Even as a grandmother, I remember sitting on the phone with my calendar and either of my children with families, pencilling in where my husband and I could help out with getting children to activities, watching assorted sports activities, music recitals, helping to supervise and organize birthday parties, babysitting little ones while older siblings attended school events, planning holidays to Disney World, lakes, Mexico or Hawaii, etc. Having experienced these activities similarly as a mother, this did not seem unusual to me in any way - childhood was a time to ensure active living, learning to play new sports and engage in new activities, to promote creativity and personal passions. Although I recall feeling that motherhood included a huge 'social convenor' role, this was parenting as I experienced in through the last two decades of the 20th century and well into the 21st - it was not a surprise to me that my children parented similarly, nor that the parents of the children I taught and worked with every day in schools were parented as active, involved members of society too!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">What the pandemic caused in its' earliest iteration was an abrupt and unexpected end to all things encompassed in our modern definition of parenting. Suddenly there were no more lessons to go to, no playgrounds or school social events available for fostering friendships, no games to learn to play or watch or relive afterwards. There were no escape places either - no one could travel to Disney World or Hawaii or even the province next door easily. Instead of line ups for soccer or hockey registration, we worried about finding enough toilet paper and, rather unexpectedly, we worried about each other. Neighbours became very important in a distinctive way - they were our only contact with the world outside our homes for the first few months, and we suddenly paid attention to them even though we might have never even known their names before. We got to know their children and their pets out of necessity, as well as interest - we had just never had time to be interested before. We wanted to help each other, ensure the health and safety of the world as we all felt we were part of the global fight to eliminate COVID. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Suddenly our kids were home 100% of the time - and even when school began in person again last fall, there were still so many restrictions in place, school was about the only place they were allowed to go away from home. Gradually the world began to squeak open ever so slightly - some soccer, dance, hockey resumed in a controlled way, modifications for music classes began to emerge, theatres tentatively opened. Yet the virus swirled relentlessly on, and our worries about our children have been magnified by overwhelming media reports that often conflict and frighten, leading us to wonder if anyone in the world honestly knows anything...and should we care anymore about anyone other than our own families?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Despite this rather chaotic pandemic experience, parents have pivoted amazingly well in response to the pandemic experience - at least from my perspective. They have become much more aware of children's strengths and challenges as learners, understand their social responses and behaviours much more clearly, articulate their children's passions and pursuits beyond the activities of choice requiring registrations, tell stories about their children's favourite books or authors, find time to get to the public library with their children in tow, are learning new games, activities and seeking simpler, outdoor activities for play that appeal to both children and adults. Camping, skating, skiing, hiking - these have all elevated significantly in importance in our lives as the outside world has had to retreat from our immediate line of vision.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Knowing your children intimately - what their likes, dislikes, questions, opinions, passions, curiosities and deepest wishes are - even as they change frequently - makes the role of parenting richer and primal in a way that convening the childhood experiences of three years ago did not take the time to offer. We knew our children and grandchildren from the way they engaged in activities and social exchanges - now we know them from the way they engage in living closely within our family units as they find ways to provoke their curiosities and entertain themselves in ways that are considerably constrained. These are distinctive differences and mean our parenting must be front and centre with our children on a completely different level than previously - we are their primary navigators of relationships, technology, play, interests, outdoor pursuits, independence without the potential of safety nets where kids could learn skills and strategies for living from various external social experiences. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Parenting has never been easy - we had five children over the course of 14 years and every time we ever made the arrogant mistake of thinking 'we've got this!' we were proved almost immediately inept as we dealt with yet another personality quirk or unexpected event in one child's life or another! </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Every beautiful baby comes with their own genetic set of unexpectedness - as much as they mirror the qualities of one parent or another - this genetic code is intrinsically designed to keep parents perpetually on their toes! What the pandemic forced upon us was an opportunity to shift our focus as parents to deeply connect with our children in ways we might not have been called on to try before.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Are our children experiencing mental health challenges as a result of the pandemic? </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Perhaps - it's been my experience that children typically respond emotionally to frightening world events, require a variety of honest, concrete reassurances and then are able to find new ways to cope, building their resiliency along the way. I remember when 9/11 occurred - no one would argue that event marked a generation of young children with mental health challenges as well. Parenting through those days was difficult, and required finding out how each child was processing their understanding of events so we could reassure each in the most appropriate way - and without telling them 'everything will be okay' since it was clear nothing was okay and might never be again. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">One of the things I am most confident about as a result of the pandemic is that parents are now even more deeply connected to their children, know them better than they ever have before, and are actively seeking whatever supports that are needed to reassure their children they can be hopeful, happy and active in their lives. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Again, this perspective does not apply to every child, every family, every circumstance. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Overall, however - as an educator, a principal, a parent, a grandparent - I have great confidence in parents and their primal connections with their children. Parenting has changed visibly over the past three years and it is this shift in parenting that I believe will best support the children in our schools, our country and the world with navigating our current chaos and build their personal resiliency. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">We are no longer blanketed by our children's social calendars. They, however, are wrapped in our concern, love and connections as we focus on what is most valuable in life - families, health, friends, connecting with one another and with our world. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />As pandemic lessons go, I do think this is a positive one!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Lorraine Kinsman, Principal</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Eric Harvie School </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p>Lorraine Kinsmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15415237016162373969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-257051773674335002.post-24201719673338967072022-01-16T21:18:00.000-08:002022-01-16T21:18:03.292-08:00Engaging Learners is What Teachers Do Best<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: georgia;"><b><i></i></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: georgia;"><b><i> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgo7wXJyt2kqXNyyW4hQF-sl7OaqPbI4iDrOlE5szvJDRG4tbPPb-wew5DkcyFjzMEwIp7lRBLxFzb9aDh3OaXxaUGdhiLLSOwt-uuB5wWPo_zUQwZvQr25Fa4fHwjevJ_iJrfhg9kTbzmn9YLv6k8ZsENwGuQkAOoeMkGYCJcV9mN-veImBwFOA1bdJg=s1800" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1800" data-original-width="1800" height="164" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgo7wXJyt2kqXNyyW4hQF-sl7OaqPbI4iDrOlE5szvJDRG4tbPPb-wew5DkcyFjzMEwIp7lRBLxFzb9aDh3OaXxaUGdhiLLSOwt-uuB5wWPo_zUQwZvQr25Fa4fHwjevJ_iJrfhg9kTbzmn9YLv6k8ZsENwGuQkAOoeMkGYCJcV9mN-veImBwFOA1bdJg=w164-h164" width="164" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiUaSF3DSV9nat5-TDs7l8mPreLzyPQYikq61itYod9jTN9V_lDo_Igiw1wz2pOu_KpVFXSLPeqWqvWA1OdjPRR4mJkvMHkd5KFIL0COuLrgVdEpLaBgvRgfrjhJ8f3aqUqdcpmHoA8_-HLwyKQ51CSDZNG2llud3HNu2nJm_DJZt5eKN-z6IuZbfdRWA=s1800" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1800" data-original-width="1800" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiUaSF3DSV9nat5-TDs7l8mPreLzyPQYikq61itYod9jTN9V_lDo_Igiw1wz2pOu_KpVFXSLPeqWqvWA1OdjPRR4mJkvMHkd5KFIL0COuLrgVdEpLaBgvRgfrjhJ8f3aqUqdcpmHoA8_-HLwyKQ51CSDZNG2llud3HNu2nJm_DJZt5eKN-z6IuZbfdRWA=w160-h160" width="160" /></a></i></b></span></div><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: georgia;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: georgia;"><b><i><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i> "<span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px;">What should educators do next? </span></i></b></div></i></b></span><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: georgia;"><b><i><span data-key="2" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: 0.2px; text-align: left;">Everything</span><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px; text-align: left;"> seems like it needs fixing.</span></i></b></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: georgia;"><b><i>The return to school-based learning should be accompanied by a more dynamic curriculum that serves all students...</i></b></span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: georgia;"><b><i><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px; text-align: left;">Greater stimulation and success in the classroom are a big part of what makes kids feel well, happy, positively challenged, and flourishing.</span><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px; text-align: left;">" </span></i></b></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: georgia;"><b><i>- Andy Hargreaves</i></b></span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: georgia;"><b><i>************************************</i></b></span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia; letter-spacing: 0.2px; text-align: left;">There is no doubt the pandemic's impact on teaching and learning over the past two years has been significant in multiple ways. At Eric Harvie School, we have experienced considerable shifts in how we engage in learning through our days - when we opened the school just over five years ago, we worked very hard to establish a climate of learning that focused on student engagement - ways to get students excited about learning - in a wide variety of ways. </span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia; letter-spacing: 0.2px; text-align: left;">Through peace education, design thinking, place-based learning, borderless classrooms, multi-age class groupings, student-centred learning, inquiry-based investigations, Wonder Time and in a physical environment intended to deconstruct traditional paradigms of what 'learning' looked and sounded like, our school established itself as a place of learning intentionally considering learning through the perspectives and experiences of children rather than through mandated curricular directions. </span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px;">We explored the curricula, rather than 'learned' the curricula. We celebrated active learning both outside and inside, and we intentionally took our learning beyond the borders of our school as frequently as possible - whether it was into the community of Tuscany, Twelve Mile Coulee or to a significant number of places external to our school, including Head Smashed In Buffalo Interpretive Centre, the Calgary Public Library Downtown, Calgary Reads 'Reading House', the Vivo Centre, the Telus Centre, City Hall, the Calgary Tower, the National Music Centre, Glenbow Ranch Park and many other places as well - all in just three short years.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px;">We were delighted to witness our students representing their learning in multiple ways as well - through song, oral and written story telling, through video, dance, physical movement, art, drama, investigating in person, sharing experiences, asking questions, comparing data, observing and documenting the world as they encountered it through numerous perspectives and situations. We celebrated every learning experience possible with our families and our community and we were delighted to acknowledge the growth, enthusiasm for learning and academic development of our first students.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px;">The pandemic has, without a doubt, constrained many of our initiatives, directions and willingness to explore the world in manifold ways. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px;">We've been cohorted, isolated, compartmentalized, cut off from each other, from the learning spaces and openness of communication and collaboration we had valued so greatly and championed every day. We developed our student engagement opportunities over the first almost four years of operation around flexible, collaborative learner interactions with a variety of experiences. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px;">The abrupt changes prompted by the pandemic created an urgency for teachers to re-consider how to best engage all our learners as a strategy to foster interest in learning and motivate students to invest energy in continued academic pursuits.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px;">Teachers worked together to develop a daily schedule that offered choice, multiple opportunities throughout the week to connect with teachers and classmates and the 'Superhero' project to engage children in learning activities that were academic in structure and design. As we worked through the first 3 months of the pandemic online, attendance was occasionally sporadic, continued engagement was sometimes a challenge as technology demands increased in families and schools but teachers were pleased with the investment of children in learning and the overall positive growth of learners despite the unexpected pivot to online learning - and with the amazing Superhero projects!</span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px;">********************</span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b style="background-color: white; color: #b45f06; font-family: georgia; letter-spacing: 0.2px; text-align: start;"><i>"We're not just in a pandemic; we're living amid multiple and interrelated global crises, from climate change to rampant wealth inequality to attacks on democracy. Our schools can't educate students well if we ignore the world around them." - Andy Hargreaves</i></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b style="background-color: white; color: #b45f06; font-family: georgia; letter-spacing: 0.2px; text-align: start;"><i>********************</i></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px;">When we returned to in-person learning in September 2020, we were constrained significantly by new rules and precautions. Again, our capacities for developing engaging learning opportunities were interrupted as we contained learners in specific seats in classrooms and removed the capacity for flexibility of movement around the school.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px;">Instead, we moved learning outside. Coulee School - always a component of our learning environment - took on a whole new role in our school's learning focus. We developed websites, applied for an outdoor grant, created opportunities for learning that focused on the natural environment and allowed us to be outside when inside was no longer the safest place to learn. Coulee School became our outlet for engagement and student focus, easing the intensity of the constraints in the school and encouraging learners to continue exploring new ideas and perspectives, new ways to represent understandings, even within a pandemic environment.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px;">This fall we re-opened some of our learning spaces - the Learning Commons and the Maker Space - and made the Hub a more flexible place for collaborating and engaging in hands-on investigations and explorations. We continue to live with constraints and have increased them in response to the recent arrival of the Omnicrom variant, including modifiying the ways we access open learning spaces. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px;">We continue to envision learning through the lens of engagement, interactions with hands-on learning experiences and real-life, authentic encounters and investigations. We continue to advance place-based learning through Coulee School experiences, we continue to engage in design thinking creations and we continue to encourage opportunities for learning that are connected to multiple curricula outcomes. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px;">In the Coulee, for example, we have identified winter feed for birds, used our observation and investigative skills to describe landforms and then used multiple synonyms to create concrete poems, and we have traced ecosystem structures for the survival of flora and fauna from our searches for seeds. And our mural project offered opportunities for learners to capture their thinking in a unique, collaborative effort. Snapshots of how engaged learning brings non-classroom based explorations together with curricular objectives and outcomes.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px;">We have, as well, participated in the provincial assessments intended to identify learning gaps resulting from the pandemic interruptions, as well as possible escalations in anxieties, fears or not feeling safe in a COVID world. We have also considered the increase in digital knowledge students have developed over the past two years, and whether we should capitalize on that as we move forward in this school year, seeking to increase technology-based learning. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px;">Teachers believe the most effective way to identify and address any learning gaps, social-emotional wellness or access to learning is to provoke student interest and engagement - children who want to know more, try new things, investigate and represent new understandings, questions and possible solutions will continue to grow as learners. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia; letter-spacing: 0.2px;">*********************</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: georgia;"><b><i>"As schools look to recover from the pandemic, instead of focusing on "learning loss" and persisting with heavy standardized testing, let's bring magic and mystery into learning and teaching...let's infuse the curriculum with meaning and purpose to arouse young people's passions and address compelling issues. And instead of trying to make everything entertaining, let's ensure...students experience the mastery of hard-won accomplishment, while increasing achievement." - Andy Hargreaves</i></b></span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">***********************</span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The 2021-22 school year is still unfolding and our students are still thriving as interested, engaged, curious learners. We continue to focus our energies on captivating them with opportunities to think independently, ask questions, seek solutions, try multiple approaches to discover a best solution, investigate, plan, interrogate, create, propose options. The pandemic constraints have not disappeared but they will not impede learning. It is not the environment, the technology, the curricula, the tests, online videos nor sequential lessons that lead children to grow as learners - it is curiosity, imagination, investigation and opportunities to engage in purposeful work that defines engagement, and it is engagement that motivates learners to continue growing academically even in times of pandemic constraints.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Andy Hargreaves is a reknowned educator, researcher and author. His recent article in the <u>Educational Leadership </u> magazine, titled <i>'The Future of Learning Lies in Engagement" </i>reflects, in many ways, the experiences of Eric Harvie School and our learners. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Our students may be young but they are mighty learners. And we are deeply committed to continuing with student engagement as our primary motivator for learning. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia; letter-spacing: 0.2px; text-align: start;">Lorraine Kinsman, Principal</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia; letter-spacing: 0.2px; text-align: start;">Eric Harvie School </span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: georgia;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.2px; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: georgia;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></span></p>Lorraine Kinsmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15415237016162373969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-257051773674335002.post-73988339413379379362022-01-10T14:07:00.003-08:002022-01-10T14:07:57.413-08:00What Piques Your Child's Curiosity?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEid-TSiduBn5A7rClTaqCaJ7yutxrWlx_MaBJTyLgrrZR0nzul77v5Gvdj-2Gakmqj4drvHffm7VSJIwUuDoW5i_gyAwjrivFaMpLf3oK5N3cBmCuhrDHsl4TRDbh5dR81YqNaQ2OUliuglk_q0yzgnVrMKEk2-W8nXuqTXBEq5AzOBBPU7TBKRuUwy_Q=s4032" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: georgia; font-style: italic; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><br /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiX36TbP9iBlHyUJBO6FKWfz1FGdrkCKI0QkGrOF66G8J4LQJ7S1mCFob3Ftoostqiazx3DFXdkkZuqNVtA59WxEsggtMyCXK0Pf4VZdr38FT_dSWVFs8QSVQEfnbxGYwLqRAiVys_19WF51TwdNvZAcPFaD1XyDK9AoYP5YZUSfFpIDXDsPeHp4CtB_A=s2048" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="113" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiX36TbP9iBlHyUJBO6FKWfz1FGdrkCKI0QkGrOF66G8J4LQJ7S1mCFob3Ftoostqiazx3DFXdkkZuqNVtA59WxEsggtMyCXK0Pf4VZdr38FT_dSWVFs8QSVQEfnbxGYwLqRAiVys_19WF51TwdNvZAcPFaD1XyDK9AoYP5YZUSfFpIDXDsPeHp4CtB_A=w151-h113" width="151" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiiTpM5GJySGr4O-ES-lTVs7YGgCBLiMWUsBf0SMP-_rI1WmuZASq2V-U890KOWem5BQRnOaL5VM0L_x8Qv5PYJAYFigLy3aZ6yflquU7X_vSynLib1KqFjXTMgj3I_55upwGoLE2xpgLCSG_EmsFkgk1SXqmPNH7NoqTKSATVJchCu8mzkA2TfSxSbZQ=s4032" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="137" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiiTpM5GJySGr4O-ES-lTVs7YGgCBLiMWUsBf0SMP-_rI1WmuZASq2V-U890KOWem5BQRnOaL5VM0L_x8Qv5PYJAYFigLy3aZ6yflquU7X_vSynLib1KqFjXTMgj3I_55upwGoLE2xpgLCSG_EmsFkgk1SXqmPNH7NoqTKSATVJchCu8mzkA2TfSxSbZQ=w104-h137" width="104" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiX36TbP9iBlHyUJBO6FKWfz1FGdrkCKI0QkGrOF66G8J4LQJ7S1mCFob3Ftoostqiazx3DFXdkkZuqNVtA59WxEsggtMyCXK0Pf4VZdr38FT_dSWVFs8QSVQEfnbxGYwLqRAiVys_19WF51TwdNvZAcPFaD1XyDK9AoYP5YZUSfFpIDXDsPeHp4CtB_A=s2048" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="113" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEid-TSiduBn5A7rClTaqCaJ7yutxrWlx_MaBJTyLgrrZR0nzul77v5Gvdj-2Gakmqj4drvHffm7VSJIwUuDoW5i_gyAwjrivFaMpLf3oK5N3cBmCuhrDHsl4TRDbh5dR81YqNaQ2OUliuglk_q0yzgnVrMKEk2-W8nXuqTXBEq5AzOBBPU7TBKRuUwy_Q=w151-h113" width="151" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiX36TbP9iBlHyUJBO6FKWfz1FGdrkCKI0QkGrOF66G8J4LQJ7S1mCFob3Ftoostqiazx3DFXdkkZuqNVtA59WxEsggtMyCXK0Pf4VZdr38FT_dSWVFs8QSVQEfnbxGYwLqRAiVys_19WF51TwdNvZAcPFaD1XyDK9AoYP5YZUSfFpIDXDsPeHp4CtB_A=s2048" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><br /><br /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiX36TbP9iBlHyUJBO6FKWfz1FGdrkCKI0QkGrOF66G8J4LQJ7S1mCFob3Ftoostqiazx3DFXdkkZuqNVtA59WxEsggtMyCXK0Pf4VZdr38FT_dSWVFs8QSVQEfnbxGYwLqRAiVys_19WF51TwdNvZAcPFaD1XyDK9AoYP5YZUSfFpIDXDsPeHp4CtB_A=s2048" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><br /></a></div><h4 style="text-align: center;"><i style="color: #800180; font-family: georgia;"><br /><br /></i></h4><h4 style="text-align: center;"><i style="color: #800180; font-family: georgia;"><br /></i></h4><h4 style="text-align: center;"><i style="color: #800180; font-family: georgia;"><br /></i></h4><h4 style="text-align: center;"><i style="color: #800180; font-family: georgia;">"We have to dream. How else will we make a future </i><i style="color: #800180; font-family: georgia;">that does not yet </i><i style="color: #800180; font-family: georgia;">exist?" </i><i style="color: #800180; font-family: georgia;">- Simon Sinek</i></h4><h4 style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: georgia;"><i><br /></i></span></span></h4><h4 style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: georgia;"><i>"Encouraging curiosity in young children and cultivating their eagerness to learn may be a potential intervention target to foster early reading and math academic achievement at kindergarten age." </i></span></span><span style="color: #800180; font-family: georgia;"><i>- </i></span><i style="background-color: white; color: #800180; font-family: georgia;">(Shah, Weeks, Richards & Kaciroti, 2018)</i></h4><div style="text-align: center;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #800180; font-family: georgia;">********************************</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #800180; font-family: georgia;"><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia;">What does your child know about:</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg-_4-3I7JpIWe_cREeysW9KA16SLTIG4sbOsRtRzBDD4G9_a9XXsvpgIE_fxD8qZfP75PvcPnwkX4TbvqVgs6zUvESjFqWGmLSDiUtrsWNoio_HZjrwyKnhcWTlyUlRU3Yrh047cQlPX9v7pGjpKDUJZZm0CUV5PoV8w-_Wy0pI9fRGGTn7qENobtPnQ=s1024" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="634" data-original-width="1024" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg-_4-3I7JpIWe_cREeysW9KA16SLTIG4sbOsRtRzBDD4G9_a9XXsvpgIE_fxD8qZfP75PvcPnwkX4TbvqVgs6zUvESjFqWGmLSDiUtrsWNoio_HZjrwyKnhcWTlyUlRU3Yrh047cQlPX9v7pGjpKDUJZZm0CUV5PoV8w-_Wy0pI9fRGGTn7qENobtPnQ=w477-h295" width="477" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">These were the topics we generated in one 30-minute time frame in a grade 1/2 class when I asked: </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span style="color: #800180;">What would you like to know more about that you can't do on an ipad or laptop? It can be anything!</span></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span style="color: #800180;"><br /></span></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Curiosity lives in these responses - while we generated approximately 50 things the 26 students in the room were interested in finding out more about, it took us 30 minutes to capture all the words in writing simply because every word included a child's story about why they wanted to know more - or an experience they had that made them wonder about something - or a particular experience with something they wanted to elaborate on or spend more time engaging with overall. Every time these 6 and 7 year olds identified something they wanted to know more about, they also had a story explaining <i>why</i> they wanted to know more!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">This is where we find what motivates our children to invest more energy into learning about their world, where we discover particular interests and fascinations. They will be different than the things that fascinate their parents or siblings - and should be since we are all individuals, born to be unique beings on a planet with almost 8 billion humans living on its' surface. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Because our children are interested in different things than we might be does not mean we stop offering invitations to learn alongside us as we engage in our particular passions - quite the contrary! As we demonstrate and explore our passions, we are simultaneously modelling for our children that is absolutely acceptable to pursue our fascinations as well as offering ideas for how they might engage in discovery about any specific interest or idea that captivates their imagination.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Children need to know it is okay to pursue a passion or fascination and launch a quest to find out 'more' about any thing or any interesting topic, place, idea. Parents are our first and most influential models for exploring new ideas, uncovering new information, investing ourselves in new pursuits and activities. As a parent engages in a preferred activity, regardless of whether their child is equally enamoured with the same activity, seeing the parent invested in the pursuit will motivate the child to do the same - often providing a beginning path to get started. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">In these days of limited social access due to the pandemic, and especially in winter when anyone who is not captivated by cold weather outdoor pursuits might feel rather limited in possibilities for active engagement, pursuing curiosities offers a whole avenue of investigation and exploration!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">A couple of things have motivated me to write about what piques children's curiosity - children themselves to begin with! Every time I engage in any sort of conversation with children about what they would like to know more about or what they are curious to try doing, they always have an answer and it rarely has anything to do with digital programs (and, if it does, then I will say 'what about something you can't do on the ipad or the laptop?' and provoke different thinking). </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">40+ years of parenting and 35+ years of teaching have never let me down when I ask this question - I rarely ask 'what do you want to do?' when a child says they are bored, or tired or 'want to do something'. Often I send them off with a piece of paper and a writing instrument and say 'come back in 10 minutes with a list of what you would like to do more of, know more about, try again or for the first time...' I have never been disappointed with the results because children are, at heart, outside-the-box thinkers. We just need to give them space, permission and encouragement to step outside of the moment and refresh their thoughts.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Last week I watched - through the powers of social media - Julie van Rosendaal, a Calgary chef/cookbook author/parent, spontaneously offer online cooking classes to children who were unexpectedly home for a third week of winter break. The response was significant and she certainly bravely encountered many obstacles and upsets from being torpedoed in Zoom to an oversubscribed group. As I followed her on Twitter and admired how swiftly she adapted to the challenges, I also marvelled at the investment of the children in this new experience - from afar of course - and their eagerness to try something different as they interacted with Julie, cooked in their own kitchens, asked questions, exchanged stories. Technically, they did do this on a laptop or ipad but only as a starting point - the whole story played out in over a thousand kitchens across Calgary and, I am confident, will yield many potential chefs, kitchen gourmet cooks and cookbook readers as a result!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">My second reason for addressing curiosity in my blog - as Julie cooked with kids experiencing a COVID-provoked extended winter break, I came across extensive statistics on the impact of the pandemic on children. Several of these stats revealed increased screen time for kids accompanied by decreased socialization and corollary increases in anxiety and depression. Which got me thinking about how we might inspire children to try new things, investigate novel ideas or discover more information about things they are curious about.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">We live in a digital age - even as old as I am, I have never lived in a time where there was not access to television, radio, digitally-delivered information. And our sources of digital information are so enormous in today's world that they actually surpass the real world in magnitude (hence the onset of the metaverse - which, from my perspective, is a huge investment in adult imagination). Hands on experiences, often guided by an adult but not necessarily an <i>expert</i> adult, offer children an opportunity to invest their imaginations, energy and senses in ways digital experiences are simply not capable of offering (at least, not yet!). In piquing curiosities with children we also often discover new ways to invest physically and emotionally in human experiences and it is often these unexpected experiences that launch the most creative, innovative thinking as children grow and discover their roles, places and participations in the real world. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">What piques your child's curiosity? Chances are they have things they would like to know about far beyond what a parent imagines they are interested in learning more about - or in doing, creating, trying, exploring. Whatever they are curious about, they need to experience ways to explore, discover, experiment, investigate, create outside the classroom and in their world. The avenues for exploration are truly vast and diverse - from reading, watching information on tv or digitally, visiting new sites, trying new experiences at home, acquiring new materials to try to manipulate (whether clay, wood, nails, fabric, yarn, rocks, etc), sharing ideas with others who are interested as well, documenting these new understandings and experiences in photos, sketches, words (even digitally!) are all inviting, invigorating aspects of being a child with the capacity to be curious, fascinated, inspired. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Encouraging children to pursue their curiosities, their fascinations, their passions will motivate and inspire critical thinking and innovation, communication and collaboration. They may not echo our passions but they will most certainly acquire skills in sharing and advancing their own passionate pursuits and curiosities!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><h4 style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-weight: normal;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjyx9UyLSVJ6yYLUTDM-Q_Cidv_nsDGUYtiG2z_n1P4Mlmx5hxKF6RXUmeCmxD1WB6g-4CTiy6OkF91P2nA_o1Hijr1F5yWwUd2dDlC2VUHtmCbr6-E-4NX3fdQOO38BCkh96EsmOr10-wgg6CeCIAhd6GpRkgNEF_ZAE_KkHbrfiTQTqrWNBYUcd-mZQ=s814" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="626" data-original-width="814" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjyx9UyLSVJ6yYLUTDM-Q_Cidv_nsDGUYtiG2z_n1P4Mlmx5hxKF6RXUmeCmxD1WB6g-4CTiy6OkF91P2nA_o1Hijr1F5yWwUd2dDlC2VUHtmCbr6-E-4NX3fdQOO38BCkh96EsmOr10-wgg6CeCIAhd6GpRkgNEF_ZAE_KkHbrfiTQTqrWNBYUcd-mZQ=w385-h296" width="385" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #800180; font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #800180; font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Lorraine Kinsman, Principal</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Eric Harvie School </div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #800180; font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /></span></h4><div><span style="color: #800180; font-family: georgia; font-weight: normal;"><i><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><br /></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div></div>Lorraine Kinsmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15415237016162373969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-257051773674335002.post-74211056536608386072021-12-12T22:48:00.001-08:002022-01-05T14:25:51.058-08:00Noticing Differences Between Teaching Reading and Teaching Children to Read <p style="text-align: center;"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg0wmXqkxCAuszci5ExFeAEBCXgmJBwTzMou_LPRSwhVlDAUtoIJEoca0pzmQmm0vHiyMvx2t59vCF6YXXR5NcA8Y-42TuVY6NdWdT9gySquPDCoT_bnLw32XH-OcbqfwAUSphQD0ETXdSKsJz0QQbp5-Lz0hOzfBjuFn0LFDUTuZn7PD3g56ACwAdEVg=s1177" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1177" data-original-width="1039" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg0wmXqkxCAuszci5ExFeAEBCXgmJBwTzMou_LPRSwhVlDAUtoIJEoca0pzmQmm0vHiyMvx2t59vCF6YXXR5NcA8Y-42TuVY6NdWdT9gySquPDCoT_bnLw32XH-OcbqfwAUSphQD0ETXdSKsJz0QQbp5-Lz0hOzfBjuFn0LFDUTuZn7PD3g56ACwAdEVg=w215-h244" width="215" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: georgia;"><b><i>The holidays are almost here - the perfect opportunity </i></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: georgia;"><b><i>to indulge in loving to read!</i></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: georgia;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: georgia;"><b><i>******************************************</i></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: georgia;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">In 2019 - 2020, every blog entry I wrote was about teaching children to read - exploring all the nuances related to reading and supporting children learning to read at home. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">These days I am exploring the personalization of learning in schools, based on 32 years of teaching children to learn to read.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">When we <i>teach reading,</i> we use a series of lesson plans to teach specific skills and knowledge to children who are learning to read. In a perfect situation, every child would absorb those lessons, apply them and learn to read. Realistically, some children do learn to read by being taught arbitrary lessons - often these are children who have experiences with reading already and have previously at least begun to love reading.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">When we <i>teach children to read,</i> we discover what they already know, where any learning misconceptions, delays or gaps in understanding exist, and then figure out how to best support and advance their understanding of reading until each child becomes a reader.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The real understanding of learning to read lies in the very succinct phrase coined by author Dav Pilkey at the beginning of this entry - 'reading is about love, not levels'. It is when a child learns to love reading, builds fluency and seeks out words to entertain, inform, find solace, laugh, cry, question, confirm, predict, clarify and explore, that a child becomes a true reader. Knowing patterns of letters, combinations and predictable arrangements generates a <i>knowledge and awareness of reading</i> but it does not necessarily create a <i>reader.</i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Over the holidays, families have time and opportunity to foster a love of reading without the usual competing demands of extracurricular events and school. Sharing stories, laughing, questioning, exploring, crying together over the adventures wrapped inside the words of beautiful texts offers tremendous opportunities for families to build traditions around communal experiences with texts.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">My wish for every child this holiday season is that they fall in love with reading in every form - with being read to in person, listening to stories, reading stories together, reading stories independently, getting to know the genres of texts and choosing a favourite, identifying and finding favourite authors, illustrators, titles. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">That children will have conversations within families about favourite stories, stories they want to read, stories they want to write, to give, to share with each other.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">This is what it means to teach a child to learn to <i>love reading!</i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: georgia;"><i><b>Wishing everyone a safe, happy and relaxing holiday celebrating special moments together this winter break!</b></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Lorraine Kinsman, Principal</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Eric Harvie School </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: georgia;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></div><br /><p></p>Lorraine Kinsmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15415237016162373969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-257051773674335002.post-17245732001656969912021-12-05T22:40:00.002-08:002021-12-05T22:40:37.584-08:00The Unexpected Journey as Children Learn to Read <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPD-U4ZHTB6Z7ljJCfs54BXJCYxGgS7-Krv1OBywW-u7LN5UG07hiZbOkuyWEiPKK7CyLouQitnN96uFvsaKJAQehJcriSSiYlMlPuMfE1zMdey_3ACYPClNje3hRU2MYNRw5hGAlt1w4C/s2048/IMG_2146.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="158" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPD-U4ZHTB6Z7ljJCfs54BXJCYxGgS7-Krv1OBywW-u7LN5UG07hiZbOkuyWEiPKK7CyLouQitnN96uFvsaKJAQehJcriSSiYlMlPuMfE1zMdey_3ACYPClNje3hRU2MYNRw5hGAlt1w4C/w211-h158/IMG_2146.jpeg" width="211" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJK09vYbzUeJz3NnLIepJhYU6qpxOdQGBuesvc8tTBuePLk3D7-VAceaNPsDLEyrhwBPR84HzJs5sy6O0mV5MP9snXcOMtpSy_GbNfA1NjOHFznvX3jh2qEdNerJtKNAm6hCb1xqSRExZP/s2048/IMG_3643.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJK09vYbzUeJz3NnLIepJhYU6qpxOdQGBuesvc8tTBuePLk3D7-VAceaNPsDLEyrhwBPR84HzJs5sy6O0mV5MP9snXcOMtpSy_GbNfA1NjOHFznvX3jh2qEdNerJtKNAm6hCb1xqSRExZP/w131-h161/IMG_3643.jpeg" width="131" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>"Just finished reading 'Ramona Forever' with my daughter. </i></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>When I closed the book, she took it and held it against her heart</i></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i> and I thought, 'what a wonderful thing to </i></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>write stories for young people!" - Kenneth Oppel (author)</i></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>"Children learn to read at different speeds and ages. Don't suppose</i></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>those kids who read early love literature and those who learn </i></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>later do not. </i></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>If your child is slow to reading text, then read, read, read</i></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>to them yourself. Give them stories and audiobooks and plays</i></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>and poetry too!" - Heather O'Neill (author)</i></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>*************************</i></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Teaching children to learn to read has always been an unexpected journey - every child I have given birth to, all my grandchildren (including Capri who is only 2 months old and is pictured above trying to turn the page of a book I was reading to her), and every learner I have encountered in 32 years of teaching reading with children of all ages, have each travelled the 'learning to read' road with their own idiosyncrasies, ups and downs.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">As we enter another era of 'here is how children learn to read' with all the discussions emerging around 'The Science of Reading', including additional funding to help 'fill in the learning gaps from pandemic learning disruptions', I want to clearly state I have yet to find any road map, any set of instructions or directions for learning to read that have worked the same way for any two children. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Whether we share common resources, funding, lesson plans, books or programs, every child will experience learning to read in their own way and with their own particular set of successes, hiccups and challenges and each one will bring their own background experiences, their histories of reading within their families, their personal cognitive strengths and challenges, their personal preferences and their own stories and understandings of stories to their experiences with reading. We can standardize the practices, the assessments, the expectations. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">We just can't standardize the children. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Thankfully!!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It's not that we have to re-invent the teaching wheel for every child - it's just that we need to have a wide repertoire of approaches, strategies, techniques, resources, materials and ideas accessible within teachers as we sit with each child and try to make sense of what they already know about reading, what is working for them already and where their challenges lie. And then we need to travel their journeys with them respectfully, thoughtfully and with the greatest of joy as we accompany them on their particular learning-to-read adventure :)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">At EHS, we do this every day and we always have - we have long been invested in the belief that learning to read is different for every child even as we know the foundations of fostering a love of reading are most often grounded in shared experiences with reading. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Children learn to love books through listening to stories and sharing their ideas about stories together. Knowledge is socially constructed through shared experiences, questions and investigations - we learn to read and to love to read simultaneously. These shared experiences are the cornerstone of all our learning at EHS. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">These are just the first steps, however, in supporting our learners in their own learning to read adventures. Most of the time, as I move in and out of classrooms during our whole school literacy blocks, children are working in pairs or small groups with teachers, staff and volunteers focused on various aspects of learning to read and write.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> Learning to manipulate letters to create words and craft sentences. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Exploring elements of genres that begin with the fundamentals of stories - characters, settings, events, beginnings and endings. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Differentiating fiction from non-fiction. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Making personal choices about which stories they love to read most - and who their favourite authors are. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Recognizing the importance of writers as well as illustrators. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Learning to modulate their voices to capture the energy, emotions, excitement of the texts they are reading. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Listening to stories, telling stories, predicting what will happen next. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Asking questions, finding their own answers in the text and then asking more that remain unanswered but provoke deeper thinking. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">These are just some of the experiences children invest themselves in as they wander along the various paths of learning to read. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">And, when they falter or hit a rut with learning to read, their teachers are there to offer other ideas, experiences, nudges towards considering different ways to understanding reading. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">If every child learned to truly become a reader because they knew their alphabet, understood all the grapho-phonemic relationships and could apply them to texts effortlessly, teachers and parents could teach predictably and be comfortable with the knowledge we were all doing 'the right thing'. The problem is that it hasn't quite worked out that way in the past 50 - 100 years of knowing how to teach these specific skills. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">We've had to learn to improvise, and adjust and let kids take the lead in learning as they share with us what makes sense to them and what doesn't. Sometimes it takes a lot of teacher observations and listening to figure out exactly where the disconnect exists for kids when they are faltering along their particular reading journey. Sometimes they just need some more 'growing' and 'maturing' time than others in their age or grade group. Sometimes there are significant learning issues that require considerable modifications - including use of technology - to foster new understandings. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Almost always, it takes more time to become a proficient reader than the child, the teacher or the parent would really like...and keeping the faith that learning to read eventually does happen is a strategy requiring attention itself :)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Almost always, by this time of the school year, I am working with learners who appear to be off-course a bit on their learning journey. I usually work with them independently, for about 20 minutes, 2 - 4 times per week.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> I begin by re-visiting the paths I know they have already travelled - building the alphabet in order, identifying sounds, noticing vowels and consonants. We are re-visiting practices of noticing and discrimination - what have we noticed or not noticed along the way of learning to read? What sounds are most familiar and which ones still surprise us (the soft sound of /g/ is often a surprise!) and what things have they been taught that didn't yet 'stick' - just because we have been taught something does not mean we have internalized it yet. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Yet. A most powerful word to be sure!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">There are a couple of things I have learned as I coach these young readers that may be of interest to parents:</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><ul><li><span style="font-family: georgia;">when children learn to 'sing' the ABC song, they often say /lmnop/ as if it were just one sound - slow this section of the song down from the earliest experiences with the song and clearly articulate /l/, /m/, /n/, /o/, /p/. This is a frequent pothole on the journey to learning to read - in order to appreciate letters and sounds and manipulate them in text effectively, we need to clearly hear and recognize each discrete letter</span></li></ul><ul><li><span style="font-family: georgia;">when young learners create a physical alphabet string from magnetic letters or scrabble tiles (my favourite literacy manipulative!), they are also visually recognizing and discriminating letters from each other and tying those letters to sounds - a key aspect of developing reliable familiarity with graphemes and phonemes and their relationships</span></li></ul><ul><li><span style="font-family: georgia;">there have always been 26 letters in the alphabet, from which literally hundreds of thousands of words and sentences are formed - the greater the familiarity of children with physically moving those 26 letters around in their fingers as young learners, the greater the chance they will be able to make sense of how letters group together to make words in somewhat predictable ways - physically play with letters lots - continuing with this practice even after children know them well :)</span></li></ul><div><span style="color: red; font-family: georgia;"><b><i>"We all learn from someone else. </i></b></span></div><div><span style="color: red; font-family: georgia;"><b><i>We're all taught. </i></b></span></div><div><span style="color: red; font-family: georgia;"><b><i>We are never alone as long as we can find</i></b></span></div><div><span style="color: red; font-family: georgia;"><b><i> beauty and truth in the amazing, </i></b></span></div><div><span style="color: red; font-family: georgia;"><b><i>astonishing combination of only twenty-six letters." </i></b></span></div><div><span style="color: red; font-family: georgia;"><b><i>- Sarah ban Breathnach (author) </i></b></span></div><div><span style="color: red; font-family: georgia;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: red; font-family: georgia;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Helping children appreciate the significance and beauty of the alphabet is a key part of my work with learners every day and our explorations often (not always) offer new paths for entering the world of reading. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">In the next couple of blog entries, I will explore some other alternative strategies for encouraging new readers who are encountering roadblocks on their journey to be avid, skilled and successful readers. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">And I will continue to read aloud whenever possible - including with baby Capri - to foster an enduring appreciation and enjoyment of stories on her journey towards a joyful reading life!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Lorraine Kinsman, Principal</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Eric Harvie School </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: red; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div><div><span style="color: red; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /><br /></span></div></div><br /> <p></p>Lorraine Kinsmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15415237016162373969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-257051773674335002.post-89254387261215926012021-11-23T11:18:00.012-08:002021-11-23T11:21:16.028-08:00What Do We Mean When We Say Students Are Engaged in Learning? <p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i><span> </span><span> </span></i></b></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></i></b></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b style="color: #38761d; font-family: georgia; font-size: small; text-align: left;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeoWUFVAo8NvHlyadI3ZTDjLAhNrgFDFltmooULs1m7vTJGc8D9XGikeQ44FWE4g6vrzphDj20oONENnWnhALDiBSHyED4egn4fysoSr8_M0ffA-mkzYeGU8OsVCnf0ssEgqpgXRNLe7ff/s2048/IMG_3196.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeoWUFVAo8NvHlyadI3ZTDjLAhNrgFDFltmooULs1m7vTJGc8D9XGikeQ44FWE4g6vrzphDj20oONENnWnhALDiBSHyED4egn4fysoSr8_M0ffA-mkzYeGU8OsVCnf0ssEgqpgXRNLe7ff/w150-h170/IMG_3196.jpeg" width="150" /></a></i></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiePUi3i2P2hJJtRjk02fy7yUmLSvqxr7iB13VNMgvyocla8g4WFHCacp6VlvYQ6E08qlgYTnuZydA8JaE16knGbE_alhrrDies5oD419uOy0YxaSazTCL4tklHpQkE4wKwu0VGWtKXqtIO/s2048/IMG_3357.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="173" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiePUi3i2P2hJJtRjk02fy7yUmLSvqxr7iB13VNMgvyocla8g4WFHCacp6VlvYQ6E08qlgYTnuZydA8JaE16knGbE_alhrrDies5oD419uOy0YxaSazTCL4tklHpQkE4wKwu0VGWtKXqtIO/w233-h173/IMG_3357.jpeg" width="233" /></a></i></b></span></div><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;">"The epitome of student engagement is</span><span style="background-color: white;"> when</span></i></b></div></span><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i><span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>students experience what is known in </span></span><span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="background-color: white;">psychological </span></span></i></b></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i><span style="background-color: white;">research as </span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;">flow</span><span style="background-color: white;">: </span></i></b></span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>“joy, creativity, the process of total involvement with life.” </i></b></span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>- (Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, 2008)</i></b></span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b style="color: #38761d; font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"><i><span style="background-color: white;">**************************************</span></i></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white;">Teachers know the most exhilarating learning times with students are when they are both challenged and capable of engaging in a task that commands their attention due to curiosity, interesting content or physical engagement - those are the most engaging times for teachers as well! </span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white;">It is a challenge in classroom management to keep students sitting in place for extended periods of time completing written work - this has long been a traditional expectation in classrooms, and our experiences at EHS with cohorting classes through all of the 2020-21 school year reminded us all just how difficult it is to sustain this kind of 'learning' for any length of time - personally, it gave me a whole new appreciation for the souls who taught me as a small child - ADD active in a time when this was not something that mattered in schools at all!</span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white;">The idea of 'productive struggle' is an underlying premise to teaching students of any age - if, as teachers, we are able to create structures for students to actively discover new or deeper understanding rather than simply providing information passively for students through direct instruction, they are more likely to <i>want</i> to engage in thinking and problem solving to discover something new on their own or in collaboration with peers. And it is the <i>wanting </i>to engage in thinking and problem solving that leads to the best learning.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white;">Productive struggle relies on a challenge (like a rigorous academic task) as well as a skill (such as categorizing, creating, sorting, inventing something new, finding the 'best way' to resolve a problem) coming together <i>actively</i> where learners are able to be actively involved by assuming a particular role or responsibility in the learning activity.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white;">Engaging in this productive struggle causes children to think just beyond what they are capable of and encouraging them to try something a little more challenging is how learners further develop their skills and strategies and improve their overall understanding and achievement. Vygotsky, a reknowned 2oth century child psychologist, labelled this process the 'zone of proximal development' where children can learn tasks slightly more challenging than what they are capable of in the company of peers or teachers who can coach and support their growth in learning and understanding (Walker, 2010).</span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white;">When we are developing tasks for learners, the idea of engagement is usually front of mind since we know this typically provides the best possible opportunities for student growth and improvements in achievement. There are many considerations that impact the development of engaging tasks, but five key elements of learning tasks are relatively easy to identify:</span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white;">1) <b>Collaborative tasks</b> - we know knowledge is constructed socially as children try out new thinking and ideas that either gets confirmed or changed as they explore with others</span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white;">2) <b>students are assigned - or choose - to take on roles and responsibilities </b> - when children feel they can take responsibility for something successfully, they are more likely to want to participate - we activate the 'curiosity' parts of the brain and they feel like they have efficacy</span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">3) <b>clear learning targets - </b>making the purposes of the learning tasks clear so learners know what they need to be able to demonstrate by the end of the lesson, and having targets broken down in specific success points along the way will help students understa</span>nd and appreciate when they have been successful</p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: #54565a;">4) </span><b><span style="color: #54565a;"> </span>adjusting the task as needed to keep students engaged - </b>sometimes what we think will work well with students just doesn't - the task might be too challenging or too easy - so teachers monitor and change frequently, making small adjustments (0r large!) as needed to sustain student interest, engagement and subsequent success</span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">5) <b>always be ready to present a bigger challenge - </b>this is the answer to the 'I'm done, Teacher' situation that seems to happen frequently in classrooms every day - teachers are ready with the 'what's next' expansion of the first task so when students are feeling like they have solved whatever task they have undertaken, there is a 'what's next' piece ready to go when some students are ready to move on to the next steps</span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Students engaged in learning looks like active, collaborative students exhibiting their curiosity, inventiveness, creativity and applying skills to achieve a clear learning target while investing their energy into trying to solve a problem, create a new project, write a description or story, read an interesting yet challenging story. We use the principles of design thinking often in our classroom tasks so children are well aware they can make mistakes and learn from them - mistakes do not mean they are 'wrong' but that there is another opportunity to try again in a different way. Every task is achievable in some way.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Learning through engagement becomes deeper, more authentic and interesting and grows from a perspective of curiosity so that children can experience the joy of thinking and doing beyond what they thought previously they could do. This is where best possible learning happens for all our learners and it is the goal of every teacher, every day, in every learning task designed for our learners. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia;">*************************</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><i><b>"Both flow and productive struggle make clear why student engagement is important in the classroom. When students experience the joy of accomplishing a worthy academic challenge, they are motivated to work harder. As students continue to work harder, they build persistence, critical reasoning, and the ability to apply their learning.</b></i></span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia;"> " </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #38761d; font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"><b>- Michael Toth (2021) </b></i></p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Lorraine Kinsman, Principal</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Eric Harvie School </span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b style="color: #38761d; font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"><i><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></i></b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b style="color: #38761d; font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"><i><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></i></b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b style="color: #38761d; font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"><i><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></i></b></p>Lorraine Kinsmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15415237016162373969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-257051773674335002.post-75970196808653673122021-11-15T10:14:00.002-08:002021-11-15T10:14:49.549-08:00Playing Safe Again - Re-Socializing Our Children's Pandemic Experiences <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFXf0EKxQuSgg38uBQ7njjMKd7Cpu5NoCfSFzNiJwLkWlH6rim1eki7WrWz-SnSEHLFKlIPPkN34BcEj9q4rJ2flg3ngLxeoTCAoyvs7EE-Ap1kI-seb82Pv3NQB7dsK0W2fhEvRorY_JX/s2048/IMG_2833.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFXf0EKxQuSgg38uBQ7njjMKd7Cpu5NoCfSFzNiJwLkWlH6rim1eki7WrWz-SnSEHLFKlIPPkN34BcEj9q4rJ2flg3ngLxeoTCAoyvs7EE-Ap1kI-seb82Pv3NQB7dsK0W2fhEvRorY_JX/w128-h170/IMG_2833.jpeg" width="128" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_vf9AczpNYOitm3FoP3bfV9dm-eCiMkZNDNFyOff8gEplLGr_WBNKRYAzTR_TxC889qbSBXe05suQgW4wsChXos7WIibC-4SwvuBysAHZfmpaS5_DKlRcKrflAzhKvEMxGQyv2BiXa4p9/s2048/IMG_2634.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_vf9AczpNYOitm3FoP3bfV9dm-eCiMkZNDNFyOff8gEplLGr_WBNKRYAzTR_TxC889qbSBXe05suQgW4wsChXos7WIibC-4SwvuBysAHZfmpaS5_DKlRcKrflAzhKvEMxGQyv2BiXa4p9/w127-h170/IMG_2634.jpeg" width="127" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh63goiu2aDbEm8OAWKy3cVBon3HYnMub-wspPbjUSeJ0l5agFGjy8bjasKA5oMlGfxrEYdOQJfRllr99yjW-W1Pz11L80accha1j68puT9hFe4x1403utOKgse0ve2rHsAGlS_8GW0b94p/s1600/IMG_2607.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh63goiu2aDbEm8OAWKy3cVBon3HYnMub-wspPbjUSeJ0l5agFGjy8bjasKA5oMlGfxrEYdOQJfRllr99yjW-W1Pz11L80accha1j68puT9hFe4x1403utOKgse0ve2rHsAGlS_8GW0b94p/w125-h166/IMG_2607.jpeg" width="125" /></a></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #f2f2f2; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><i><b>“Play and socialization are the ‘work’ of early childhood,” Dr. Wojciechowski says.</b></i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #f2f2f2; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><i><b> “During this period, children are learning how to navigate social scenarios, </b></i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #f2f2f2; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><i><b>such as when and how to join in with others, taking turns, conversation skills, </b></i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #f2f2f2; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><i><b>emotion regulation, frustration tolerance, emotional expression and more.</b></i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #f2f2f2; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><i><b> These lessons seem simple, but they are foundational to healthy social development." </b></i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #f2f2f2; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><i><b>- </b></i></span></span><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><i><b>Dr. Jennifer Wojciechowski</b></i></span></div><div class="fb-quote fb_iframe_widget" fb-iframe-plugin-query="app_id=714239018706221&container_width=880&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sharp.com%2Fhealth-news%2Fhow-does-limited-socialization-affect-young-kids.cfm&locale=en_US&sdk=joey" fb-xfbml-state="rendered" style="background-color: #f2f2f2; border: 0px; color: #3380a7; display: inline-block; font: inherit; left: 464px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-align: start; text-decoration-line: none; top: 1273px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; display: inline-block; font: inherit; height: 0px; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: justify; vertical-align: top; width: 0px;"><a href="https://www.sharp.com/health-news/dr-jennifer-wojciechowski.cfm" id="CP___PAGEID=65849,dr-jennifer-wojciechowski.cfm,21|" style="background-color: #f2f2f2; border-bottom-color: rgb(51, 128, 167); border-bottom-style: solid; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: #3380a7; font-family: Montserrat, Arial; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 2px; text-align: start; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><iframe allow="encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="true" allowtransparency="true" data-gtm-yt-inspected-1_25="true" data-testid="fb:quote Facebook Social Plugin" frameborder="0" height="1000px" name="f27f716799cf628" scrolling="no" src="https://www.facebook.com/v2.12/plugins/quote.php?app_id=714239018706221&channel=https%3A%2F%2Fstaticxx.facebook.com%2Fx%2Fconnect%2Fxd_arbiter%2F%3Fversion%3D46%23cb%3Df3fa64121fd18f%26domain%3Dwww.sharp.com%26is_canvas%3Dfalse%26origin%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.sharp.com%252Ff3d5385dbed674c%26relation%3Dparent.parent&container_width=880&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sharp.com%2Fhealth-news%2Fhow-does-limited-socialization-affect-young-kids.cfm&locale=en_US&sdk=joey" style="border-style: none; border-width: initial; font: inherit; height: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline; visibility: visible; width: 0px;" title="fb:quote Facebook Social Plugin" width="1000px"></iframe></a></span></div></div><br /><p></p><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">This is the third year our learners have experienced the pandemic interrupting what we used to think of as 'normal living': </span></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: georgia;">Spring 2020 - all school-age children moved to virtual learning for the last 3.5 months of the school year, playgrounds were closed and everyone was required to work and learn from home</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;">Fall 2020 - in-person learning resumed with children very tightly cohorted into single classroom groups for the entire school day - for the entire 202-21 school year, students could see each other from a distance but they were not allowed to intermingle under any circumstances - not on the playground, the playing fields, the gym, or in music; there were occasional interruptions to in-person learning - twice the entire province was moved to virtual learning for brief periods of up to 4 weeks; other interruptions occurred because students were exposed to positive cases in their cohorted classrooms </span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;">Fall 2021 - in-person learning resumes amidst a very significant 'fourth wave' of infections; we continue to wear masks and distance, students continue to be cohorted although not quite as tightly - they are able to mix and mingle outside and are cohorted in team classroom pairs</span></li></ul><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Everyone is talking about academic gaps and how will we catch them up? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">From an educator's perspective, this is something we know how to address, supporting students in their learning from where they currently are to where they need to be. There are no magic strategies for filling in gaps, it's more a matter of ensuring they have the supported, direct teaching needed to continue growing in their learning. We can do this with additional support, allowing for greater time on task, offering short bursts of targeted instruction exactly when and where they need it. </span></div></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">The concerns I have are far more focused on the socialization cracks and gaps that have begun to surface in our children's play, sense of fair play, capacities for solving interpersonal problems and resolving conflicts that begin small but have the capacity to quickly escalate if not resolved. These are the side effects of pandemic cohorting and tight management that have become the most prevalent and obvious as this third year of COVID-19 impact has unfolded.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Recently, we surveyed our grade 4 students - those who have experienced school as an 'expected experience' for the longest period of time across our school's population. We were surprised to find a significant number of these children no longer feel they 'belong' to a school community but rather they just attend school. This caught us off-guard a bit - we have worked hard through the entire history (6 years) that our school has been open to foster a sense of community through many different avenues - primarily using peace education as our sign post. Through our monthly peace assemblies, our Peace Ambassadors Leadership Program, several different community-based peaceful initiatives, our Coulee School initiatives, Wonder Time experiences and other whole-school initiatives, creating a sense of belonging to a community of caring learners has been a priority for us. To see this virtually disappear from our students' experiences of school was an abrupt call for change.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">We know this third year of pandemic influences has changed the ways we foster community in the building - we tend to do this with a far greater focus on shared virtual experiences now, and with a focus on the small classes or shared classes together rather than as a whole school community. Even when we engage in a whole school activity - such as our field trip to Glenbow Ranch Park on September 20/21 - we participated while still tightly cohorted in our class groupings. We have loosened our recess and lunch break restrictions somewhat so there are grade groups together; there are, however, no times when children can just be themselves anywhere inside or outside the school without cohorting restrictions. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">This level of control has a protective capacity for holding potential COVID-19 contact in abeyance - it also, unfortunately, does not allow for children to interact as freely or as often as one might expect or wish to have happen. And, consequently, our children are not practicing the interactive skills and strategies with each other in novel situations that they typically would in a regular school year kind of setting. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">This is not a permanent loss of knowing how to make friends, resolve small conflicts or be comfortable in a different social situation. It does, however, require some attention and support to nudge our students back into their more expected norms of behaviour when relating with each other - how to respect each other's space, listen before speaking, offer suggestions rather than ultimatums, be kind first, notice and suggest sharing, negotiate rules and expectations of play rather than announce them, etc.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Navigating childhood social situations has never been an easy task - children are in their formative stages with scant background experiences to fall back on when things don't go exactly according to their internal plans. We know, however, that equipping them with some easy, go-to strategies for sustaining positive play can make a huge difference in the way the flow of their learning days go - they no longer need to worry about what will happen at recess, who they will play with, will they get chosen to play on a team.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Teaching in what we hope are the waning days of the pandemic is a complex task on the best of days. We are focusing some of our energy into fostering positive play experiences with our students despite the pandemic restrictions - we believe strongly our students just need some gentle nudging back to their previous experiences and mindsets to re-capture the safe, family feeling our school grounds once experienced most of the time. We are beginning with noticing our own feelings, our own expectations and our own responses to situations. As we work through identifying our inappropriate and appropriate responses, we are confident our children will regain their sense of safety and belonging within our school setting. As Dr. </span><span style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Wojciechowski noted at the beginning of this post, emotional regulation, frustration tolerance and conversation skills are all about healthy social development. While our wings have been clipped somewhat (so to speak) as a result of the pandemic, they have not been removed and we are confident our children will soon be demonstrating more appropriate behaviours and attitudes as they learn to play safely, communicate positively and feel safe in our school community - feeling all the components of belonging. </span></span></div><div><span style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">We are working on a Safe Play Project that is multi-faceted and we are confident will re-build, foster and re-kindle our memories and strategies of building peaceful communities together despite a pandemic that has worked to drive us apart from each other. We can do this together!</span></span></div><div><span style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Lorraine Kinsman</span></span></div><div><span style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Principal, Eric Harvie School </span></span></div>Lorraine Kinsmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15415237016162373969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-257051773674335002.post-81642509552598332352021-10-11T23:24:00.007-07:002021-10-11T23:29:08.991-07:00The Times of Our Lives...<p style="text-align: center;"></p><div style="text-align: left;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqZpiL4uXs6r6RJLd70tNA1MQ80S8M2Ue_LZhPTcknvZySzEbCwC95O-X5wtQFRE2c3W62MIbXjOz_boeOeblmqZ5CU8nc8bVp3Y1U30T6rKJ34ZR3c9HrsdCJEmMpgWoIHWWxoipZZvRm/s2500/EH+Orange+Shirt+Pano.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="569" data-original-width="2500" height="140" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqZpiL4uXs6r6RJLd70tNA1MQ80S8M2Ue_LZhPTcknvZySzEbCwC95O-X5wtQFRE2c3W62MIbXjOz_boeOeblmqZ5CU8nc8bVp3Y1U30T6rKJ34ZR3c9HrsdCJEmMpgWoIHWWxoipZZvRm/w644-h140/EH+Orange+Shirt+Pano.jpeg" width="644" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;">"If I don’t belong, I don’t see why what I do or how I am will influence and impact others. </span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;">So, I don’t really have an incentive to care...</span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">You can’t ask people to have a sense of mutuality </span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">and agency and to build the communities in human-centered schools if they don’t </span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">have the sense of belonging, the sense of relating, or the sense of being part of </span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">something bigger than themselves." </span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">- Dr. Ulcca Joshi Hansen, </span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><u>The Future of Smart: How Our Education System Needs to Change </u></span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><u>to Help All Young People Thrive </u></span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><u><br /></u></span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">******************************************</span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Source Sans Pro", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #373a3c; font-size: 18px; text-align: start;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #373a3c; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">As our school grapples with building community and a sense of belonging in these days of 'fourth wave COVID-19 infections' that continue to restrict and limit possibilities for learning in a community, there are so many questions and concerns that are bubbling up almost every single day - worries about student achievement and learning after three years of pandemic impact, as well as worries about health and safety in these last few weeks before childhood vaccines are approved and available for 5-12 year olds. If does feel like it is impossible to make decisions about anything that will last longer than a few days before something causes yet another change to process, product or organization. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #373a3c; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #373a3c; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">With that in the back of my mind, I spent some time recently considering the upcoming municipal election, the candidates that are running for the various positions - especially the school Trustee positions - and the referendum questions. I don't have any recommendations for the election, but a couple of things stood out for me - mention of traffic concerns in school zones, for example, as well as protection of wetland areas were issues that have been raised by our families and our learners over the past few years, so it is timely to see them at least surface on some election-related websites. These are issues that also impact our abilities to build community - from traffic around the school to conservation of the outdoor places where our students love to learn, creating a sense of belonging and community is never a straightforward or easy task. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #373a3c; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #373a3c; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">One issue that I did spend some time exploring was the question about establishing permanent daylight savings time. I had never given this much thought beyond not having to remember to either drop back or jump ahead with the clocks in my home twice a year. As I began to read about the issue, I realized there were many different considerations - everything from circadian clocks to extended business opportunities to either increased or reduced traffic accidents, depending on which research I explored. There was one fact that stood out for me as I tried to make sense of the issues: the fact that if the daylight savings referendum goes ahead, the sun will rise in December/January around 9:00 - 9:30 am - well after school has begun. The weeks in December when the sun currently rises at 8:20 - 8:30 am - usually just before winter break begins - are always challenging for schools as children are navigating streets and buses in the dark and safety concerns are prominent. Extending that 'worry period' even longer than usual, and placing children in potentially greater jeopardy would not be something I would advocate. It is a consideration I had not been previously aware of before doing some rather extensive digging these past couple of weeks. I would encourage families to do some research as well, before October 18th, into the time change question. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #373a3c; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #373a3c; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">As the effects of this pandemic endure, it is becoming increasingly clear humanity is shifting in its' values, relationships, perspectives and tolerances no matter where we live in the world. Nothing is the same and the possibilities - if they ever existed - of a 'somewhat return' to what used to be seem to fade more with each passing day that brings the unfolding of extremely complex issues and concerns. It appears COVID-19 is a multiple-layer, very complicated interruption with much greater long-term, continually evolving consequences than we ever imagined. In terms of schools and education, the challenges of building a vibrant, forward-thinking community of learners fully engaged in quality learning experiences have exponentially increased in complexity, even as the world continues to evolve and change with little regard for the immense pressures schools are under to both protect children's health and advance learning - two initiatives that often seem to be completely opposite in their intentions as well as their actions. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #373a3c; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: start;"><span style="color: #373a3c; font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white;">The challenges are enormous - but I believe educators, learners, administrators are all more than up to meeting the challenges with vision, energy and innovation!</span></span></div><div style="text-align: start;"><span style="color: #373a3c; font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #373a3c; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">These are definitely the times of our lives - busy, demanding, constrained, unpredictable, layered with endless competing interests and shifting perspectives. As we continue our journeys with uncertainty, unpredictability and at least a little trepidation, I believe it will be imperative for us to hold relationships, belonging and community building as our guiding beacons, bringing us together in new connections and purpose.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #373a3c; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>"Up until this moment, the safest path was to give your kid what worked for you. </i></b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>I would argue that this generation of parents is probably the first one to have </i></b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>to deeply grapple with the fact that if you put your kid on the path that the</i></b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i> conventional system gave most of us, it’s like walking down a</i></b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i> sidewalk that’s crumbling towards you. The world is changing and </i></b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>what our children need to know and do in the world they will enter</i></b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i> as young adults can’t be learned within the mainstream system of education. "</i></b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>- </i></b></span></span><i style="color: #800180; font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">- Dr. Ulcca Joshi Hansen, </span></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><u>The Future of Smart: How Our Education System Needs to Change </u></span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><u>to Help All Young People Thrive </u></span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><u><br /></u></span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><u><br /></u></span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><u><br /></u></span></i></span></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #373a3c; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Lorraine Kinsman, Principal</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #373a3c; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Eric Harvie School</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #373a3c; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Source Sans Pro", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #373a3c; font-size: 18px; text-align: start;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><u><br /></u></span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><u><br /></u></span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><u><br /></u></span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p>Lorraine Kinsmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15415237016162373969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-257051773674335002.post-31160900580792970552021-09-26T19:44:00.002-07:002021-09-26T19:45:40.301-07:00The Dilemmas of Pandemic Learning <p> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4Oj-H9mJHJ4G5wtmcAOpLb2Y1qIs1MxL0Q08N-dBd6gjSo257mf0i2ADwu-mSJYH9QFns5x8jqBAsN_P82pYGDp5AULF8X6NcLyPn9t_iyyzk9CobI622wL2BrM4ouI6YUvIOMDk8Z_ol/s960/IMG_2118.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4Oj-H9mJHJ4G5wtmcAOpLb2Y1qIs1MxL0Q08N-dBd6gjSo257mf0i2ADwu-mSJYH9QFns5x8jqBAsN_P82pYGDp5AULF8X6NcLyPn9t_iyyzk9CobI622wL2BrM4ouI6YUvIOMDk8Z_ol/w200-h150/IMG_2118.jpeg" width="200" /></a></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikVnQVpRX6wE0-68Fz57Y28sSCBhAUBLCGSpTCocHI-VTMiWwrOa1ZxwjrcO-XQ9RwuWnJfDhfRYV9PolxLwIXpT_QJkV0sa_r9Kz5wCazHZC5xsoPGntPf0EMRbBU-J6tL1XFuQTnynb4/s574/Screen+Shot+2021-09-26+at+7.37.56+PM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="346" data-original-width="574" height="153" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikVnQVpRX6wE0-68Fz57Y28sSCBhAUBLCGSpTCocHI-VTMiWwrOa1ZxwjrcO-XQ9RwuWnJfDhfRYV9PolxLwIXpT_QJkV0sa_r9Kz5wCazHZC5xsoPGntPf0EMRbBU-J6tL1XFuQTnynb4/w253-h153/Screen+Shot+2021-09-26+at+7.37.56+PM.png" width="253" /></a> </p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #45818e; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><i><b>"Times have changed. Our world has changed. Our jobs have changed. Just as jobs have evolved over the last 200 yers, so have the skills needed to thrive in a rapidly changing, complex world. Researchers agree that young people are going to need a wide range of skills to succeed in today's rapidly changing world - beyond just reading, writing, and arithmetic." - People for Education 2020/21 Research Report 'The New Basics' Canada</b></i></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #45818e; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><i><b>"<span style="text-align: left;">Future-ready students need to exercise agency, in their own education and throughout life. Agency implies a sense of responsibility to participate in the world and, in so doing, to influence people, events and circumstances for the better. Agency requires the ability to frame a guiding purpose and identify actions to achieve a goal.</span></b></i></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #45818e; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><i><b>"To help enable agency, educators must not only recognise learners’ individuality, but also acknowledge the wider set of relationships – with their teachers, peers, families and communities – that influence their learning. A concept underlying the learning framework is “co-agency” – the interactive, mutually supportive relationships that help learners to progress towards their valued goals. In this context, everyone should be considered a learner, not only students but also teachers, school managers, parents and communities." - OECD 2020/21 Report: The Future of Education and Skills - Education 2030</b></i></span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #45818e; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><i><b>*************************************</b></i></span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; text-align: left;">One of the most challenging aspects of entering a third school year impacted by the pandemic is trying to stay aware of the future our students are still going to enter regardless of the implications and impact on learning that the pandemic might deposit in their lives, their feelings, their belief systems, their memories. </span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; text-align: left;">It is so urgent to keep the students safe from viral transmissions - especially in this fourth wave of variants with child-age vaccines so tantalizingly imminent in our future. </span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; text-align: left;">It is so urgent to remember they are learning for a lifetime, not just for this time of pandemic, and continue to lay a foundation of skills, understandings, ways of thinking that will need to serve them effectively in their very near future as well.</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; text-align: left;">It is so urgent to sustain their opportunities to interact with others, to acknowledge 'their wider set of relationships' that influence their learning in so many positive ways, and open up the world for them to see, experience and learn.</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It is so urgent to reduce their circle of contacts, to trace any transmissions, to isolate or quarantine, to keep them safe.</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The balancing act of these dilemmas have not diminished through the three years of learning impacted by the pandemic. We have been online, we have been in person. We have masked and cohorted and been more virtual in our teaching and learning, our celebrating and sharing, than even the most forward-thinking educator might have ever envisioned for the years 2019-2020-2021. </span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">We have also sought strategies to keep our learners connected with each other, to focus on the learning, to remember the pandemic will fade one day but their need for skills, understandings, relationships, innovation, communicating and especially reading, writing and mathematical thinking will only proliferate, not diminish.</span></p><p style="text-align: center;">Every day educators around the world - as well as in our school - face the dilemmas of pandemic learning and try to find a way to creatively, virtually, in-person, in writing, in video, in action encourage and support students advancing their learning skills, improving their understandings, developing their skills.</p><p style="text-align: center;"> We seek a balancing point, a way to honour both intimidating demands - learn and be healthy; be healthy and learn. We share this balancing act with our families every day too as they attempt to make their best decisions about keeping children safe and keeping them learning as well.</p><p style="text-align: center;">Three school years - for some of our students, their entire academic career - have been interrupted, changed, disturbed, re-written, limited or enhanced by a pandemic situation no one in the world seemed to anticipate or be prepared for - even now, well into the third year of impact. </p><p style="text-align: center;">Yet their life stories continue, their thirst to learn, to connect, to engage in developing their own agency - their own abilities to identify purpose in life and in learning, and to know how to move forward to achieve their goals remains tantalizingly fresh and real despite the discouraging spectre of the pandemic. And, as educators and as families, we must find ways to nurture that zest for life, that love of learning even as we try to find the metaphoric 'bubble wrap' needed to keep them all healthy and safe until learning in it's truest formats are completely accessible again.</p><p style="text-align: center;">They are learning from this pandemic too - learning to be resilient and flexible, learning to care for the common good, learning healthy strategies that will continue to carry them through life long after the pandemic threat has retreated to the history books. They are learning to be responsive to the situation, to communicate as clearly as possible, that big problems have multiple layers of possible solutions. That they can be part of the solution, not just intimidated by the problem. That something as small as a mask and as easy as hand washing can be a safety precaution, just as much as a helmet or a seatbelt might be in different circumstances.</p><p style="text-align: center;">These are not easy days and they seem to be becoming more challenging as each day passes. They are not easy days for our children either - the past two years of pandemic influences have clearly shown us the emotional toll, the mental-wellbeing exhaustion, the frustration and reduced interactions with each other have a significant impact on our children. They worry, they get weary, they forget what the world was and imagining what could be becomes a much-reduced possibility as they consider possibilities within a framework that has primarily offered them restrictions for as long as they can remember. </p><p style="text-align: center;">Yet they are our future. </p><p style="text-align: center;">Our children will need to be the changemakers that anticipate and are better prepared for world events like a pandemic in the years to come. They will need to imagine possibilities for interrupting climate change, restoring hope and peace in a world that has been tilted for a great deal of their lives. And we, as educators and families, must be prepared to somehow continually nudge their learning while trying to find ways to keep them physically safe.</p><p style="text-align: center;">Such are the dilemmas of the pandemic - those that lead to sleep-interrupted nights, endless discussions as we puzzle through possibilities and weigh them from both points of view - the learning lens and the safety lens, trying to make best possible learning decisions for students in a world that has not known appropriate, spontaneous learning in many, many months. </p><p style="text-align: center;">At EHS our goal is to continue to let the children lead the way, to keep as many avenues of learning and communication and relationship open as possible with safe learning continually holding fast as our first lens of consideration. </p><p style="text-align: center;">An impossible task in an impossible time - yet we will persevere and be patient with a world that is not as familiar, not as comfortable, not as inviting as it was just three short years ago. </p><p style="text-align: center;">Because we know this, too, shall pass. </p><p style="text-align: center;">And the children will grow, create, innovate and change the world for the better. These children who are learning resilience, flexibility, shifting perspectives and learning platforms while wearing masks and balancing hula hoops - they are still finding ways to laugh and share and ask questions every single day. </p><p style="text-align: center;">Dilemmas still yield the future. And the future is always full of promise and possibility.</p><p style="text-align: center;">Lorraine Kinsman, Principal, Eric Harvie School </p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #45818e; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #45818e; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p></p><h3 style="text-align: center;"><br /></h3><h3 style="text-align: center;"><br /></h3><p></p><div class="page" title="Page 5"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column">
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</div><p><br /><br /><br /></p>Lorraine Kinsmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15415237016162373969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-257051773674335002.post-29877965959339163242021-09-19T13:00:00.000-07:002021-09-19T13:00:05.833-07:00Let Learning Lead the Way into the 2021-22 School Year<p> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizsApSerEEOUV6IgI22_y9fCRwheYcb2vtKOI3UE_6iFdrdGhryD2N6cvxAyclXslIHJsf3IDlHhLEFKiIMwhXlWadmZyFACczxHq7brmDaufRvuoKrnO2OnVJzwODu-6rKee4MpRIBf_b/s1600/amphitheatre+photo.heic" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="136" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizsApSerEEOUV6IgI22_y9fCRwheYcb2vtKOI3UE_6iFdrdGhryD2N6cvxAyclXslIHJsf3IDlHhLEFKiIMwhXlWadmZyFACczxHq7brmDaufRvuoKrnO2OnVJzwODu-6rKee4MpRIBf_b/w181-h136/amphitheatre+photo.heic" width="181" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfkIyKFBdYVlkxQKF1PxSAB1xAmXPWVQyiAzZp5yGR4JKbi0nQQDevACDJoUIpp09eLTobC5sGOQpQh3M0qfV83K6u02ljETNCjKjEePrRtBOUcWntEksFGnIdN1N80S6bTJ2qBdopdDD5/s2048/mural.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="144" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfkIyKFBdYVlkxQKF1PxSAB1xAmXPWVQyiAzZp5yGR4JKbi0nQQDevACDJoUIpp09eLTobC5sGOQpQh3M0qfV83K6u02ljETNCjKjEePrRtBOUcWntEksFGnIdN1N80S6bTJ2qBdopdDD5/w108-h144/mural.jpg" width="108" /></a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>"In my language the word for education is Akinomaagewin. When you break down the word - 'aki' means earth and 'no' or 'nong' means stars or sky world. So our word for education is the study of the earth and sky world."</i></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>- Dominic H.K. Beaudry</i></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: georgia;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">As this new school year begins, fraught as it is with an overwhelming feeling of deja vu and great insecurities about in-person learning without the presence of vaccinations for children, it is vitally important from my perspective that we return to our centre point for schools and explore the questions that have grounded our teaching and learning every other year of my career in education:</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span> </span><span> </span> Why do we have schools? </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Who learns here? </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">How do we learn in a way that keeps our children as safe as possible?</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">How do we make learning as engaging as possible?</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">How do we meet the learning needs of all our students?</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Last year, as the pandemic truly unfolded around us in an enormous bloom of anxiety, fear, exhaustion, questions and very few answers, we worked very hard as a staff to generate and sustain a safe learning environment that made sense to our learners <i>as learners.</i> We did not want the children in our school to look back on the 2020-21 school year and remember the year that:</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span> </span><span> - </span>we were all forced to stay in one room</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">- in one chair all year </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">- the year we had to distance from each other all the time </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">- the year we were always wearing masks</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> - the year we didn't get to have Peace Assemblies or field trips or artists </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">- the year we didn't get to swim</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">- the year we didn't get to have Choir</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">- the year we didn't get to have concerts</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">- the year the grade 4 kids didn't get to celebrate moving on to Middle School</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">So we focused on what we COULD do for learning regardless of all the other restrictions. And we were delighted with the students' great interest and investment in our Coulee School venture, as well as our grade 4 students' amazing work on our first art installation '5 Years of Learning Together' on the front of our school. 2020-21 will be, we hope, etched forever in our students' memories as the year we did Coulee School and the year we created the first 5-Year mural. In perusing our newly released 2020-21 EHS School Yearbook, it is astonishing to re-visit all the learning that did take place in our building despite quite significant restrictions - one of the many reasons I love our Yearbook:)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">And now we find ourselves knocking on the door of school year 2021-22, opening the door with a fair bit of hesitation on another year of unknown and unexpected events still heavily shadowed by the pandemic. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We learned a lot from our experiences last year - how strong we were as a learning community, how creative we could be even in the face of great adversities, how much we were willing to invest in truly caring for each other in multiple ways as we continued to build peaceful communities together. We also learned we needed each other - as humanity always does - despite our genuine fears and challenges. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">We are meeting the challenges of this new school year with a different perspective. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">We matter to each other. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">We matter - each of us.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Our school wide peace book that we have all read to inspire us to continue to invest in each other even though the messages of the world seem to cry 'distance! distance!' from every corner, is called "You Matter" by Christian Robinson. It is helping us remember we matter to ourselves and to each other and will guide our connectedness this school year.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">As will learning. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We are working with our Artist, Rebecca Ellison, to complete two more murals for the front of the school. We are expanding our experiences in Coulee School back to Glenbow Ranch Park. We are looking forward and letting learning lead the way. The pandemic and it's inherent restrictions will not define the learning experiences of our children as we '<b style="color: #38761d; font-family: georgia; font-size: small; text-align: center;"><i>study of the earth and sky world.' </i></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b style="color: #38761d; font-family: georgia; font-size: small; text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Learning will lead our way through the 2021-22 school year and we are excited to invite you to join the journey with us - virtually, in-person, in writing and in experiences!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Lorraine Kinsman</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Principal </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div><br /><p></p>Lorraine Kinsmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15415237016162373969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-257051773674335002.post-25647096380043392122021-06-30T02:23:00.000-07:002021-06-30T02:23:05.538-07:00See You in September - Part 2<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzJifZkBhsk9gfHg3JOmJYq9DTs0GSSTHb4CvYSd91DgsY58MAagKnXi1vAK-1tT3Jmv7ZhEWdd68B0SNPNXHjRsrLTs_tGJTAyCyH-nZKnCKQA39rBGefq3qEpQeUx4wNSLswPPyDeJhh/s1600/IMG_0545.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzJifZkBhsk9gfHg3JOmJYq9DTs0GSSTHb4CvYSd91DgsY58MAagKnXi1vAK-1tT3Jmv7ZhEWdd68B0SNPNXHjRsrLTs_tGJTAyCyH-nZKnCKQA39rBGefq3qEpQeUx4wNSLswPPyDeJhh/s320/IMG_0545.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>"Students who thrived in the remote environment during the pandemic demonstrated competencies such as critical thinking, creativity, resilience, independence as learners, self-regulation, cognitive flexibility and perseverance. </i></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>These are the attributes that are noted as critical for future employability across industries and geographies." - (Fullan, Quinn, Drummy & Gardiner, 2020)</i></b></span><i style="background-color: white; color: #674ea7; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; font-weight: 700; text-align: left;"><b> </b></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">In this final blog entry for the school year 2020-21, I am going to explore elements of academic achievement and school organization through the lens of pandemic implications on the experiences of children, as a strategy for considering learning in our school in the 2021-22 school year. Even as we contemplate possibilities for opening up schools again, there is an inherent layer of anxiety and concern that permeates every consideration, every plan, every decision. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>Academic Achievement </i></div><div style="text-align: left;">An interesting element of cohorted and online learning has been that student achievement was impacted negatively for the most part - except for students who were already motivated to work digitally or in solitude, while students were often doing their very best, they were also very isolated and restricted in movements and conversations. Without the 'just in time' guidance of the teacher, there were significant impediments for students to demonstrate their own learning and understanding of new concepts and to receive the support needed to ensure learning was focused and on track.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Data from the <i>Reimagining Education 2020 </i>fall investigation into the global impact of the pandemic revealed that more than 98% of participating students indicated they preferred personalized learning opportunities with a teacher rather than automation. "Personalization is among the most effective means for accelerating academic and cognitive growth," the report noted, explaining further that "students want to be be creative and believe they learn more when they have greater voice and choice and receive personalized feedback."</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">As we explored the overall achievement of our students at Eric Harvie School through this pandemic year, we were intrigued by many of the findings. Overall, our students' achievement levels did not shift significantly through the 2020-21 school year, likely as a result of the stability of our in-person learning environment overall. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Students generally achieved a similar success ratio to what we have consistently achieved in our previous four years across most curricular areas, with slight variations downward in applying new thinking in novel situations (an expected outcome of being constrained primarily to the building and to particular classrooms for much of the school year). Areas where we really focused - like teaching writing - were where students generally demonstrated the greatest overall levels of improvement, while students demonstrated a slight deterioration in social/emotional stability as the year progressed (as expressed through our pre and post wellness school surveys). Since these levels began high (with almost 90% of students expressing feelings of safety and happiness at school in November), declining to approximately 86% in June is noteworthy but not disconcerting. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The interesting factor for us as teachers results from the more traditional approach we had to take to classroom-based instruction this past school year. With students cohorted closely with each other and their classroom teacher, we were not able to regroup for instruction based on personalized learning needs, nor were we able to offer the same level of personalized supports such as SPARK, Calm, Zones, HeartMath, etc. that we typically offer students to help them learn to self-regulate and be prepared for learning. Children did not work as collaboratively as they usually would, were confined to specific learning spaces and unable to make use of the Learning Commons or Maker Space, for example. While, in a usual school year we would anticipate overall improvement in most curricular areas with respect to whole-school learning achievement, 2020-21 maintained the status-quo in terms of achievement levels for the most part. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">There are many factors at play here - this was the most extraordinary year of teaching and learning any of us have ever experienced and we don't want to read too much into the data we have collected. Instead, we are going to look to the fall as a time where we will re-establish our school goals towards developing a strong learners' toolkit of skills that will support students to wonder, investigate, problem solve, pose questions, represent their thinking and work collaboratively in a peaceful community. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">We are going to focus on student learning - meeting any and all students where they are at, rather than where we might expect them to be as they enter their 'next grade level'. With students returning to in-school learning from a variety of situations - Hub School, CBE-Learn, Home Schooling, interrupted learning due to extended isolations or quarantines and online learning, as well as possibly entering grade 1 without any Kindergarten experiences, or entering Kindergarten without preschool experiences, we fully appreciate every child is going to be coming to school with a highly varied set of previous learning experiences and levels of achievement. We will be establishing our teaching to reflect these realities.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">And, our direct and simple mission for the 2021-22 school year will be to "<i>successfully meet learners where they are and support them to achieve academic success through collaborative teaching and learning opportunities.' </i> These opportunities will continue to be offered through the lenses of peace education, place-based learning and design thinking, as they always have in our school. This is not new work to us at EHS; it is more a matter of accommodating small differences to reach the highest potential of every student. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;"> </span><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small; text-align: center;"><b><i>"Going forward the learning process must foster these competencies through authentic, relevant learning that provides voice, choice and agency to learners. </i></b></span><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small; text-align: center;"><b><i>This necessitates a new role for teachers; one in which they are activators of learning; practitioners who can differentiate task, time and space to meet student needs and include them as co-designers of that learning." </i></b></span><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small; text-align: center;"><b><i>- (Fullan, Quinn, Drummy & Gardiner, 2020)</i></b></span><i style="background-color: white; color: #674ea7; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; font-weight: 700;"><b> </b></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #674ea7; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; font-weight: 700;"><b><br /></b></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.85px;"><i>School Organization</i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.85px;">There is no doubt the school's organization will be much different in the fall than it was this past pandemic year, and different again from how we were organized previous to the pandemic. Not only has the pandemic shaped our most recent experiences, the budget constraints have also generated a much changed landscape for our school as we anticipate returning to in-person learning in the fall of 2021.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.85px;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.85px;">To begin with, we no longer have a Physical Education Specialist to plan and offer our PE program with and for students. This will fall to the classroom teachers as elementary generalists. And our Music program is being re-imagined as a Fine Arts program with greater emphasis on integrating Music into the overall daily learning of every student. While our beloved Music teacher, Mrs. Coulson, will still be with us, her work with students and in classrooms will look and sound much changed from what it has in the past - we are looking forward to this exciting and energizing way of bridging learning through Music, Dram, Art, Dance across all curricular areas as it makes sense for our learners.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.85px;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.85px;">The school will be organized differently as well. There will be six grade 3/4 classes, all housed in one hallway (the HOPE hallway), to facilitate greater access to re-grouping and collaborative projects as we strive to personalize and meet the needs of every learner. There will be 3 team teaching teams of Grade 3/4 teachers to facilitate this work. The Grade 1/2 team will also consist of six grade 1/2 classes as well, all housed in the PEACE hallway, for the same reasons. With considerably less support staff, all extra support for learning will need to come from classroom teachers who will be working collaboratively to plan, instruct and support every learner from wherever they are in their learning journey.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.85px;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.85px;">We will teach curriculum of course, but most importantly, we will be teaching children through the curriculum to ensure they are able to progress and grow from wherever they are when they arrive at school in September, 2021 to the highest level of achievement they are best able to attain by June of 2022. And our learning will be designed to support each child as much as possible with a highly reduced number of staff, understanding as we do that deep learning is what ensures children will be able to progress in life successfully.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.85px;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b style="color: #674ea7; font-family: georgia; font-size: small; text-align: center;"><i> "Deep learning experiences are those that produce learning that sticks for life. They are both profoundly personalized and student-centered and are intrinsically motivating for students as they pursue topics that are real interest to them, have authentic meaning, and are more rigorous. These learning experiences make students want to persist and to succeed. </i></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b style="color: #674ea7; font-family: georgia; font-size: small; text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b style="color: #674ea7; font-family: georgia; font-size: small; text-align: center;"><i>This combination of autonomy, belonging and meaningful work inspires students. When students are invited to demonstrate their learning differently, and when learning environments include all students as contributors and change agents, they begin to develop a sense of efficacy. </i></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b style="color: #674ea7; font-family: georgia; font-size: small; text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b style="color: #674ea7; font-family: georgia; font-size: small; text-align: center;"><i>Relationships and engagement - the gatekeepers of learning - are emphasized in this learner-centered model. Voice, choice, and agency are central to deep learning." </i></b><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small; text-align: center;"><b><i>(Fullan, Quinn, Drummy & Gardiner, 2020)</i></b></span><i style="background-color: white; color: #674ea7; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; font-weight: 700;"><b> </b></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #674ea7; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; font-weight: 700;"><b><br /></b></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14.85px;">We are excited about the possibilities even during these times of great reduction and change. Education is a changing profession and CBE has a long history of changing successfully to meet the demands of society, of children, of families. As part of the CBE family of schools, Eric Harvie staff look forward to welcoming all our learners on September 1, 2021 for an exciting and much different year of learning experiences! We are very proud of the work we have accomplished this school year - #CouleeSchool and our beautiful 5th anniversary Mural stand as amazing examples of what we were able to accomplish with our students even during huge pandemic constraints and we know our children will soar next year as well :)</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14.85px;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><div><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><b><i><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />"Education doesn't need to be reformed - it needs to be transformed. the key is not to standardize education, but to personalize it, to build achievement on discovering the individual talents of each child, to put students in an environment where they want to learn and where they can naturally discover their true passions." - Sir Ken Robinson </i></b></span></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #674ea7; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; font-weight: 700; text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #674ea7; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; font-weight: 700; text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #674ea7; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; font-weight: 700; text-align: left;"><b>See you all in September! Best wishes for a safe and relaxing summer!</b></i></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14.85px;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14.85px;">Lorraine Kinsman, Principal</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14.85px;">Eric Harvie School </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #674ea7; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; font-weight: 700; text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #674ea7; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; font-weight: 700; text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></i></div>Lorraine Kinsmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15415237016162373969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-257051773674335002.post-14182501847894893762021-06-15T16:11:00.003-07:002021-06-15T16:16:36.408-07:00See You in September - Part 1<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: center;">" </p></blockquote><p style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #674ea7;"><b></b></span></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #674ea7;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTKQGAzLKnwWryYhBvcg8o_QKstjOxBQAOFwU80794aKxDkjB1DGuy0Y4_gJLjROHFAvxq1bFaINSdfPdiqSIDOx21Eyu5NvxmZlr_KfgqSu-KKL7CJ_KLlOD7RgTM0iiuhSrvzauuKQ_5/s1800/IMG_0352.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1800" data-original-width="1800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTKQGAzLKnwWryYhBvcg8o_QKstjOxBQAOFwU80794aKxDkjB1DGuy0Y4_gJLjROHFAvxq1bFaINSdfPdiqSIDOx21Eyu5NvxmZlr_KfgqSu-KKL7CJ_KLlOD7RgTM0iiuhSrvzauuKQ_5/s320/IMG_0352.jpeg" /></a></b></span></i></div><i><span style="color: #674ea7;"><b><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #674ea7;"><b>"Through this disruption, there has been a recognition that schools play a vital role beyond learning. Their custodial and community roles are central to a healthy society." </b></span></i><i style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #674ea7;"><b> - 'Education Reimagined: The Future of Learning' </b></span></i><i style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #674ea7;"><b> (Fullan, Quinn, Drummy & Gardiner, 2020)</b></span></i></div></b></span></i><div><span style="color: #674ea7;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div><div><span style="color: #674ea7;"><b><i>It is the middle of June...<br /></i></b></span><p style="text-align: left;"><span>And now our thoughts, deeds and concerns begin to point to September - always the mingling of 'good-bye' with 'Hello!' and a conglomeration of planning, cleaning, organizing, anticipating, re-visioning, sadness and joy. Such is June in a school and, despite the pandemic, this is still true in 2021.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;">A few years ago, when I had been a principal for just a couple of years, I remember describing the process of closing a school in June, only to re-open in September, as being similar to shutting down a bank in June, closing out all the accounts and changing at least 30% of the staff and sending everyone away on summer vacation. Then re-opening the bank branch on September 1st with some of the same clients, a whole bunch of new ones and everyone opening their accounts even though none of the customers had the same needs as before! it is a process quite unique to learning institutions and, as I have come to learn over the many years between sharing that description and today, this it is a process that takes several months to execute successfully. Planning for June actually takes the months of April/May/June - at the very least!!</p><p style="text-align: left;">As we look to close out the 2020-21 school year, there are still many pragmatic pieces of information that have not been decided yet for Eric Harvie School - such as the impact of pandemic health and safety procedures - as well as some undefined components like how many students will be returning from home schooling or CBE-Learn online schooling to in-person learning - or vice versa. Slowly, we are beginning to fill in some of these questions with answers but there is still much to be determined for our school before the beginning of September. Class lists, teacher partnerships, use of space, whole school initiatives, professional development, extra-curricular events, parent evenings, etc are all still in the development stages this mid-June. However, the thinking and planning are well underway - there is much thoughtful considering required to open a school year successfully for all students. </p><p style="text-align: left;">In preparation for the next school year, I have also been reading and researching about potential issues regarding a return to 'before' in schools as we all fervently hope to see the end of the pandemic restrictions we have lived with for about sixteen months begin to recede. Throughout the world, many realizations have emerged from the various closedowns, virtual classroom experiences and the impact of these past months on children globally, including in Canada and in Alberta. I believe the one common experience that has been universal is simply that every child has experienced the pandemic differently - and most of them have experienced an identifiable impact of some kind on their learning, emotional well-being and/or sense of trust in the security of the world. </p><p style="text-align: left;">Understanding the implications the pandemic experience may have on children is a significant element of effective planning for schools as we contemplate in-person, unrestricted learning once again - what used to be so natural now seems so foreign and strange! Considerations for our school as we make plans for re-opening as fully as possible in the fall of 2021 include exploring the dynamics of student engagement, emotional well-being of all students, student academic achievement and skill development, and the best possible organization of schools to meet the needs of students coming to class with vastly different learning histories and experiences. In Part 1 of this two-part blog series, I am going to explore ideas related to student engagement and emotional well-being; next week, in Part 2, I will take a look at academic achievement and school organization - specifically within the lens of EHS. </p><p style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="color: #674ea7;"><i>Student Engagement</i></span></b></p><p style="text-align: left;">One of the primary areas emerging as a potential concern for educators and parents everywhere is the impact of motivation on student success. This is not an outcome of the pandemic - while student motivation has certainly been exacerbated by the current situation, the pandemic did not <i>cause</i> motivational concerns for and with students over the past decade or so. Fullan, Quinn, Drummy and Gardiner, in their 2020 report <i>"Education Re-Imagined: The Future of Learning" </i>clearly describe the motivation (or lack of motivation) phenomena:</p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: georgia;"><span style="text-align: center;"><i><span> "</span>The challenges highlighted during the disruption should not come as a surprise. Over the last decade, student engagement has plummeted.</i></span></span><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: georgia;"><span style="text-align: center;"><i> Almost one in every </i></span></span><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: georgia;"><span style="text-align: center;"><i>five</i></span></span><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: georgia;"><span style="text-align: center;"><i> students does not reach a basic minimum level of skills</i></span></span><i style="color: #674ea7; font-family: georgia; text-align: center;"> to function in today’s </i><i style="color: #674ea7; font-family: georgia; text-align: center;">society. (OECD) </i></p><p style="text-align: left;"><i style="color: #674ea7; font-family: georgia; text-align: center;"> Moreover, many school systems have not maintained pace with</i><i style="color: #674ea7; font-family: georgia; text-align: center;"> technological advances; schools have not provided widespread access to digital </i><i style="color: #674ea7; font-family: georgia; text-align: center;">tools. When the pandemic hit, 1 in 5 students did not have access to the internet or </i><i style="color: #674ea7; font-family: georgia; text-align: center;">a device to support them in lockdown. This disruption revealed systems that </i><i style="color: #674ea7; font-family: georgia; text-align: center;">already struggled to support all learners. To put it plainly: it’s time to situate education as an instrument of individual and societal good." (Fullan, et. al. 2020)</i></p><p style="text-align: left;">Motivation, student engagement and attention are all closely interwoven with cognition and academic achievement. When learners feel comfortable, are interested in attending to the learning, have tasks to take up that provoke their thinking and curiosity, their capacity for learning something new is maximized and their achievement improves. These student perspectives are all connected through <i>emotion</i> and “<span style="color: #674ea7;"><i>emotion is the gatekeeper of motivation, cognition and attention.” Therefore, establishing an environment that focuses on well-being and belonging for all is job one for teachers. In short, well-being and quality learning are intimately related.</i></span> <i style="color: #674ea7; font-family: georgia; text-align: center;">(Fullan, et. al. 2020)</i></p><p style="text-align: left;">To improve student engagement, educators must find ways to strengthen and continue to foster emotional connections with students, and to help learners develop greater emotional connections with each other. As our children come back to school in the fall following a long stretch of uncertainty, forced isolation through fixed student cohorts in school, stretches of online learning or periods of quarantine due to illness or exposure to positive cases, they physical safety requirements may begin to wane just as the emotional needs take centre stage. </p><p style="text-align: left;">Social isolation from a larger peer group inhibits the growth of social interactions that would usually grow and change through any given school year in the company of multiple peers from a variety of classroom settings as children gather both formally and informally throughout a school day. This may lead to loneliness, less connection or fractured relationships with other children they are now seeing repeatedly for a whole school year with an almost relentless consistency. During periods of online learning, social and peer connections may be completely interrupted or, in some cases, disrupted with longer-term consequences for friendships. Students may have enjoyed online learning more than school, or appreciated the independence and autonomy it afforded them. Others may have enjoyed their leisure pursuits more than normal, with lots of play in the picture. Some students may have simply refused to participate and idly pursued other interests while at home. And any emotionally challenging period of time in a child's life will naturally impact motivation, attention to task, ability to cognitively engage in an activity and their overall level of interest in being in school - their school engagement. </p><p style="text-align: left;"><i style="color: #674ea7;">Teachers can ease the social pathway</i></p><p style="text-align: left;"><i style="color: #674ea7; text-align: center;"><span> </span>• facilitating connection and conversation</i></p><p style="text-align: left;"><i style="color: #674ea7; text-align: center;"> • re-creating norms that will allow students to feel psychologically safe in an optimistic and
efficacious learning environment </i></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i style="color: #674ea7;">• Inviting each student’s perspective by asking open questions so </i><i style="color: #674ea7;">that each student feels
connected to the learning community</i><i style="color: #674ea7;">• Providing trauma-informed learning for staff, parents and<span> </span></i><i style="color: #674ea7;">students,</i><i style="color: #674ea7;"> enabling everyone in
the school community to recognize and </i><i style="color: #674ea7;">respond mindfully during this crisi</i></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i style="color: #674ea7;"> • Appoint a caring adult to build a relationship with those students you know to be
vulnerable (Fullan, et. al. 2020)</i></p><p style="text-align: left;"> It is clear that emotional health and student engagement are tied very closely together - to successfully re-integrate students into a world of engaged learning will take time and effort but it is essential if we are to support our learners to become adaptable, skilled thinkers and doers in the world. </p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">"</span><i style="color: #674ea7; text-align: center;">Educators would be wise to examine their own practices that can extend
flexibility, choice and voice to students. Simple ways to do this are to: </i></p><p style="text-align: left;"><i style="color: #674ea7; text-align: center;">• Invite students to share the positive insights emerging from the pandemic. What did they
learn? What did they learn about themselves? What are they grateful for?</i></p><p style="text-align: left;"><i style="color: #674ea7; text-align: center;"> • “De-front” the classroom by taking the emphasis from the teacher and placing it on
students </i></p><p style="text-align: left;"><i style="color: #674ea7; text-align: center;">• Promote collaboration among students. When students work in groups, there is flexibility,
more voices engage, and smaller children can wiggle around as needed </i></p><p style="text-align: left;"><i style="color: #674ea7; text-align: center;">• Incorporate choice into assignments and classroom activities </i></p><p style="text-align: left;"><i style="color: #674ea7; text-align: center;">• Arrange the classroom to support student movement </i></p><p style="text-align: left;"><i style="color: #674ea7; text-align: center;">• Create a discrete way for students to share vulnerabilities or concerns </i></p><p style="text-align: left;"><i style="color: #674ea7; text-align: center;">• Enable students to make suggestions about what and how to learn</i></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #674ea7;"> -<i> Fullan, et. al., 2020</i></span></p><p style="text-align: left;">Prior to the pandemic, education systems around the world were beginning to re-examine teaching and learning practices and to explore possibilities towards developing responsive approaches to learning that would engage students more fully and successfully in the learning process. </p><p style="text-align: left;">Our current system has been called into question numerous times for its flexibility, ability to respond to student learning and weave effective use of technology organically into teaching and learning. While reforms to education have received significant attention in the past couple of decades, they have been quite focused on improving teaching and learning in literacy and numeracy, and with the goal of improving high school completion, rather than focusing on enhancing the emotional connections students might make that will keep them connected to learning throughout their lifetimes. Living in an unpredictable global society requires attending to students' holistic needs as a person, rather than strictly their academic development.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #674ea7;"><i>"Quality learning must be built on the interests of students along the following dimensions:</i></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #674ea7;"><i> • Connecting to purpose and meaning</i></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #674ea7;"><i> • Challenging students to have high expectations </i></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #674ea7;"><i>• Positioning learning goals that focus beyond the basics </i></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #674ea7;"><i>• Using engaging pedagogies </i></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #674ea7;"><i>• Building relationships and belongingness</i></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #674ea7;"><i> • Providing opportunities to contribute to the world</i></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #674ea7;"><i>This combination of readiness for change and urgency arising from the current crisis has the potential to shift the education system from one of outdated “schooling” to future focused ‘learning” and take learning out of the classroom and into the world." (Fullan, et. al., 2020)</i></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #674ea7;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #674ea7;"><b><i>Emotional Well-Being</i></b></span></p><p style="text-align: left;">A key finding through the multiple options that have emerged for teaching and learning through the pandemic has been the emphasis on the importance of student-teacher relationships. While this is not necessarily a new finding - relationships have long been the most common predictor of student success - it is telling that learners clearly indicate they do not want to be taught digitally, by and large, but rather by teachers who know them and understand how they learn best. <i>(Class of 2030 & the Life-Ready Learning Report, 2020). </i>Most teachers with traditional pedagogy struggled with transferring their particular styles of teaching to the digital environment and found it challenging to engage students in open-ended learning tasks that would encourage creativity, collaboration or pique curiosities. </p><p style="text-align: left;">Since relationships remain the strongest predictor of student success, and acknowledging the need to develop positive emotional well-being connections for students to foster interest in learning and positive student engagement, it is essential as we bring all our learners back together in open, inquisitive learning spaces that educators, parents, community partners and students seek to optimize student engagement through positive relationship development. </p><p style="text-align: left;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /><span style="text-align: center;">Some key questions can foster deep reflection and be used to engage thinking about what are the next best steps for learners in our schools:</span></p></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;"> 1. What knowledge, skills and attributes do our students need to thrive in this complex world?</span> </p></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">2. What kind of learning is needed for this current and future complexity?</span> </p></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">3. How do we ensure equity?</span> </p></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">4. How do we attend to well-being?</span> </p></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">5. How can technology be best leveraged for learning in the future?</span></p></div></blockquote><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">Our current system of educating children in schools was created to serve two purposes: </span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;"><span> - to organize students when they learned (time)</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;"><span> - to confine students when they learned (space)</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;"> These two principles were useful in the 1800 and 1900’s but the COVID disruption has rendered them redundant. Students can learn and demonstrate this learning without bricks and mortar or bell times. With digital and deep learning, students can learn where they are. Students can learn when they are ready. They desire relationships with teachers who know them and achieve best success in that environment. Our challenge as educators moving forward is to determine how to best meet student learning needs in less structured environments, with fewer external controls and greater focus on motivation, relationship and curiosity. </span></p><div><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #674ea7;"><i>"For decades the literature has been flooded with discussion of future ready skills, including the
higher cognitive, social emotional, and technical skills and attributes needed in a complex digital
world. This kind of learning changes the learner’s perspective, behaviors, and develops skills for
life. It leaves the learner wanting to learn more. </i></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #674ea7;"><i>We know one thing for sure. </i></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #674ea7;"><i>The absolute key to
doing this is to cultivate the intrinsic motivation of students to learn, individually and together.
The essence of this powerful learning is fostered by a student’s sense of purpose, meaning,
belongingness and desire to make a contribution to society. Ignoring these essential goals is a
profound weakness in many education systems." (Fullan, et. al., 2020)</i></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #674ea7;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p style="text-align: left;">Lorraine Kinsman, Principal</p><p style="text-align: left;">Eric Harvie School </p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p></div>Lorraine Kinsmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15415237016162373969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-257051773674335002.post-75291956533457725252021-06-07T14:39:00.000-07:002021-06-07T14:39:26.898-07:00Something to Remember....Something to Share....<p style="text-align: center;"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq64f_XV6De69t8r0Eib_w4ZteIGf1lDmi3b4UI8gyPJ3njZybqjjkGSjDzLZ0pFR4fAYf9MSj_6D7LGekaLeg1Z-xaogh4qNUjItMJ-lp30twpux6Wtdw_nojGk0taa0coc15fkQdoioL/s2048/April+12+2021+Revised+Mural+image+colour.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2048" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq64f_XV6De69t8r0Eib_w4ZteIGf1lDmi3b4UI8gyPJ3njZybqjjkGSjDzLZ0pFR4fAYf9MSj_6D7LGekaLeg1Z-xaogh4qNUjItMJ-lp30twpux6Wtdw_nojGk0taa0coc15fkQdoioL/w264-h264/April+12+2021+Revised+Mural+image+colour.jpg" width="264" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p style="text-align: center;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NueIHENCckw</p><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="color: #38761d;">"To tell the truth that, for a very long time in this country there were laws that sent Indigenous children to schools that were far away from their homes, and in those schools really bad things happened...to have that conversation with your children...to let them read the stories and for you to read with them...</span></i></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="color: #38761d;">If they are ready to have these conversations about why these laws were put into place, then be truthful that Indigenous people were seen to be inferior and that they needed to change their ways, their cultures, their language, their ways of knowing, being and walking in this world - these were not seen as something to share with dignity, not held with respect...</span></i></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="color: #38761d;">If the children are old enough to understand, you can talk about assimilation...you can talk about genocide and how that is actually what has happened in this country..." Monique Gray Smith</span></i></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="color: #38761d;"><br /></span></i></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="color: #38761d;">*************************************</span></i></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #741b47;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It has taken me a long time to process the enormity of 215 unmarked childrens' graves - not because a story of unmarked graves for children have never surfaced before, but rather because they have. I expect there will be blood woven through the annals of history - humanity has a long history of finding ways to kill each other without too much provocation, to be honest. Looking back through times past, one will find many sad and terrible examples of unmarked graves, unremarked deaths of a nation's youngest citizens, unreported child deaths for any number of not-particularly-valid reasons. I may react viscerally and with anguish to stories of genocide and assimilation but I do not find them to be shocking or overwhelming, they are part of the historical record written in words, in blood, in bone across nations of all political dimensions. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">What takes my breath away, makes me stop whatever I am doing because I am still in shock - is that we are <i>still trying to cover any of this up rather than acknowledging we messed up and will do better in the future. </i> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: georgia;">"<i>Do the best you can until you know better.</i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: georgia;"><i>Then when you know better, do better.</i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: georgia;"><i>- Maya Angelou</i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: georgia;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">We do know better. Why are we hiding the truth? Why are we not releasing any and everything we know about residential school deaths, burials and losses so that, collectively as a nation, we are able to mourn and grieve and then <i>do better? </i>It is this knowledge that more cover-ups exist that keeps me awake at night. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">215 voices were silenced. Yet, it required a long time, investigations and insistence by the families for their truths to be revealed. That is roughly half the population of our school - imagine losing half the school's population of children - how quiet the world of school would become. Imagine the anguish of families never knowing what happened to their child after being taken away to school. A simple disappearance with no simple situation left behind. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Last Monday, as classes gathered beneath our lowered flags to speak in hushed and tearful voices of what this discovery actually meant to them, a young child in grades 1/2 came up to me and asked, "But, Mrs. Kinsman, why did the teachers let this happen to the children?" </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I am not able to find words to offer in response to that question. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: georgia;">********************************************</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">What we are able to do is speak from a place of empathy, of kindness, of peace. What we are able to do is share the stories of the survivors and the children themselves. We are able to acknowledge Canada has a bloodied past and still move on towards a brighter future. We are able to stop perpetuating the grief of determined searching in a world that already knows there are other truths to be found. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="color: #38761d;">"How do we want to be together? You hold me up when you are kind to me, when you play with me, when you respect me, when you listen to me...Kindness is really a salve right now, if you are looking for some ways to change things right now, find ways to be kind." - Monique Gray Smith</span></i></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="color: #38761d;"><br /></span></i></b></div><div style="text-align: left;">When we were able to sit with our learners and hear their questions, and to discuss the history of our country in real terms rather than postcard descriptions, we learned from the children that being 'different' in any way was not necessarily a trait to be overlooked or diminished but more likely to be celebrated. if one can draw 'differently' than most other children, or play a musical instrument better than expected, or create a game that wows all their classmates, this accelerates feelings of success and belonging. Different does not necessarily mean inferior. At least not in our school - 'we have room for different', as one child reassured me today. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Last week, we had children playing a game where they were recruiting new Peace Ambassadors for the school - complete with questionnaires and clipboards. Part of the game was to present yourself as a potential Peace Ambasador for the school and describe how you might make our school a peaceful community. There were lots of ideas that emerged from the game - more importantly for me was the clear understanding of what makes a peaceful community care for each other articulated by several students. We are far from perfect, but we encourage children to do their best to accept each other as joyous, creative humans in a busy, loving school. We encourage kindness and acceptance. We promote sharing and caring.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> And these days, kindness is definitely a salve.</span><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;">***********************************************</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">To remember the 215 children whose graves are believed to be located on the Residential School site in Kamloops, BC, we have decided to incorporate the number '215' somewhere visibly on our first reflective outdoor mural. We have worked hard with Saa'kokoto over our five years to develop a clear sense of how Indigenous perspectives can both inform and strengthen our understandings of the natural world, as well as human relations, and many of these teachings and learnings have been captured in our overall mural design. To our way of thinking, this is how we move confidently into a more just and caring world - with kindness, with empathy, with a deep appreciation for the value of humanity as we honour every human life and build a peaceful community together. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">We will continue the discussions, the reflections, the story sharing with each other and around each other. we will not forget the 215 who were found last week, nor be wholly shocked when other situations like this arrive. We will celebrate and embrace our differences and work hard to urge new approaches, renewed openness to the truths that are lurking in the backgrounds of the stories being told and shared. We will remember and we will share. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6aa84f;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #6aa84f;">***********************************************</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="color: #38761d;">"And this is one of those times when can begin to come together...to say 'Can you imagine?' And that is what is happening now. Parents, grandparents, aunties and uncles are imagining and the empathy is coming alive. And that empathy will move us forward and it will create change. We cannot rely on the federal or provincial governments for that change - we've seen that. </span></i></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="color: #38761d;">The change is incumbent upon us as citizens who live in this place we call Canada. </span></i></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="color: #38761d;">So, I invite you to have these conversations with your children, in your classrooms, with your family and friends.</span></i></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="color: #38761d;">Hold the space.</span></i></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="color: #38761d;">The reality is that we are only beginning this journey to feel, to understand, to uphold dignity and to move forward. </span></i></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="color: #38761d;">And every single one of us has a role in this. </span></i></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="color: #38761d;">So I invite you to create a role for yourself.</span></i></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="color: #38761d;">What can you be reading, what can you be listening to, who are having conversations with so that, when the children ask you - and they will - that you are ready to have these conversations.</span></i></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="color: #38761d;">A big part of all of this is our humility to realize there is lots we don't know and more to be revealed. </span></i></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="color: #38761d;">Please continue to educate your heart, your mind and your spirit." </span></i></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="color: #38761d;">- Monique Gray Smith</span></i></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #741b47;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #741b47;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div><p style="text-align: left;">Something to remember; something to share. </p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">Lorraine Kinsman</p><p style="text-align: left;">Principal</p>Lorraine Kinsmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15415237016162373969noreply@blogger.com0