Climbing the Optimistic Mountain

Like many professions, our teaching world pivoted last March. COVID changed what we knew as normal and we fell into survivor mode. Continuing, and soldiering on. We created new routines to keep the bones of the education system alive. Lisa Damou, from The New York Times, speaks to how school feels rather like eating all vegetables without the pleasure of dessert. And now, nine months later it feels like the temporary soldiering routines are changing the fabric of who we are. This shift happened too fast. We didn’t have time to acclimate or adapt to our new surroundings; to build in the dessert. And honestly, I am truly afraid society is birthing a new normal fostered out of nine months of survival in this pandemic world. 

I miss:

• Gregariously laughing and loud shared emotion. It’s now masked. 
• Group work and the closeness felt when students huddle in the hallways to tackle a task.
• The sheer energy from groups of people, students, friends, sharing, chatting, and hanging out together.
• The safety of knowing that everything is going to be fine. Because we cannot say that anymore. 
• Smiling, and seeing others smile.

The tension from our survivor world hits in waves, and to be honest, I cannot always predict when the next one will come. The mood shifts and it increases. It hits all of my students, colleagues, friends, family members at different times and at different degrees. But it never goes away. It just increases or reduces to a low hum. Like a volume control. But the noise is always there. 

And last week I decided to stop thinking about what was happening. I cannot solve the hum, but I can move past it. I decided to fight. 

“Optimism. It’s not just a mindset. It’s a behaviour.” Larry Elder.  

 

Like a battleground and with the determination of sheer force, sometimes completely lacking careful planning, I am soldiering on. I am staging a battle against the negativity of COVID. And, I’m taking my students with me.

I’ve tried a few “stay positive” techniques. Here are my recent steps up the optimistic mountain:

1. Push Positivity. As a class, we practice building each other up. If another teacher walks into our classroom, we bombard them with compliments. “Share positive comments to someone” is now on our homework board. It is a mission and we are practicing it to make it our new routine. 
2. Take time to be grateful. Thank you to my Cohort 21 group for this idea. In pairs, small groups, or as a whole class we are taking time to share something we are grateful for. We’ve even directly tackled, “what are you grateful for during COVD?” Students share stories of fewer activities, calmer nights and more family meals. 
3. Random acts of kindness. A dear friend & colleague used to have her students running around the school as “Kindness Ninjas” dropping off notes to people who had a positive impact on their lives. We cannot run around the school, but we can write letters. My students, and children, have begun writing letters to those that need a boost. 
4. Finally, Have Fun. Knowing that Halloween was basically cancelled this year, I stepped out of my usual routines and we spent the entire day playing. We read a ton of Chris Van Allsburg books (I find his work perfectly spooky for Grade 5). The kids wrote stories from his Harris Burdick prompts. They completed a scavenger hunt around the school and we played cards and chess. We just chilled out and played. I need to build more of this in. 

I am trying so hard to enter my classroom ready to climb. Sometimes, I begin further down the mountain and need to reclimb to where I left off earlier. Sometimes, it’s easier. But, I will smile. I will say positive comments. I will refocus the kids feeling out or down. At least, I’ll keep trying. 

Image by PDPicks by Pixabay