The continuation of remote learning calls for a particularly challenging and potentially rich community response. Parents and teachers have been working together now for weeks to ensure that the education of our young people continues in a productive and positive way. The extended nature of this current lockdown most certainly creates added difficulties which require flexibility, creativity and determination from all of us.  

In a Zoom meeting this week, the English faculty discussed additional ways of promoting ongoing learning and positivity in this extended lockdown situation. In an effort to ensure that students were experiencing quality instruction and receiving helpful support and feedback, teachers looked at priorities and practices that would best achieve this. I have welcomed the input from parents over these past weeks which has enabled us to refine and improve our approach to best meet the needs of our students. 

During this period of uncertainty and isolation, our young people are in tremendous need of experiences of awe, wonder and imagination. Reading and writing are critical here. Students from Years 7 - 12 need to be regularly exposed to rich and engaging reading material as well as daily opportunities to write for a range of purposes. In fact, the two most important things students can be doing in any subject during remote learning is reading and writing. To live fully in this complex world and to attempt to understand it, students need an extensive language resource. Words do matter! Wide reading is the most effective and natural way to build one’s vocabulary. Prior to this lockdown, English teachers were using Word Walls in their classrooms to expand students’ language. They are still doing this remotely. Some have a ‘Word of the Week’ on their Google Classroom page, while others are encouraging students to set up a physical ‘Word Wall’ in their learning spaces at home. 

I think it’s timely to revisit some of the ways parents can support their children during remote learning. Some of these include:

• establish routines and expectations
• create a designated space for schoolwork 
• monitor communication from teachers
• begin and end each day with a check-in
• take an active part in talking about your child’s learning
• encourage physical activity and exercise
• set boundaries around screen time and social media interactions

 Student responsibilities during remote learning include: 

• establishing and/or following a daily routine for learning
• identifying a comfortable, quiet space in your home where you can work effectively and successfully
• regularly monitoring communication to check for announcements and feedback from teachers
• doing your best to meet timelines, commitments, and due dates
• communicating proactively with your teachers if you cannot meet deadlines or require additional support
• collaborating and supporting your classmates in their learning

As the discipline of writing is closely connected to the act of reading, we continue this week with three more teachers sharing their reflections and writing endeavours. The first piece is a personal comment on the importance of writing by Mrs Elizabeth Varde, the second piece is a reflection on writing today by Ms Jennifer Nguyen and the third contribution is Mrs Sheila Antal’s lockdown reflections and creative composition. 

The Joy of Writing
Writing is extremely important to me. Writing is my muse. It is where I make the impossible possible. It is where freedom has no boundaries and no one can judge my thoughts, imaginings and feelings. It is where I am, me! Where I can journey across the world and feel the sunshine on my face at ten o’clock at night or where I have teleported to a fantastical realm and I have sprinkled glittering golden dust into the sky with a click of my fingers. 

Writing is my world. It is where I can spew up poison and the pages will listen. It is where all my voices are heard and the puzzle piece always fits. It is a limitless place where you control time, whether it stops or starts. Where you end up. There are no conforms, no rules and you can do whatever your heart desires. 

Writing is me. Writing is anyone. Writing is everyone. Writing is you!

Mrs Elizabeth Varde

Write hard and clear about what hurts – Ernest Hemingway
It’s undeniable that the world we live in now is transparently different from the one our parents grew up in. Life demands more of everything. More dedication to work. More dedication to friends and family. More dedication to extra-curricular activities. Although immensely grateful to have settled into a career that makes a difference and to be surrounded by a great support network, it’s imperative that we keep our heads above the water and our mental health intact. This is where I rely on personal journal writing. By dedicating fifteen minutes every other day to vent out my mental smog, I can feel tension transpire through my biro, and then I shut my journal, entrapping my grievances inside. Take a step back and try to envision how your 13-year-old self would deal with stress; a fearful, inexperienced child who is none the wiser. Now imagine how one of our 21st-century students would deal with this? As they continue to grow up in the ‘TikTok’ generation ruled by social media, the majority would live in fear of being ‘cancelled’ for their individuality and expression of thought that dares to counter the ‘herd mentality.’

Every individual has their own wars to wage and ‘writing hard’ and ‘writing clear’ is one of the most effective, inexpensive and intimate ways to self-discovery and contemplation of quotidian hiccups. Pre-lockdown, Miss Rebecca Toogood started to introduce ‘Wordsworth Wednesdays’ during Year 8 pastoral periods where students were each given a simple exercise book, fifteen minutes and a reflective prompt to respond to. Solemn silence stationed itself in E2 as nothing but the scribblings of pens could be heard. It was one of the most gratifying moments of my day seeing students leave the classroom with peaceful exteriors after being given some time to engage in thoughtful introspection. 

Ms Jennifer Nguyen

Coronavirus Creativity
During the initial lockdown of 2020, teachers were asked to email their team leader each morning for a check in.  As a person who prefers to see people when I talk to them, I found this very difficult.  I really didn't want to send an email that just said "Hi, I'm here" and not much else.  So I began these daily check-ins in the form of a parody, where I could let the characters speak for themselves. A parody where our home in isolation became a Starship forced back to base for an extended time.  It was much easier to look at the situation objectively through another's eyes. The results were emails that looked a little like this:

 "To add to the success of the day a member of our crew had an accident whilst out exercising and will be requiring an X-ray this morning for suspected broken facial bones. Officer Colin was exercising in a 21st Century Earth facsimile when he crashed his bike at full speed into a stationary earth vehicle.  I believe the word they used at the time was Subaru.  He was flung over the bonnet and onto the ground.  His exercise buddy was concerned that he had met an untimely end, but they make those on this ship of tougher stuff than that.   He peeled himself up off the road and came back to the ship.  The Officer in question says that he will no longer be trying old earth pursuits of this variety, but he is the adventurous sort and I feel that this may just be a blip on his radar.  His feelings and his ego are bruised particularly after some other members of the officer class jeered him for riding whilst holding a beverage but I am sure he will get over this.  I have assured him that the jeering officer deals with concern in this big brotherly fashion."

About three weeks into this year's lockdown, I felt that the story had run its course and I needed a new direction.  So I said goodbye to the Coronaverse and set about creating a new written world.  An imaginary world so different to my own, that it provides another form of escape.  I have discovered that this has the potential to be addictive, escapism through the imaginative process can be quite alluring and a very good way to alleviate stress.  I usually write for a couple of minutes at the beginning of the day or at its end. I have included a paragraph from my new serialised story that I send out most days as my check in.  Who knows, during lockdown I might get a good start on my first novel!

'As they continued their drive, silence became a third passenger in the car, and seemed to take up more and more of the space between them. The widow makers that lined the road cast threatening shadows in the sweltering afternoon sun.  A breeze moved the leaves and rendered the shadows somehow alive. Sarah knew she had to get a grip on her imagination, it was starting to get away from her, and really, she should know better. She knew they were close to where they needed to be when through the grit-covered windscreen, she saw the large ravens circling in the air.  There was something dark and predatory in the way they focussed on a target, just homed in, and kept coming back until there was nothing left.  She drove the Ute over to the shoulder of the road, slowed down, pulled the handbrake and turned off the engine.'

This is not something that I had ever contemplated doing before.  But I can assure you, that what started out as a really difficult task, has become a very valuable endeavour.

Mrs Sheila Antal