Toujours en avant (Always forward)

Gratefulness to community for being my anchor during turbulent times

The motto of a now closed girls’ boarding school is one of my two muses for this blog post. It is Alma College‘s “toujours en avant” or “always forward.” Curiously enough, it also seems to be connected with La Légion!

Gratefulness is my second muse. According to www.dictionary.com, gratefulness can be defined as the following: 

Gratefulness: adjective: warmly or deeply appreciative of kindness or benefits received; thankful: I am grateful to you for your help; expressing or actuated by gratitude: a grateful letter; pleasing to the mind or senses; agreeable or welcome; refreshing: a grateful breeze.

While definitely not the usual genre of music I listen to, a student suggested I listen to this piece and some of the lyrics resonated with me. Perhaps you will find it of interest while reading a portion of this blog entry, although you may need to find some supplemental music. I tend to dive deep into reflection once I get started.

I had originally planned to complete four blog posts over the year as my idea was to logically reflect at the end of each quadmester (my school organized the year into quadmesters). They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions (Cohort Guilt); however, when I look back, the time was never right for writing reflections. With the final meeting of Cohort 21, I was given a bit of a shove…!

Essentially, this is a love letter to my students, my colleagues, and my community which includes my school, my friends, my family, Cohort 21, and even random strangers. I am SO grateful for those who in small or big ways helped and are helping me to survive in this upside down world. 

What struck me about the comment on my previous blog entry was the importance of students being an anchor for me as well as me being an anchor for them. For me, the comment seemed to come out of left field and required a little reflection, but the valuable perspective of an objective outsider was able to cut through my overthinking.

So here’s the report of a reflective practitioner during the time of covid (I don’t think it deserves a capital letter)!

In quadmester 2, I had Grade 6 French as my teaching assignment; however, it was entirely online and with children I had never met before. Grade 6 French is not my wheelhouse and I was reassigned to teach them due to changes in staffing responsibilities. The students were in the gym on another floor and I was in a little room putting on my one hour show twice a day. Welcome music, Google Classroom, Pear Deck, my French verb song YouTube playlist, daily tongue twisters, singing the attendance role call, Quizlet Learn/Live, daily routine, daily mindfulness exercises, completely silly gifs posted with my announcements on Edsby, wearing funny socks, and an openness on the part of my students to join the daily “party” allowed us to all move forward and appreciate the gift of the moment we had together. 

Happiness Project: Mindful Moments: An Introduction

The importance of building trust and relationships was central. It reminded me of an inspiring book I read over the summer called Teach your Class Off by CJ Reynolds. He is a teacher who has a YouTube channel with Sunday afternoon chats called Real Rap with Reynolds and also has a supportive Facebook group for teachers to ask any question and not be judged. Both are HIGHLY recommended for consideration if you need light and inspiration or even a reset. It also reminded me of The Long-Distance Leader by Kevin Eikenberry and Wayne Turmel that Garth Nichols recommended at some point during a webinar I don’t think I was really supposed to attend! Both books speak of the importance of connection. 

In quadmester 3, I had three hours of Grade 11 French in the morning and three hours of Grade 11 French in the afternoon. While I held onto many of the activities and structures I had implemented in quadmesters 1 and 2, I added a rigid structure for my 3 hour classes. I divided them into 40 minute periods with three 10 minute breaks spread out with different aerobic videos in French. The final 30 minute period was for group activities in breakout rooms. I changed the groups up every two weeks and made the groups using https://www.random.org/lists/ . We focused on the core skills of listening, reading, writing, and speaking.

Part of me does not even remember how I survived my “double whammy” quad. As my mom often says, “you are given strength!” A former colleague suggested an 8 week online mindfulness course. It was great to have one evening a week dedicated to learning and practicing mindfulness. One evening the instructor asked me to choose one of the exercises and I responded that I had to make the decisions all day long and wasn’t about to make one more as I was there to “be present!” Lightbulb moment. Another activity that I did for myself was an expanded solo Church Block Walk during my lunch (between the two classes). It was healthy mentally and physically for me and I was more able to be present for my students during the afternoon class. With the lead up to Easter, I put up a new decoration each week. It started with the battery operated string of pink flamingo lights from Dollarama which had a tragic demise as  the battery pack was crushed one evening. I added bunny paper lanterns. My wind up yellow chick mascot named “Chickie” was the pièce de résistance prior to the end of the quad.  It was about finding joy in the small things and in attempting to move forward. My Head of School stopped by to check in most mornings as I was there early preparing for the day with relaxing jazz music playing. She was able to arrange for two marking days during the quadmester so I could catch up on marking and providing feedback. Talk about a life ring in the sea of drowning!

The final exam was replaced by an inquiry-based personal passion project (based very loosely on Trevor Mackenzie‘s Dive into Inquiry). Students chose a subject at the beginning of the quadmester and researched it by reading articles in French and watching videos or listening to podcasts in French. The idea is that this responds to the requirements for reading comprehension and listening comprehension. Shout out to our INCREDIBLE Library Tech who taught us all about research and documentation! Unfortunately, I’m a little more “wild west” with documentation, so it’s a good idea to collaborate with experts. The students’ final product was a written report followed by an oral presentation with questions and answers with their teacher. It allowed for differentiation and the celebration of personal interests. I was completely bowled over by depth and breadth of topics and research. Topics included: the history of chess, the ecological impact of the electronic music industry, women in sport, hunting dogs, ethical choices for fashion, etc. I learned so much from them and I was their teacher! They felt like they learned so much more in this type of activity than in a traditional exam and that it was less stressful, but WAY more work!

We’re now in the third week of quadmester 4. It’s a little lighter for me with teaching only one course, but it’s a course I’ve not taught for a while and I have 22 high flyers as they are Grade 9s taking the Grade 10 course. I’ve kept the same structure and genre of activities; however, switched out the text/themes/grammar and have tried to lighten the weight as we are all completely exhausted and digging deep. While entirely possible to move forward at a gallop, it’s not the most healthy of approaches. I’ve come to realize that those weekly journals using the Proust Questionnaire are my way of connecting with them as I can push them to reflect on themselves and write in a non-judgmental environment. My responses always comment on what they have written and I answer the question they have asked me. To be honest, it’s a precious touchstone of humanity for me where we meet and are able to communicate. It’s so difficult to do so when we are in a group of boxes on a screen. When we can’t hug in this covid-world or casually see one another, we have to find alternative ways and acts to reach out and share our humanity. I have been incredibly blessed through the feedback of students to pre-report card self-reflection surveys with their thoughts about their learning and how I am teaching them. We can adjust and change approaches with their input. They are even more actively engaged in their learning with me now more than ever through the exit cards in Pear Deck. I’ve occasionally reached out to parents to have feedback as open communication and their perspectives are essential.

At the beginning of the year, my school released four pillars and I had in mind to apply these as my Action Plan. To be honest, I quickly turned to survival mode instead; however, when I look at them now as the end of the year is a faint glimmer on the horizon, I shock myself in seeing I’ve inadvertently taken a stab at all four! They all are about good, solid pedagogy. Talk about “learn to do by doing!”

The pillars are: 

Commit to develop learners: Ensure curricular and co-curricular experiences challenge students to value learning as an outcome in itself.

Provide individual attention to students: Help students navigate their personal learning journey and understand their strengths.

Foster an inclusive and safe environment: Empower students to engage in and contribute to a community to which everyone genuinely feels they belong.

Equip students to manage their self-development: Provide resources and tools to cultivate self-awareness and support holistic development.

Part of me thinks, “well that was better luck than good management;” however, I think it comes down to much, much more. It comes down to having the faith to be your authentic, quirky self and to be truly present in the moment. It comes down to relationships and being the humans which we were meant to be. It all sounds kind of hokey to be honest, but it’s 100% true for me. 

On Thursdays, I use this mindful moment with the students from the Happiness Project  (link above) which has, hands-down, become my favourite. On the last day of classes this year, I’ll be thinking of the great cloud of people who have been the wind at my back pushing me “toujours en avant!”

As you have probably noted from my previous blog posts, my faith is central to my essence and has led me to believe that actions, people, and circumstances are not random, but put in place for a greater purpose. It’s my belief that we all have a unique vocation and important work to accomplish and often that is in relation to other human beings. Things bloom in the fullness of time.

I am incredibly humbled to be a teacher in the time of covid (even with its darkness, warts, pains, anguish, turmoil, tragedy…) as it’s helped me to grow and it has roughly stripped away some of the sharper corners and polish to reveal the grit and grease that’s necessary for growth and learning. I am enormously grateful to my community of learners, to my school, family, friends, Cohort 21 and to the inspiration of all (whether intentional or not) who have pushed me “toujours en avant.” You have kept the flicker of light alive in my faltering spirit. From the bottom of my heart, thank you, merci beaucoup, muchas gracias, Danke….

At times, our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.”

– Albert Schweitzer