Diving into the new normal believing that you have to master each new technology fad, attend every webinar course and take every online course that mentions remote learning and remote teaching, is not only unrealistic but it is the quickest way to burnout and loss of confidence in your own abilities and experience.

 

(Which is almost exactly what I did by the way - so sharing from hard-earned experience here).

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I think what I'd like to share with you here as you step into the 'next normal' is that, actually, it is just another normal. The world is filled with change. Some changes are small and take thousands of years while others are global and immediate.

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It is how we decide to deal with change that shapes how we grow into these 'next normal' paradigms.

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This is what I would have loved to tell myself

if I could time travel to before all this madness started:

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Look inward first

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When you know who you are and what your experience has taught you and what your unique human and teacher voices sound like you will be in a calm and strong position to deal with the challenges ahead.

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Your challenges will come from the most unlikely places as everyone around you is finding their own ways of dealing with fear, uncertainty and frustration.

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Be sure about YOU.

What you stand for and what you won't tolerate.

Learn to say NO and learn where your boundaries are.

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Make yourself strong first.

Find your calm and how you cope and practice your coping mechanisms until they become a habit.

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Check Connectivity

Not your wifi or mobile or fibre...your connection with other humans. Your family, friends, loved ones. Check your connection with your peers, colleagues and managers. 

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Make sure that your communication is clear and that your channels are identifiable and open. Excitement on your part may be interpreted as clutter by someone else. Be aware of how your communication impacts others, but also do not let every negative reaction bridle your own voice and enthusiasm. You are allowed to be positive and excited about learning new ways of doing things and sharing them is what makes it so wonderful to be a 21st-century teacher.

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I was slammed the other day for using the term '21st-century education' and promoting the long term planning focus for education to be on teacher training. I was so excited about my idea that I forgot that some people might feel threatened by a new paradigm and that they would feel insecure and incompetent. Lesson learned. My communications are now more sensitive! (I hope!).

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Most importantly: check your connection with your students and their parents/guardians. You are going to become a lifeline for parents who are worried about their kids and you are going to become even more pivotal in your students' lives as you are the one checking in and making sure they are coping as humans before academics.

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Connect and re-connect with colleagues. Look after each other and ensure you are aware of each other's challenges, not in a nosy kind of way, but in a caring and supportive kind of way which sometimes means that you take on a task here or there or become a soundboard for frustration. Just keep in mind that you HAVE to also become a bit duck-like in ensuring that the challenges and trauma of others do not become part of your own. Assist and help and listen - but do not allow it to creep into your being and become part of you. This is not how you keep yourself strong for yourself, your loved ones or your school family.

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Trim

Remember the mantra: Half the work in double the time.​

Work with your colleagues in higher and lower grades to ensure you all focus on a curriculum adjusted to ensure skills needed for the next level are covered and how you will 'cushion' the entry-level student in your year.

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This takes time.

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Time to think about your own subject and time to clarify your points in support of your curriculum trimming (especially in private schools).

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Time to sit down with your colleagues and share ideas and put a cohesive plan into place that will give you, the parent community and your students confidence.

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A well-thought-through plan, with the ability to adapt to changing regulations and restrictions, will be your STRONGEST tool - academically speaking.

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Re-assess

A lot has been said about assessment. Now is the time to move away from test-based assessments and into other options that require thinking, problem-solving, creativity. Tests NOW in this already stressful and uncertain time is like playing with matches in a flint factory. Just do not do it. You won't feel up to marking and they will not be able to study.

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I taught an extended 11-week term (which should have included a midyear exam) without a single test. I am not saying this is the only way - many teachers have found much more creative ways and means, but I am sharing what worked for us in our Grade 8 & 9 English Home Language Class (in Polokwane, Limpopo, South Africa).

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I usually teach inquiry-based lessons and I adapted these into 'chunked' 1-week activities with specific feedback and daily connect routines that encouraged my students to engage. I was able to revise Term 1 work, to get them used to online learning, and then gently moved them into new work (their Shakespearean explorations). This meant I had to adapt the original plan substantially, but keep the core skills intact. It was also the conclusion of our larger novel study and this also had to be re-thought.

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The point is - be flexible and plan adaptable lessons

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Plan wisely

Each student now has his/her/their own, unique learning space.  

Each student now has a unique set of challenges to face as each household runs on its own unique rhythm.

 

I found that parents suddenly thought their older children needed to share their devices and become co-teachers and babysitters while they worked from home. I discovered that children, not surrounded by other children learning the same things, are more susceptible to distraction and most importantly, I learned that NO executive access is possible when you work with children suffering from anxiety and stress-related withdrawal.

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Some students were trapped in homes with alcoholics with no access to alcohol.

Some were trapped in homes with abusive parents, others were trapped in homes with less access to basics such as water and sanitation or a warm plate of food. 

 

How could I expect them to stick to due dates if they had to walk 3 kilometres to the nearest cell tower to get mobile connectivity and then had to choose between which subject's work to download?

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I work at what is described as a 'privileged' private school and these were the very realities we were faced with as teachers and students.

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We (teachers) had to work around these and make plans and approach management with issues which they found amazing solutions for.

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So, planning became a holistic, living activity that changed as the weather did and we had to ensure we kept abreast of everything. The result was an even larger admin load, but we thought we had it under control.

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Now, in the third term where we had some face-to-face time again, we had the 20/20 vision of hindsight and we trimmed our admin and revisited how we approached certain situations.  

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Choosing what is important and what is not becomes the triage of the classroom.

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Look inwards again

Reflection becomes your friend in so many ways.

It helps you to centre yourself. It helps you to get feedback from your students to improve the next week's lessons. It helps you and your colleagues to readjust when needed and it helps management to support you better.

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Teaching in the 'next normal' will come to you.

You will get through this.

You are not alone. 

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I turn to Sir Terry Pratchett again. In the novel, "Snuff", he described the terrible choices humans have to make in the face of adversity, strife and challenge and I quote:

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"Let it be said here that those who live their lives

where life hangs by less than a thread understand

the dreadful algebra of necessity,

which has no mercy..."

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I hope this was a tad helpful - find your own voice, your own new comfort zone and work and learn and grow from there.

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All my best wishes,

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Celri

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