Burst and Bubble 2021

This year, due to the current lockdown situation in Auckland, our Burst and Bubbles were online. It was quite a challenge to narrow down my talk to about three minutes but it worked out in the end.

It was a great opportunity to listen to our colleagues in our CoL group presenting their Teaching as Inquiry for this year. We are a thriving group of professionals in the Manaiakalani Cluster working to inquire into our practice to accelerate the learning of our students as well as build our own pedagogical knowledge and collaborate with our colleagues.

This year certainly has been a challenging year with us experiencing the longest lockdown yet but we are very blessed to have the support and kaupapa of our Manaiakalani Cluster to help us through these times. 

Diary of a teacher on lockdown

The long awaited return back to school for all schools in Aotearoa especially in Auckland has been announced. When this news was announced I was so over the moon. I have been battling an ongoing battle of trying to bring all my 27 students to our class meets but as the days turned into weeks, weeks into months we started to lose numbers. We had a committed group who diligently attended everyday, then the group who would join a few times a week then there is a small group who we have not seen much at all on the meets. 

When I asked my students on the meet if they were excited to come back to school, the answer was a resounding YES! They are eager to return back to school, to socialise, to be with their friends, be out of the house and hopefully seeing their teacher in person in on that list too.

For me as their teacher, it is an emotional return in a way. Why? Because I have wanted for so long to return back to school. Term 4 is a busy term with assessments, end of year activities such as prize giving and also graduation for my Year 8 students as they will be leaving our home nest of Glenbrae School and going on to college. It is also my last term before I am to go on maternity leave so I feel a bit deprived of my precious weeks with my tamariki before we finish off the year. Regardless, I am grateful to have the next four weeks to be with my class before we close off for the year.

In our staff hui, it was discussed the main focus for students returning is to reconnect and enjoy being back to school after learning from home for some time. We have to take into consideration the safety aspects of returning back to school while this pandemic is still in the community. 

As a teacher, my planning will be around reconnecting, socialising, learning and reflecting on what has been a very challenging year. I am just so proud of my students and their resilience and perseverance. These students will look back to this time when they are adults and realise just how challenging these times are for them and for the community and country. He waka eke noa is our school theme for this year and it truly plays a huge part in how we have been living through this lockdown. 

There is a light at the end of the tunnel now. We are returning back to school what a wonderful feeling. See you soon Room 7.