This month let’s explore Child’s Voice’s Value of Collaboration.
As Helen Keller said, “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.”
Right now as school districts are trying to figure out which way is up, our staff and families are expressing much anxiety and overwhelmingness (new word I just made up). Teachers and parents are trying to figure out if their district hybrid model fits in their family plan.
If you are a teacher back in the classroom full time — which is the present plan for Child’s Voice — what are you doing with your child/children when they can only go to school for two days and home three OR go to school for 2 1/2 hours every day, THEN are home. How are you to care for your family you’re your career?
And for sure, if you are not comfortable about sending your child to school at all and want to have remote learning, unless you have an in-house caretaker, you will not be returning to work. AND to top it all off, Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) requires 5 hours of daily instruction. This can be a mixture of face to face, hybrid attendance at school and remote learning at home. Sitting at home in front of a computer screen — hmmm….we have been there and done that already. All of this is difficult. Hard. Really hard.
All this makes our Value so ‘valuable’. We must all work together, be a team. We must Collaborate.
Talking to several staff members about schooling in the fall, I learned that they are gathering with their neighbors and looking at possibilities to collaborate and cover each other’s children care. Say Mrs. Smith takes 5 kids on Monday afternoon, after ½ day instruction and supervising the children’s e-learning. Then Mr. Jones will supervise on Tuesday and so on. As a working parent, not to miss every afternoon of work would probably save your job—and probably your sanity.
Already, we have collaborated during remote learning since March. Teachers set up the lessons, parents instruct them, and then kids lose interest and run around the house.
The most important way to Collaborate is by helping each other, thinking about the other person, staying safe and WEARING A MASK.
And so, I just want you to know that we hear you, we see you, and we value you.
Let’s hold each other close (social distance-wise at 6 feet) and wish for all good things in the months ahead.
Stay well, stay healthy
Fondly,
Dr. Michele
