Dear
Dear Colleagues,
In this truly unprecedented time, our Alliance has been asking: “How can we provide support to our schools?” With no map and few guidebooks, teachers, administrators and principals have been asked, at very short notice, to reframe what we mean by “school” and “classroom” as schools have been ordered to close and move into distance learning. This is unheard of – but what is most remarkable is that you all either did it or are in the middle of doing it, taking care of crucial details such as families without computer access or internet, children who are dependent on schools for safety and food, testing what is and is not possible.
Despite the demands of social distancing and stay at home orders, we are not alone in this. On the largest scale, we are engaged in an event that impacts every single human being on earth – what an extraordinary thought. More immediately, we are a group of colleagues united by an image of education as health-building, holistic, developmental, and transformative. We are a community of practice.
Based on what our AWSNA colleagues have successfully implemented (and have guided us in), we will hold an initial Zoom meeting on Monday afternoon at 3:00 pm PST. Link HERE.
This will be a chance for folks to come together to begin sharing practices, ideas, creative solutions, and to address the many questions that we are all working with.
Please join us:
Or
Dial by your location
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 929 205 6099 US (New York)
+1 253 215 8782 US
+1 301 715 8592 US
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
Meeting ID: 905 886 181
Members of our Executive Committee will curate this space, but it will be an open time. We will keep it open for an hour – this can be extended as needed. If the interest and need is there, we will form smaller groups for future sessions: e.g. subject teachers, grades, early childhood, school directors.
We have much wisdom and creativity within our membership. This is a chance to share and to support each other. There is a wonderful Chinese character that means both crisis and opportunity: we want to approach the current crisis with the full attention and seriousness that it deserves, but also to find the opportunities. We can help our children and their families to thrive within this time. We know important things about childhood and education. We are creative, knowledgeable, and adaptable.
We will also open a section of our website as a repository for resources and ideas. More to come about this, but here is one helpful resource from a name that is familiar to many of you, Kim John Payne. There will be more resources to come.
We send our warmest wishes to you, your family, and your school community.
Be well,
Liz Beaven
For the Alliance Executive Committee and Board
