COVID19 level 3
School is open
The signs are up, the desks are labelled the floor is taped, to ensure the 1m physical distancing, the new staff roster and daily timetable completed.
We’re ready to welcome back our tamaraki group of level 3 COVID 19, 2020.
My usual first day of term ritual of standing at the school gate getting high fives and hugs from the children and knowing smiles from parents of “they’re yours now” before they head off to their coffee groups was different today.
There was, the smile but keep your distance, this is what 2 m really looks children, then the reassurance and explanations to some the parents before they give a concerned look before they hurried off to their work places. Oh what a difference from day 1 of 2020, 13 weeks ago.
A thought to ponder
A staff member on TOD commented that with the slower pace of life and been able to focus on teaching without all the other distractions together with the level of student engagement on line, has given her back the joy of teaching again.
So what do we need to learn from this, so we keep our young teachers in this career energised and with the passion that they started with?
Todays Gratitude
Having the Manaiakalani outreach programme over the last two years, has given NBC a renewed direction, a journey that allows 21-century skills and competencies to thrive.
A positive of this unique time in our history is that is has shown our community how MKO pedagogy driven through connectedness, has been visible and ubiquitous empowering their children through agency to grow knowledge. No marketing or persuasion of mine could have done it better.
So unknowingly, COVID 19 has shown the Manaiakalani pathway to be again a success story, which hopefully given our leaders food for thought for the direction of future educational policy!
Kia ora Deb,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading this post and your thought to ponder is going to be the ongoing question. I wonder only being involved in education for 14 years was life slower in the classroom in the past? If so when and how did it become busier? Were the inspectors of old, even though scary from what I hear, a good thing as they checked on a teachers competence?
Is it the MOE or school leadership that make a teachers life busy?
When we hear "What will we keep? What will we throw out? What will we upgrade?" what place do leaders play in encouraging teachers to let throw stuff out?
Nga mihi,
Mark