Third and Final Thoughts for Cohort 21 2021/2022

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.

 

 

 

4 thoughts on “Third and Final Thoughts for Cohort 21 2021/2022

  1. Evelyn! Thanks for your awesome post. I am so excited to hear how students, teachers and parents reflect on the Community Care program. I personally commented on your survey that I enjoy how this program gives us time to take a break during our day and centre ourselves and our students (specifically our mental, emotional and even physical health).

    Your big takeaway also resonated with me. So often we focus on getting to the next assignment, or the next lesson, instead of slowing down and checking in with ourselves, with our students.

    1. Thank you Nicole, as always, for your unwavering support. I’ve started recording results from the student’s questionnaires that I’ve received so far and it is really interesting and definitely relevant!

  2. Hi Evelyn,
    I want to thank you for your insightful blog posts and your contributions to all the conversations we had this year in Cohort21. As you said working together, hearing from each other, etc. spurs us on in order to find ways to improve our practices, to create an enriching and caring environment for all members of a school’s community and hopefully we will continue to do this even after our last session this Saturday.
    I really appreciate the work you have done and I hope there is a future blog post sharing the results/learning from the survey you have completed with your Grade 5 community.
    Thank you.
    Leslie

    1. Thank you for your kind words Leslie and for your insights. I do plan to post the results before the end of the school year.
      It is exciting to see the questionnaires coming in now!

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