Insights from the staffroom: Be the light in the dark

Whanaungatanga, Term 2, Week 3, Staff Meeting 3&colon; &NewLine;Clutching a strip of five superheroes&colon; &NewLine;&&num;8211&semi; atawhai (kindness)&NewLine;&&num;8211&semi; koa (joy)&NewLine;&&num;8211&semi; toa (courage)&NewLine;&&num;8211&semi; manawaroa (resilience)&NewLine;&&num;8211&semi; whakaute (respect) &NewLine;&&num;8230&semi;we were invited to give one card to ourselves and each wrote our name on it&period;&NewLine;<img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-22849" src="https&colon;//www&period;schoolnews&period;co&period;nz/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/courage-180x300&period;jpg" alt="" width="180" height="300" /> <img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-22850" src="https&colon;//www&period;schoolnews&period;co&period;nz/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/kindness-199x300&period;jpg" alt="" width="199" height="300" /> <img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-22851" src="https&colon;//www&period;schoolnews&period;co&period;nz/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/resilience-character-166x300&period;jpg" alt="" width="166" height="300" />&NewLine;<img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-22852" src="https&colon;//www&period;schoolnews&period;co&period;nz/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/respect-character-163x300&period;jpg" alt="" width="163" height="300" /> <img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-22853" src="https&colon;//www&period;schoolnews&period;co&period;nz/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/joy-160x300&period;jpg" alt="" width="160" height="300" />&NewLine;What an interesting provocation&period; Which card would you have given yourself&quest; &NewLine;After deliberating this, the challenge progressed&period; We were then invited to assign a new card to someone else in the room&period; &NewLine;On gifting the second superhero card, we were also instructed to follow it up with a k&omacr;rero about why we had seen that colleague as a hero to us, and why we had given them that particular superpower&period;&NewLine;Teachers being encouraged to look at their colleagues for inspiration&semi; teachers being each other&&num;8217&semi;s role models &&num;8211&semi; the excitement was palpable&period;&NewLine;Between the whispers, awkward smiles, giggles and joy, tears began welling in my eyes as I captured the voices around me&period; The voices were sincere, the messages concrete&period; Some became role models&semi; others became sweet talkers&period; Emotions choked me, as I discreetly dried my eyes and swallowed down the lump in my throat&period; &NewLine;<blockquote>&NewLine;Moving on, the rest of the staff meeting contained messages of collective efficacy and hope&period;&NewLine;</blockquote>&NewLine;On reflection, it made me realise how important it is to affirm each other&period; It made me realise the power of our words in lifting people up&period; It made me realise in the challenges that have passed, just maybe we have forgotten the joy we can bring to each other by celebrating each other&&num;8217&semi;s strengths&period;&NewLine;We have been so busy being role models for our students &&num;8211&semi; wishing to motivate them, keeping them safe, and imparting our knowledge &&num;8211&semi; we haven’t had time to think about the personal qualities of the very people around us whom we can relate to&period; The very people who have shared these tough experiences with us, the very people who have similar stories&period;&NewLine;I wanted to share this moment with you&period;&NewLine;I want you to take turns to be someone else’s light&period;&NewLine;I want you to pause and celebrate each other&&num;8217&semi;s strengths &&num;8211&semi; time to create our own stories full of optimism and warmth&period;&NewLine;By educator and writer, Rebecca Thomas&NewLine;

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