Dear Baker Families,
Today’s letter is about
teachers
.
For connected, relational individuals who’ve built a career around observing and responding to student cues and curiosities, the move to an e-learning platform is painful. At its heart, teachers miss the PRESENCE of children. In the span of three weeks, they’ve all been repositioned as first year teachers. The road has not been smoothed out by years of practice, seemingly small tasks take an inordinate amount of time, and vulnerability rather than confidence is the emotion of the hour. Compounded with caring for children, elderly parents, and the changing nature of our world, many have felt overwhelmed, as you have, I’m sure.
We ended our Wednesday faculty meeting with affirmations, beginning with
this
beloved Mary Oliver poem shared by Sarah Sklare, which buoyed our collective resolve. I am sharing another of Juile Toole's inspirational pieces here too.
The work of a teacher is crucial at this moment. A teacher’s force for calm, stability, and continuity is a ‘protective factor’, building a child’s resilience in the midst of a stressful situation.
Baker teachers are transforming their practice and keeping relationships and connections central in their online, virtual classrooms.
So, what do we value in our e-learning days?
- Relational, interactive learning is still the order of the day.
- Dynamic engagement trumps static packets.
- Connected conversations are prized over isolated work.
We know that children learn in a vibrant social context. We are building our e-learning days with this important piece firmly in place.
As always, we will continue to follow any statewide mandates from Governor Pritzker about school closures which means that we will be in our e-learning period through at least April 30 and likely longer.
Sincerely,
