A couple of days ago we started to prepare to return to school after 3 months of lockdown. I immediately felt my thoughts swishing through my brain. What are we going to do with the students for 3 weeks? Should we be doing formal work at some point? What will the students need? What did they miss? How can we make school inviting to them? Then I attended the Ti Rito Toi webinar with Chris Walker.
What a great webinar to attend. The focus was on sharing the Ti Rito Toi resources. But the motivation that I received from the speakers, made me feel relaxed and excited about going back.
Carol Mutch highlighted how we should make our school/class inviting and inclusive.
Lynda Stuart pointed out that students should feel safe, secure and loved. Take the time to sit alongside the students. Don't pepper them with questions. Just sit next to them, join in the activities. Have a casual chat. Students need will naturally have conversations with you and with their peers. And the best way to encourage those conversations is through art, drama and caring stories. Students should have the opportunity to laugh and sing. Some ideas are balloons, puppets, music etc.
He Tangata, He Tangata, He Tanagate = It's all about the people (As highlighted in a previous blog of mine)
Peter O'Conner emphasized it's about catching up with relationships. Getting back to patterns and the rhythms of life. The book Te Meke Tuatara (A little kindness goes a long way) is a great way to help with this.
He posed the question: Do the things you do really matter? And in doing that, do they know it matters?
To me, the only thing that matters is the well-being of our students.
And last, Marie Gallichan, a teacher of a year 2-3 class gave some practical examples of fun activities. This includes lots of art activities, a name activity where students add emoji's around their name to show how they felt (this is a great conversation starter...tell me about this emoji, why did you feel like this?), having a bear in the class that students can talk to every time a new student starts attending school. Then the students that came from day 1 (the experts) explains to the bear (including the new students) how things work now. Also options of comic strips, animation and scratch.
I love the Ti Rito Toi resources. They make it so easy for the teacher. Shalen and I planned on starting with one of the units in the second week. I am looking forward to that.
Hi Alida - I felt the same way after watching this webinar - much calmer and inspired about returning. It had a positive impact on my wellbeing. It's so good to be reassured that this is research based and what our children need, and that it's fun. It's great you and Shalen are using Te Rito Toi again too.
ReplyDeleteWishing you all the best for your first days back and appreciate the thought and care you are putting in to prioritise wellbeing and make these days safe and fun for our children - and for you too :)
Hi Alida, thanks for sharing your thoughts. What I took most from your blog post was that you are feeling in a better space to return to school, which means you are probably feeling more supported and that your well-being is important too.
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