Monday, April 13, 2020

Some thoughts...



The Education community locally, nationally and internationally is an amazing community to be part of. But during this lock-down and Covid 19 the challenges facing us in NZ are being faced everywhere. It has been awesome seeing the resource sharing to generating ideas and discussion on what innovations could come out of all this. I would recommend DistruptEd TV as a great viewing. I have been thinking about how we can innovate not within our current structures but how do we change from the outside these structures. What is worth keeping and what could be very different - I would love to be part of some 'anything is possible' thinking around this. 

I have discovered that I love being at home and I think my career in education provides a nice balance of being surrounded by people all day and then relaxing at home. Before lock-down my favourite unwind activities were running at the gym (I love treadmill running) and kick boxing. I am not doing either whilst in lock-down. Instead I walk almost every day with my daughters (Miss 12 and Miss 18) and these walks whilst never far from home are a good distance. Our walks sometimes involves solving riddles or taking conversation starters or just simple road trip games like eye spy. This is the favourite part of my lock-down day. I have also rediscovered my love of cooking from scratch and have made homemade gnocci, tortilla's, pizza, pizza sauce... I think it is because I have the focus and energy rather than the time to put into it. The two girls have been watching the Marvel movies in order which has created a nice connection for the two of them. They discuss the acting, dialogue, whether the props are consistent between the movies, sound tracks etc. But as a parent I love that they have found something to share and connect to whilst in lock-down. 

I realised, when I saw this photo that over the past couple of weeks I have been role modeling to my 12 yr old, how to work from home (usually I would work/study after she is in bed). Here in this photo she has her first learning zoom. 


Miss 12 is a Civil Defence cadet and they are meeting 1x a week at home. She has work to do in-between each zoom including a NCEA Level 2 standard. All cadets are expected to complete the work, regardless of age and this is something I really appreciate. The zoom meetings take a similar format  with a Q&A, quiz and general social connection. I posted this photo because Miss 12 wanted to be set up at my work station, in my chair etc. Over the past 2 weeks working from home she has seen how this new way of being, works in our home for me.  I have since given her a desk and chair in the living area (our shared work zone ) for when school starts on Wednesday. 

This is just a personal reflection of how life is working in my family bubble. That without realising it our day and week has a new rhythm. We celebrate Wednesdays rather than the weekend as that is another week down. Thankfully, we still enjoy each others company but allow each other space. We've celebrated a couple of birthdays via zoom, Easter via zoom. I have connected with friends/family who are oversees via video messenger.  I have not taken up any new hobbies and probably should be doing a little more study than I have. But this is an adjustment and it pays to be kind to ourselves and each other.