I’m beginning to wonder if one of the 2020 phrases that will make its way into the history books (or online Internet searches or whatever platform our future holds) will be “COVID Celebrations”.  Since mid-March when we started physical distancing and self-isolation, we have navigated our way through celebrations such as Easter, my dad’s birthday and today, Mother’s Day. Historically we’ve recognized those celebrations with large family gatherings, meal preparations, purchasing of gifts and at times successfully managing equal time between our nuclear family and our extended family and at other times, not so successfully.

This year, we’ve had to become creative while ensuring the safety of our loved ones.  Easter started with a special delivery to our front porch from our daughter and son-in-law and ended with a quiet dinner with our 2 sons and an evening of JackBox online games.  There was a sense of calm and appreciation.

My dad’s birthday included a porch visit from my eldest son and myself as we serenaded him with “Happy Birthday” loud enough for the neighbours to hear and a socially acceptable distance delivery of a homemade chocolate cake.  We made the most of our time together and I have no doubt that he appreciated it.

Today was Mother’s Day and once again the restrictions on coming together in large groups impacted our celebrations.  And yet, I wouldn’t have changed a thing.  Yesterday, my daughter picked me up for an undisclosed destination.  We traveled to Clovermead and took part in the Mother’s Day Drive Thru Special.  We had never visited there when our kids were young, so the tour created the space for dialogue about the past, special memories and future plans for eventual grandkids…smile.   Dedicated, uninterrupted time with my daughter is priceless. I loved it.

This morning, breakfast was prepared and enjoyed with my husband and our youngest son.   Again, time for conversation about fishing, spring and eventual trips to the cottage was a wonderful start

to the day. Without the option of shopping, my husband took the time to create this “Suzie can never kill” flower!

As the day continued, I ventured over to my parent’s place for a physically safe visit. Within minutes of my arrival my brother showed up, so the four of us spent the next 2 hours deep in conversation, debate and laughter ~ lots of laughter.   As we both have busy families of our own, it is rare to have these special “nuclear” family moments.  I can’t even recall the last time it was just the four of us. As we were leaving my mom commented that it was the best Mother’s Day in years!  Shhhh… we won’t tell the rest of our own family members LOL

The final gift of today was a visit from our oldest son, who knows my weakness for deep fried pickles.  So along with a beautiful orchid and a card that made me so proud, we indulged in a fried pickle feast and good conversation.

Although we couldn’t all be together today at the same time, the moments that I spent with each special person who makes my life as a mom more meaningful than any other accomplishment, were precious and memorable.

Maybe there’s something to these COVID Celebrations that we can capture and recreate, even when restrictions are lifted.

How are you navigating Celebrations through COVID-19?

Come Write with me…

Today was a good day (considering it was snowing) to crack the spine on a new leadership book, as I look towards the coming weeks and how best to support our staff during these unprecedented times.   When a few colleagues shared that the mentor text for their PQP course was Fullan’s, “Nuance ~ Why Some Leaders Succeed and Others Fail”, I decided to order a copy so that if perchance they were interested, we could engage in a conversation or two.

I’ve always enjoyed and connected with Fullan’s vision of how leaders can continue to reflect upon their practice in an effort to move the learning agenda forward and this latest book did not disappoint.  The case studies woven into each chapter provide a context that allows the reader to explore the concepts of the JAC model and find nuggets that relate to their own set of circumstances.  Fullan has always pushed the thinking of the reader, to move beyond their comfort zone in order to create a school system that is better than our current one.  What I found different about this book was his focus on going deeper than the surface when making decisions and the humanity element, which may not have always been as prevalent in some of his other books.

According to Fullan, “Nuance leaders have a curiosity about what is possible, openness to other people, sensitivity to context, and a loyalty to a better future. They see below the surface, enabling them to detect patterns and their consequences for the system. They connect people to their own and each other’s humanity. They don’t lead; they teach. They change people’s emotions, not just their minds. They have an instinct for orchestration.”

I love that term orchestration. An orchestra has the ability to emotionally move an audience when and only when each player impeccably knows their instrument and how to make magic with that instrument. They know when to crescendo and when to decrescendo. They are the masters of that sound. They rely on the conductor to guide them. But the conductor needs to be emotionally connected to the audience in order to know the perfect moment to cue that crescendo. Without that connection to the audience, it simply becomes notes on a page, played with precision, but not played with passion.  The audience may be entertained, but not inspired.

If our role as a school/system leader is to simply move the learning agenda forward then there are many books written on how to “play those notes” and many of them will also share when to crescendo and when to decrescendo.  But if we truly want to have an impact, to create a generation of students who will make a difference, to inspire change agents, to make our world a better place, then as leaders we need to connect emotionally with our staff, with our communities and not just cognitively go through the motions and read the script like notes on sheet music.

Now, more than ever, with the Pandemic Playbook being written and rewritten, is the time for Nuanced Leaders.  We need leaders who are sensitive to the day to day challenges that all educators are facing and who are willing to connect with their teams emotionally in order to listen and learn about the possibilities and how best to move forward.  Now more than ever, when our physical connection is compromised, we need leaders who will embrace the notion that connection to each other’s humanity needs to be the opening number.

Pass the baton to the Nuanced Leaders.

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Today’s post is inspired by a conversation with my administrative partner, following a request to forward our ideas about how best to navigate our way through the cancellation of Grade 8 graduations on one hand and the need to honour and recognize this graduating class on the other hand, to our senior team.  His response did not include a play by play proposal for how to create a COVID-19 virtual ceremony, instead he wondered if this year there could be a system generated response that all schools would embrace.

As many of us know, the variation in how Grade 8 students are recognized as they transition to Secondary School is wide and deep.  These ceremonies can be as simple and meaningful as a gathering in the elementary school auditorium, with a few awards, a few words, some pizza and pop and off to a bowling alley for an evening of fun in blue jeans and a sweat shirt or they can be as elaborate in their opulence and grandeur as a wedding in a Country Club setting complete with all the glitz and glamour of a Hollywood movie.  Most of them fall somewhere in between.  But the reality is that more often than not factors such as geographical location and the socio-economic status of the neighbourhood determine what that celebration will entail.

Fast forward to June 2020, when we are anticipating that mass gatherings, such as graduations (whether in school auditoriums or Country Clubs) will still be on the list of restricted activities, as we continue social distancing for the overall well-being of all. In knowing that information, I can’t help but wonder if this is the perfect time for us, as a school system, to strongly lead with our equity lens and collectively create a united and shared experience, whether virtual or face to face, that every graduating grade 8 student will have access to ~ regardless of where they live and which school they attend.

Just imagine if we were able to bring a shared sense of co-constructed guidelines, consistency and less variance in the magnitude of these celebrations as we move forward.  I have no doubt that as we begin to emerge from this pandemic our mindset on so many things will have to shift (and hopefully for the better).  I’m hoping and praying that we do not return to business as usual, because in some cases our business as usual modes of operation (although not intentional) shine a significant light on some of our inequities in the support of TVDSB students.

I would love your thoughts on the inconsistencies in Grade 8 graduations and how best to move forward.

Come write with me….

Sometimes a simple stroll is enough to remind us that even a global pandemic will not stop spring from coming.  I’m reminded of the following lines from Dr. Seuss’s, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”

“Every Who down in Who-ville, the tall and the small,
Was singing! Without any presents at all!
He HADN’T stopped Christmas from coming!
IT CAME!
Somehow or other, it came just the same!

Even though our day to day lives have been significantly impacted, Mother Nature has continued to awaken from her long winter slumber to decorate our gardens with purple crocuses, daffodils the colour of sunshine and bright crimson tulips. The newly green lawns, although currently sprinkled (and in some cases flooded) with multi-headed dandelions, are growing and tempting us to dust off the lawn mower for our inaugural first trim of the season.  Wildlife is waking up from their dens of hibernation or returning from their southern winter homes.   With the return of the birds comes the building of their spring homes in anticipation for welcoming new life.

Today as I ventured outside I noticed not one, but two nests, expertly crafted with a variety of materials, including, if you can believe it, some Scotch Tape.  One nest is perching on our front porch, precariously situated on the back of one of our chairs, whereas the other one is nestled deep into the shrubbery at the side of the house.  Both are perfectly crafted bowl shapes with a perfect circular formation.  The one in the shrubs has been expertly reinforced with ring of mud for additional strength.

Finding the nests was a thrill, but the evidence that life is continuing is the fact that both nests are now filled with four eggs that are a brilliant Robin’s Egg blue.  We’ll watch in wonder over the next few weeks as the mother birds provide warm and protection for her eggs in the hopes that they will survive long enough to both hatch and then to eventually take flight.

The gift of our current situation is that I now have the time to observe this remarkable annual ritual more closely because it is “coming just the same”!

What have you had the time to notice this spring, that maybe you haven’t in the past?

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Some days you just need a little Mr. Rogers to put things in perspective and today was one of those days. This past Christmas I received a copy of the “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood ~ Neighborly Words of Wisdom from Mister Rogers” as a gift from Jen Shelton, one of amazing Educational Assistants. The book has been sitting precariously on the corner of my home office desk; a room where I’m now spending the majority of my time.  Every so often (usually when I’m avoiding a task or two) I find myself thumbing through the pages and reading a quote or short story, which then inevitably leads to a return to my task with a renewed sense of purpose and a smile.   Today I happened upon the chapter entitled, Communicating and this quote caught my eye, “In times of stress, the best thing we can do for our children (and for each other) is to listen with our ears and our hearts and to be assured that our questions are just as important as our answers.”

As we head into tomorrow’s “virtual” staff meeting, I can’t help but wonder how our staff is truly doing. I know that many of them of trying their best to navigate the role of both parent and educator simultaneously.  I know that they have such incredibly high expectations for themselves as educators and they want to be doing the very job possible during impossible circumstances.  I know that our staff is truly a “family” and just like we’re missing our extended families, we are all missing our school family. I know that they hear it in the voices/words of their students how much they are missed and how heartbreaking that is.

I would give anything to be in the same room, to see their faces, to provide hugs, to share words of support and to share some laughs.  But that is not going to happen tomorrow.  So, in the absence of that, I need to truly listen, with both my ears and my heart as we do our best to share, to support each other and to continue to ask questions that will hopefully bring a sense of calm verses a sense of stress.

We will do our best to “make the most of this beautiful day… since we’re together”, even if it is only “virtually”

Come write with me….

It is so easy to get lost in all that has been supposedly lost as a result of the global reaction to the spread of COVID-19.  What is harder to do, is to shift our perspective and focus on what has been found.   Finding the time to do good has been yet another unintended positive outcome of Emergency Remote Teaching for our staff and wonderful students.

Over the past few weeks, a number of our classes have been reaching out to others in an attempt to bring smiles to the faces of individuals that they’ve never met, and yet they had anticipated they needed some cheering up.

Many of our K1/K2 students took the time to decorate stones with positive messages, colourful pictures and lots of happy faces.  They wanted to show their love and appreciation for the doctors and nurses at London Health Sciences Center. As students finished their creations, they safely brought them to a drop off location at the school. Once two large boxes were filled, two of our Kindergarten team members delivered them and placed them strategically in gardens so that they brightened up the days for those health care workers.  We have many families in our school community who have one or two parents who are currently sacrificing time with their family in order to take care of patients at the hospital.  This was our little way of saying, “Thank You”.

Our grade seven students also took this opportunity to do good and to reach out to residents in a couple of Long Term Care Facilities. They wrote letters that were filled with heartfelt gratitude, expressions of hope and sprinkled with that undeniable, effervescent grade 7 humour.  According to our grade seven team of educators, it was the one writing activity that garnered the greatest participation ~ both in quality, quantity and genuine generosity of spirit.

Sending the letters was a perfect example of “doing good, feels good”.  But this narrative does not end with the sending of the letters, as many of the residents then took the time to write back to the students, sharing their gratitude in receiving the letters, communicating how they are spending their days and even forwarding small tokens of appreciation.

In the words of one of the Facility staff members, “Today, I went around to every room with four physios, and we read your letters out loud… As hard as everything is for them – the tears and the faces and the joy that those students gave to those seniors, and the beauty of those letters and how well-written they were – it was absolutely the best gift you could give these seniors. I’m going to save the letters and keep sharing these stories of love. In these times it’s exactly what they need. These kids!!! I wish I could meet them someday… On behalf of all of us at Elmwood place, thank you so much.”

We are so excited to be able to safely share these letters with our students, once they arrive in the mail.  We can’t wait to hear their reactions. Who knows, this may be the beginning of a wonderful letter writing friendship.  There is so much that both generations can learn from each other.

This week in Thames Valley we are focusing on #CaringChampions.  I’m so proud of both our staff and our students for seeing the potential in our current situations and reaching out to be #CaringChampions in our community.

I would love to hear about more examples of “doing good feels good”

Come write with me….

“If you ask the question, you need to be prepared for the answer”.  How often have you heard that phrase?  We live in a society where we seek confirmation on one hand and then actively hide from confrontation on the other.

We bask in the glory of positives and yet take to the shadows of doubt and blame when information is perceived as negative.

Today, was one of those days that I needed a reminder about how best to process feedback and not head for the shadows of doubt and blame.

I was reminded to grant grace to those providing their reflections of our transition to Emergency Remote Teaching, as I have no frame of reference for their current day to day challenges. I’m not trying to both parent and teach school aged children simultaneously and my hat goes off to all of those who are gracefully navigating those two roles.

Upon my initial reading, it was easy to jump to the defense of our educators who are working so hard to find the sweet spot and balance how best to support their students.  From my own perspective I know that I’m reaching out to our school community three times each week with check-ins and Read Alouds ~ so to see that a small number of parents selected that there had been no communication from the Principal/Vice Principal took me by surprise. But in taking more time to read the comments and appreciate how our families must be feeling, or how they interpreted the information, it was easier to develop a plan of action.

We tell our students all the time that they should be open to feedback ~ as adults we need to embrace that open stance as well.

How do you handle feedback?

Come write with me….

“What do I do when my love is away?
Does it worry you to be alone?
How do I feel by the end of the day?
Are you sad because you’re on your own?
No, I get by with a little help from my friends.”

Written my McCartney and Lennon and sung by Ringo, this Beatles tune is ringing true these days, more than ever.  The mere fact that Ringo, the lead singer on this tune, seldom sang lead on any of the Beatles’ hits, seems fitting for our current state of affairs. It’s as if the head liners are no longer as important. Front line workers (doctors, nurses, grocery store employees, truckers) are the ones that we now rely on to maintain our survival. We’ve learned very quickly that sports heroes, movie stars, stylists and party planners have faded to the background for the time being.  The drummers, those who have been keeping the beat for so long and gone unnoticed for the most part, are now emerging as our lead singers.

But I digress….

There have been so many unanticipated positives as a result of our current situation.  With the sudden and swift transition to Emergency Online Teaching, there have been hour by hour changes in how best to support our school communities. It’s not business as usual and there is a not a known protocol for how best to move forward. We are making decisions based on our best information and that information is fluid.  Now, more than ever we need to rely on each other, to reach out, to share and to simply be there ~ for a smile, a laugh, a new Netflix recommendation or just some reassurance that what we’re doing is the best that we can do at the time.

Now, more than ever in my leadership career, I am so thankful for my colleagues! I’ve been blessed in each of my assignments to have a VP partner (or in the case of my four years at Wilfrid Jury, 2 VPs) so I know that I’m a better leader when I collaborate, share and seek alternative solutions. So heading into a virtual world of leadership, I was concerned as to what that would look like. I’m thankful for my daily chats with my current VP, but there has been more…

Weekly COS meetings have helped us to stay grounded and ask questions about system messages and directions. My Weekly Sunday afternoon chats with a group of trusted, respected and like-minded colleagues where we can pick each other’s minds about how best to navigate through the upcoming week has been a highlight.

There seems to be more time (or maybe I’m just making more time) for scrolling through social media posts and finding nuggets of good advice to either internalize or externally share with others. I’m thankful for my Twitter friends who are tweeting messages of hope.

I’m a part of an Admin Facebook group and this highly engaging group of colleagues are finding ways to keep us connected, focused and above all else positive.

And finally, our staff is doing a wonderful job of ensuring that we stay connected and true to the heart of what makes it so special to be a part of the SAC Crew.  How can one feel “sad and all alone” when your staff asks to make a special announcement prior to the start of a virtual staff meeting and they proceed to each come on their web cam dressed as a character from Joe Exotic and share, in perfect impersonation of the many characters, something to make us all laugh out loud.

So, thank you for “lending me your ears” while I “sang my song” of appreciation for all of my friends who have helped me get by.

Who’s helping you get by during these ever-changing times?

Come write with me…

The concept of Time has taken on a whole new meaning during our current reality of social distancing, self-isolation and social media reliance.  The days of longing for coveted Time to stay at home and curl up with a good book or binge watch the latest Netflix series are long gone as our new reality is filled with those very days of reading, watching and waiting.  Waiting for a return ~ but a return to what?

In reflecting on the past number of weeks, it’s easy to rhyme off a list of those things that have been sacrificed as a result of the spread of this virus.  During each day, I undoubtedly still spend some of those precious 24 hours wishing that I could visit my family members, return to my school community, eat out in a restaurant, get my hair done, launch our boat or go to a show.  And yet there is a part of me that knows once those “gifts” are restored to the fabric of daily life, the concept of Time will also be restored to something that there isn’t enough of.

So, while those “gifts” are still on hold and thus creating a void, Time has shifted to fill that void with some wonderful unexpected outcomes.  Where once there didn’t seem to be enough hours in the day for the things that truly mattered, I know find myself embracing those opportunities.

Time to step away from my computer/iPad/iPhone screens and make lunch for the boys.  Time to take part in a drive by birthday celebration.  Time to drop off flowers and a card for a friend celebrating a birthday. Time to play weekly online games with family members. Time to reconnect with friends on social media. Time to pick up the phone and have a conversation instead of crafting and hitting the send button on yet another email. Time to go for walks and enjoy the daylight of a spring day. Time to actually appreciate how Mother Nature is ever so slowly, yet ever so intentionally awaking from her winter slumber and blooming a multiple of colours.  Time to connect with colleagues on a regular basis and get to know them beyond just what they’re planning for an upcoming staff meeting.  Staff to create videos of appreciation for others. And the list goes on…

If J.R.R. Tolkien is right and “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us” then I hope that the lessons that Time is teaching me now will continue to guide me in the right direction in the future.

Has your concept of Time shifted?

Come write with me….

May 1, 2020

Well my faithful readers, I should begin by apologizing for the lack of material to read over the past two months and considering everything that has been going on in the world, one cannot blame my lack of creation on a lack of ideas. Navigating one’s way through a global pandemic provides an abundant number of threads of ideas just waiting for the right moment to unravel them and spin them into a coherent tale.   So as we launch into a new month, I’ve decided that today is the day that I begin to unravel some of those threads and post a blog a day for the month of May.

I’ve typed, back spaced and retyped this sentence three times now, as I check my calendar to ensure validity.  Are we really about to enter week 8 of COVID-19 restrictions in Ontario?  March 12 at 4:00 pm, when the announcement was shared that schools would be closed for the two weeks following March break, seems like a life time ago. I’m not sure that any of us could have anticipated what was about to happen, nor where we’d be today and what life would look like. Our day to day reality has certainly become unraveled.  I recall spending too many minutes during March Break checking a Coronavirus Update website and worrying as the Canadian number of cases started to slowly climb from single digits to double digits and then to numbers in the hundreds by the end of the break.  Today, that same website is reflecting over 53,000 cases and over 3,000 deaths, with no indication that the curve has yet to peak.  Like so many of you, the reality of knowing someone, either directly or indirectly, who has been infected or who has succumbed to COVID-19 is no longer just a lead story on the news, it is being woven into my narrative.

As many decided to thread their needles and sew protective masks, our day to day interactions have significantly changed. We are no longer able to visit parents, extended family and in my case our newly married daughter and her husband.  Weekly trips to the grocery store are no longer a quick pop in, grab and run or something tagged on to a busy day. They have become one of the few “events” within a week of being quarantined at home.  Social distancing, restricted number of customers, designated traffic patterns, limits on quantities and limited availability of products are all a part of our new reality.  There is a common thread to how we are spending our days ~ for most of us, we’re working from home, trying our best to stay positive and using innovative ways to connect with others.

Throughout the next month, I’ll do my best to unravel the threads of this new reality, as they connect to leadership, learning or life.

I would love to hear how you are navigating your new reality.  Are you unraveling threads, weaving a new way of doing things or quilting pieces of the old and the new together to create something special?

Come write with me….