By Krystyna Smolenski, Foundation 4 teacher
The biggest education, parenting and professional learning mission of the future will be teaching for resilience and successful coping, continuing your day to day activities in personal and professional life through a crisis. I am convinced that solving problems (whether that means getting groceries or a virus test), regulating emotions and managing relationships; optimism, the ability to keep perspective and flexible thinking will matter more than any specialist skill, certification or degree. Post covid there will be a whole new science of resilience. Our Foundation 4 classes have been working on regaining their emotional strength after the hard experiences of Barcelona’s lockdown that have taken the toll on them, their families and their teachers!
We have been focusing on learning about different emotions, recognising and naming them. We brainstormed different solutions for conquering “the worry” and “anger monsters” like sharing with a trusted adult or a friend and we also acknowledged that we all have worries and fears in our hearts alongside love and joy. We have also been working on having an “attitude of gratitude”; every day we list five things we are happy about and grateful for. We feel as teachers that right now adaptability and emotional wellbeing is more important to children than any factual knowledge as stress, anxiety and worry lowers our immunity and weakens our community bonds. We are proud of the fact that when children come to our classrooms they are surrounded by a warm, loving and peaceful community and this is our biggest goal for them right now.
