Final Reflection

I have been working on the final report for our TLLP.  This is our report to the Ministry of Education about our learning.  I was expecting to have a lot of space to share my learning, but it’s a rather short form.  Thankfully I can write as many words as I want here!  🙂

One of the questions asked was, “What new professional learning did you acquire as  a result of this project?”

This is what I wrote: “The learning in this project has given us the skills that we need as adults to support our students in a productive way. Learning Stuart Shanker’s “Five domains of stress”, has helped us recognize how to effectively support a student who is showing signs of stress, and help them get back to a calm state where they can return to their learning. We are proactive instead of reactive.”

That barely scratches the surface.  Anyone who has been reading this blog all along can tell you that I personally learned a lot about self-regulation and how to manage stress – my own, as well as the stress that is evident in my students and colleagues.  I shared in a few different presentations this year that I have not had to evacuate my class all year.  Last year I evacuated every day in the month of October, and quite a few more times after that.  The big difference here is that I have learned to be a stress detective. I can identify the domain in which a student might be feeling stress, and then I can help resolve or remove the stress.  I have learned to recognize the warning signs of an impending melt-down.  I have learned to anticipate a problem before an event (such as an assembly) and have learned what I can do to make sure that the child who may struggle is supported so his/her stress level doesn’t get out of control.  I am proactive instead of reactive.

As we have all shared at various points this year, the biggest change has been in me.  I feel like I have always known to be understanding of the difficulties a child might be facing in and out of the classroom.  But I haven’t always been as aware of how my personal stress is carried over into my classroom.  I have found myself many times this year recognizing that I feel stressed, taking some time to identify the stressors in my life and working to resolve them.  Walking my students through some of these same steps has changed things for us in class as well.  It was so great to see that when we were working on our One Page Profiles many of the students were articulating self-reg strategies they need to use in order to be successful.

Finally, I have loved learning alongside my colleagues.  We came together around a common problem and had a common goal:  we wanted to support our students emotionally, not just academically.  We shared some laughs. We disagreed about a few things.  The experience of being able to work so closely with the women in this group is everything I had hoped it would be last year when I was applying for the TLLP.  Each brought a different perspective to the group which helped me in my learning journey.

I am sorry this project has to end.  I am looking forward to my own personal path forward as I continue to use and learn about Self-Reg.  In the past few months we have had to stop presenting because of a supply teacher shortage.  I am sorry the project ended this way because it feels undone.  However, I’m hopeful that none of us is going to move on to other things and wander away from our Self-Reg journey.

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