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Friday Thoughts 80 - What energises you?

Writer's picture: EAWEAW

It’s been a week of very mixed emotions and experiences this week all round. Earlier in the week, we had a great session with De Melonie Grannell where she shared some of the ‘normal’ responses and experiences we are all going through and some strategies we can implement to cope as best we can during these exceptional times.


It has been a difficult week on a personal level because the reality of something happening at home really hit me. So, as a non-direct result of Melonie’s session, I decided that one of my coping strategies was to re-frame my thinking and really focus on the positives. I was going to create my own narrative. I was also going to take action to re-connect with what energises me. Way back, I had some really great coaching sessions with Clive Leach and he advised us all to focus on exactly that. What energises us about our roles and look for opportunities to build on this.


I have had several requests for Head Teacher’s Commendations for children’s efforts during Poetry Week and during NAVSE in general. We have one Nursery student who has attended every live session and 1:1 meeting since we began back in March. Credit must go to the parents too who have been able to support in such a manner – a 4 year-old is not necessarily capable of logging in all by themselves! Some of the many highlights this week has been my connections with the children. I realised that a very big part of what energises me is that contact with their smiling faces and unbounded enthusiasm. I hadn’t really realised just how much I was missing greeting the smiles and shrugs each morning until I began my story times with Reception on Monday. I had the real pleasure of joining some assemblies this morning as well as making calls to families to say a personal congratulations to some EYFS children. It really did energise my flagging energy.


It's Friday, it’s the end of April and it’s the beginning of a long weekend. Many are still unable to go out of their compounds, some not even out of their apartments and look forward to the day when this changes. We have choices. We are all able to choose how we respond to these situations. I am not in any way saying that is easy by the way, it is simply a reminder. What can we do to break the monotony and what can we do to find the bright side? One thing that Dr Grannell reminded us about is the importance of seeing faces on screen rather than just initials. As humans, we are social animals and need those connection (admittedly, some more than others). Even natural introverts like myself need that connection, indeed we are all teachers so must be energised by some form of human contact! So my choice was to be proactive about finding opportunities to engage with the children. My biggest take-away was to think about what ‘advice’ we would give to a friend. Tell ourselves this. How would we recommend facing the situation? Self-talk is incredibly powerful, and so we need to be mindful of using negative language, especially if you would never dream of using specific language with another person.


Be aware and be present and take any opportunity to leave that screen behind this weekend, we all deserve a little self care. Hopefully the weather will warm up again so at least windows can be opened for some fresh air. Look out of those windows and find the beauty in what you see. It is all around us, even if the view we have is of another building. It’s just sometimes more challenging to find.


Have a very happy Friday everyone and let’s hope May brings some news of a return to yet another ‘new normal’.


Music today is Rik Astley… It’s a 90s greatest hit apparently!


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