When people make goals, they often ask themselves or are asked by others coaching them, “Where do you see yourself in 5 years?” I can pretty much guarantee that anyone asked where they saw themselves in five years, back in 2015, was pretty much wrong. Every. Single. One. I made light of this idea with a fun post ‘Truth is Stranger than Fiction‘, back in April.
Now I’m looking at the same thing in a different light. It’s one thing to understand how hard it is to visualize where we will be in 5 years, yet another when we don’t have any idea where we will be in the next couple months? Schools ‘re-open’ in September and our province has said that we won’t know what ‘open’ means until the middle of August. We could be completely open, mostly open, partially open, or fully teaching from a distance. My guess is that learning will be blended, but by how much, I honestly don’t have a clue? Are students only coming in once a week or twice a week? Will students have an option to stay home and still expect teachers to work with them? Will teachers report to school every day? I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know.
Will there be a second wave of Covid-19 in Canada? Will the virus mutate significantly? Has it already done so? Will the virus be an issue right into 2022? Will there be a vaccine, or will we manage/mitigate the spread or impact in some other way? Will the borders to the US re-open soon? Will there be a major recession? Will Covid-19 be with us for years to come like flus that return every winter? I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know.
I’m used to people asking me questions and giving them answers. I am usually someone that is ‘in the know’, but this virus has humbled me. It has made me far less certain about where things are going next. Ambiguity is the norm now. So is uncertainty.
Within every crisis lies an opportunity. Our perspective has a huge role to play in this. When we are stuck thinking ‘woe is me‘, well then a crisis is a crises. When we recognize that ‘stuff happens‘ and that stuff is separate from how we respond to it, then we can start to see the opportunities.
How can we support local businesses? How can we help the needy in our communities?
What can we do to meaningfully engage students in classes from a distance? How can we leverage the right tools so that when ‘learning from home’ students get more voice and choice in the work that they are doing? How can we make the student experience seamless as we bounce between varying amounts of time students spend at school vs home? How do we meaningfully build community without having our students spend much, if any, time together? …At least for these questions I have a few ideas.
The new school year will bring many challenges, and with those challenges we will also have opportunities. Opportunities to challenge the status quo, and to do things differently. I won’t pretend that I know what’s in store. I understand that there is a lot of uncertainty ahead. Uncertainty is the new norm, and we’ll just have to get used to this.
Great post David. I’ve found it to be a real challenge, but I especially like the piece about how our perspective plays a role. Sometimes I feel like “woe is me.”
We are scheduled to start virtually on August 5 and face-to-face (for students whose families choose it) on August 17. Arizona has been hit really hard the past few weeks, so there is definitely a lot of uncertainty.
I’ll let you know how it goes 😉 Let me know if you have suggestions. Appreciate everything you share.
Thanks Jeff,
I must admit to feeling the ‘woe is me’ as well sometimes. I don’t think we (or any other mammal for that matter) are designed to stay in ‘crisis mode’ for extended periods of time. That’s sort of why I think we need to just embrace uncertainty as a norm.
I’ve been watching the spread of the virus with a focus on North America, and have to say that I’m not convinced that the old normal is anything we will see for quite a long time.
I am very interested in how things progress for you, since you start a full month before us. I’m going to share a number of thoughts and ideas over the next while, but probably closer to August. I’m back in Toronto with my parents (who are moving), staying further away from social media than normal, and reading (listening to) books totally unrelated to education… trying to give my brain a break. Yet, I still find myself thinking about school like I did writing the post above.
Do let me know how things go, and I’m happy to bounce ideas around with you… in a couple/few weeks:)
Simon Breakspeare presented a webinar to a group of Victorian education leaders. What stood out to me most is the importance of honoring the effort and adaption that so many have put in, rather than snapping back into so sort of semblance of the old normal, it that is even possible.
We had a session with him too, the BC Principal’s Association brought him in via Skype. That idea of honouring the effort is key. We have had many educators focussed on learning in a way I’ve never seen in my career before… even those that made small steps should be celebrated!