Essentially determined. Essentially kind. Essentially committed to educating our kids despite a myriad of recent challenges in Gold Coast schools. This little post represents all the teachers I would go down fighting for because they’re truly…amazing.
.
Meet Tiana, a high school teacher, one of those essential workers who fronted up to work each day during Covid-19 restrictions. Despite the students now returning to school, she continues to embrace online strategies and to enhance learning in the classroom and yes… she is still smiling.
She shared…
“I absolutely love teaching. Working together with other teachers to help kids is a real highlight for me. The whole ‘helping others’ thing has always driven me so I know this is what I really want to do with my life. It was really hard for everyone there for a while. Parents were struggling to understand the curriculum.
Teachers were struggling to learn new delivery skills and kids too were having to learn without teacher connection. I missed that so much too! I just love seeing the faces of my students every day so it was tough. The workload is pretty intense at the best of times but we got there in the end. I learnt to adjust my strategies every day and the kids became more independent. There have definitely been positives in all of this”.
.
Thank goodness lifelong education isn’t about a single day or a few weeks in isolation. It’s not just about that one glad morning when technology works and we all fly to virtual classroom nirvana. It’s about grit. It’s about showing up, an unwavering belief in ourselves as learners no matter how old we are or on what side of the school or classroom or laptop we happen to sit. It’s an epic uncovering of who we are as human beings. We don’t need to project perfection in our efforts. We don’t have to try and scrub the honesty or weariness from the truth. Some days are hard and our hearts are tired yet still, resilience splits the ground where I’m standing and blooms.
Thanks, Tiana. You are a shining light and our Gold Coast kids are so lucky to engage with you. You help me feel grateful that I live and work in this town. And what kind of town do we live in? This kind. The one where we resist judgement and appreciate every sincere effort of those around us, particularly now as we move forward as make sense of where we now are. What do you think? Feels good, doesn’t it?
