I’ll admit, my first response to closing school for 1.5 billion children worldwide was to think about the opportunity to finally shift our thinking about school to a vision for 2020 and beyond. I was excited to see so many thought leaders in education also trying to figure out how to do this.
Then there was also the sudden need for resources of every kind to help kids of all ages and with a multitude of learning needs continue to learn while in their homes.
It becomes really easy to fall into the trap of trying to do everything at once. Educators are trying to establish connection with kids while learning new platforms, and leaders are worrying about the quality of instruction.
I knew that we needed some kind of framework to be able to focus on the tasks, like getting student belongings home to them and assessing the needs of families, that have to be done now. We need a framework that helps us see that there are jobs for right now, and jobs for later, and in all of that we need to stay healthy and take care of our own families.
Scott McLeod provided a basic framework here.
We’ve used this as the basis for our planning. We’ve added things like our student services plan in detail, and our advocacy with the provincial government for equity of access to online resources going further.
It helps us understand where we are, and where we are headed. It allows us to plan for next month. It says that it’s okay to make mistakes right now because we are learning everything so fast. We can make the deeper, more informed decisions in a few weeks.
Wellness is at the centre of our strategic plan. Even in a crisis, we need to walk away each day and say that we have done all we can, as well as we can, for now, and that tomorrow is a new day. We need time with loved ones, and with our own exhaustion, as we navigate a world we could not have imagined a few months ago.
Take care of each other.
Featured image by Kira Fry
Resources
Silver Lining for Learning
Dangerously Irrelevant – Dr. Scott McLeod
#the100dayproject
- Day 1: Are you willing to be disturbed? Are you willing to think differently about what learning can be?
- Day 2: We no longer know best. It’s time to ask children and families what they need.
- Day 3: The long game. How are we thinking about shifting what learning looks like while schools are closed?
- Day 4: How can we turn what we want to teach into questions children want to answer?
- Day 5: How do we organize our response to this crisis so we can focus on our wellness, and the tasks that need to be done right now?
