Evelyn Tenhagen

This year’s work under the tutelage of my peers has been a truly empowering experience and the results that I have generated are tangible and relevant to my school, our students and our staff.

The guiding question that drove my inquiry and action is, “How might we make each day more meaningful for students through programming in order to enrich students’ lives and generate positivism?

Well-being for students, staff and parents is an urgent and predominant wish at this time due to the state of affairs in our society.  TMS had implemented a Community Care program with the generous aid of our Learning Strategist prior to the onset of the pandemic.  This readily available resource was truly a god sent for the staff who were scrambling to teach our curriculum effectively online.  As the weeks went by, and months turned to years, teachers utilized everything they could to ensure the well-being of our students. My action piece evolved into an evaluative process of our day to day practices and their efficacy in promoting well-being, positivity and  transference of strategies and coping mechanisms from school to home in order to move forward with intention.

Through questionnaires for parents, students and teachers of grade five students, I will be able to summarize results in order to tweek what we have, improve consistency and stay connected to our parent population.  The results will be shared with the students, parents, teachers, administrators, guidance counselor (new hire), and our Learning Specialists.  These results are due to be back to me in two weeks (by the end of April).  At that point I will begin the process of assessment.

The “big takeaway” from this experience has to be the realization that unless we persevere in real action, our work stands the risk of being caught up in the cogs as the wheels of progress move slowly.  Adaptation, communication and determination have, therefore, been necessities in this process.

The only question I anticipate having at the duration of my project will more than likely be, “How can we ensure joy, engagement and positivity for students, staff and parents through our enhancement of our existing mindfulness work in the classroom?” Indeed, the challenges will be to progress with further development of lessons and  focus themes as well as consistent application. I have no doubt that we will be able to meet this challenge and continue to do our very best to ensure well-being of our students in the days, months, and years to come.

HMW question: first step

The process that I went through to generate my HMW question took me in a more focused direction from where I started.  My starting point had me thinking mainly of mindfulness and its role in our classrooms. I realize that my main concern, or focus point, if you will,  is in the wellbeing of students. Whether it is through mindfulness practice or any of many techniques or focused methods, the main goal is wellbeing.  This placed me in the position to ask the question: How might we make each day more meaningful for students through programming in order to enrich students’ lives and generate positivism? If we can generate positivism on a daily basis during these difficult times, we are making the wellbeing of our students our main priority.  Wellbeing, at any time, is imperative to learning; therefore, positivism and its ripple effects in the classroom, whether online or in person, is a primary concern, especially now.

HWM question: second step

The inquiry that I am working on has me communicating with other teachers of grade five. I plan to also consult with administration and parents.  I have started compiling questions for a simple questionnaire that I plan to share with grade five parents at my school, TMS. This is not as simple as I had first anticipated. Coming up with questions for parents concerning their perspective and understanding of their child’s needs regarding wellbeing has been, at times, daunting.  After discussing this with my colleagues, I realize that I need to narrow down my expectations in regards to the composition of the questions and to minimize wordage.

HWM question: third step

Why am I engaging in this line of action and inquiry? I suppose I am taking this action to do two things. Firstly, I’d like to get a feel of where parents feel their children are on the well being scale.  Secondly, I’d like to gather new and possibly stimulating ways to enhance wellbeing of our students. The unmet need at this point in my inquiry, is a clear method of taking the information I plan to obtain and flip it into something I can use to address my question.

Question 1: During the first face to face we used the language of Urgent vs Important to help frame our discussions and thinking around the use of TIME. Reflect on why you joined Cohort 21 and your professional goals for this year. Now that the year has begun and you have met your students, what  IMPORTANT  goal might you like to address and leverage this community to get support with.

Cohort 21 offers the chance for me to step out of the classroom and work with other educators towards a common goal.  By doing this, I will be able to address the overall concern of balancing social/emotional growth with learning, not only for my students, but for my own personal well-being.  Being isolated either online or without a teaching partner, which is the norm for a Montessori classroom, has been revealing in many ways.  There are positive and negative aspects of everything for sure; however, being able to collaborate with other teachers from various schools is a valuable way to enhance personal development and growth.

In regards to use of time in either an urgent or important way, joining Cohort 21 could be said to be an urgent use of time.  The process of self-reflection, listening, contributing and sharing is absolutely fundamental in our roles as educators as we cannot expect our students to be reflection, to listen, to contribute and to share unless we are doing it ourselves.  In this way I see the experience as necessary; therefore urgent.

Question 2: Which of the Season 10 Strands did you choose and why? Share what you feel is both urgent and important about it for you and your school at the moment and some of the questions you have around moving forward. Feel free to change strands should you want to.

All strands of this year’s Cohort season are relevant and intriguing which makes it difficult to choose.  After much consideration,  I have chosen, “How might we best engage, support and assess our JK-6 learners both on campus and remotely?”

I have chosen this broad question because there is an urgency to it.  We are tackling this question on a daily basis and all of us are facing the same realities, challenges, joyful moments and reflections that drive us in our efforts to teach, engage, support and assess our students. It is my hope that by being a part of this year’s Cohort 21, I will be able to gain, as well as share,  valuable insights, practical methods, sincere reflections and collegial support.