Four weeks into the second full lockdown, beginning on 11th of January in terms of schools and education, I reflect on the experience this time as distinct from March 2020.
Back then we literally left school with one day’s notice. I went home to my Dad and was so grateful to be able to spend those last precious months with him as his life ebbed away and I continued working from home. He died at home in July.
There was no online training. We left school with our laptop and books and did our best. ‘Google classroom’ was something we had heard about at one staff training afternoon where its merits were extolled and its possibilities shown. Most of us, of a certain age, thought we would see out our teaching days in the more traditional mode of whiteboard, marker, text and book with the relevant video clips and PowerPoints used to good effect.
Alas, this was to change quickly and radically. Alone and unsure I set about setting up each class group online. I learned to send group emails, and muddled my way through. The staff was wonderful and there was always somebody to WhatsApp or email when I was stuck.
Staff meetings of sixty plus were daunting: ‘turn off your mic and type your question etc.’ was a far cry from being together in one room!
We worked solidly and the students were also trying to get used to this new but inadequate type of learning. At our pastoral care meetings we worried about the significant number of students who weren’t engaging due to device or internet connectivity. Unfortunately, many of these students came from disadvantaged backgrounds.
The dawn of new hope came in September 2020 when we all returned to a much changed environment where each student stayed in her base class and the teachers moved around. My rucksack became my essential companion with my laptop, diary, textbook etc. for each class. Yes, and I experienced the frustration of my laptop and books falling out of said rucksack at the top of the stairs! Luckily, all survived. My daily aggregated step count from all this movement became a welcome blessing as we were adhering to the one-way system.
Visors and masks were the norm. Hand sanitisers were everywhere. Our first years were allocated the four prefabs behind the theatre which effectively cut them off from the main school. I didn’t have first year classes but teachers bewailed the fact that they could only see two bright eyes looking out at them and really couldn’t get to know them in their full youthful, vibrant beauty. Our beloved Amelian Theatre became two classrooms which meant no show, play, choir or drama for the foreseeable future. The room beside the staffroom became a second staffroom. New cafe like tables and chairs were bought which ensured social distancing was possible. Cleaning tables, chairs and bringing one’s own utensils became the new way of being in the school community.
Thankfully all the hard work paid off and we got through September to the December Christmas holidays relatively unscathed.
Fast forward to the new term in January 2021: The news of the alarming increase in COVID cases was very worrying and it was clear that we had no choice but to have another lockdown. This time however, I was able to stay with my community as I had been back for Christmas and this has been such a huge blessing for me. I am supported every day by Peggy and Rose. Lovely hot meals, shared prayer together and times of celebration make life more tolerable and gratitude for all of this is what I genuinely feel. We have succeeded in having our first Circle of Mercy meeting in 2021 on Zoom.
The teaching has become easier too. Now I am doing live Maths classes and Religious Education when possible. I have a new vocabulary in the line of technology! Motes, hangouts, Google meets, jamboards, scheduling classes and I definitely learn lots every day simply by trial and error. Staff wellbeing as well as student wellbeing are constantly to the fore. To this end we have coffee mornings together usually on a Friday where you can drop in when you are free and meet a few online. As a Year Head, I am responsible for the Leaving Certificate Applied classes and this time round there is great engagement and it’s lovely to chat with them and let them know we care. We had a lovely class together with their RE teacher on the Friday of Catholic Schools Week where the theme for the day was HOPE. They are well used to the technology now and the school gave out over one hundred chrome books and laptops to those who would have had difficulty accessing a device for learning. This really helps with equality of opportunity.
Throughout this crisis and in my relating to the students I mourn their losses: the simple lunchtime gatherings, the concerts, choirs, graduations, debs and the joy of being together when their final results come out. It is so unnatural and different for young people. Though we all find it difficult, as older adults, we do not have the same milestones that they miss out on. Our years move swiftly as the Psalmist says and we have the wisdom of resilience and life experience. The next generation I fear will have lasting unresolved losses to contend with. We would do well to remember all the young people in our lives and be there for them when they need a listening ear or a word of encouragement.
As you read this reflection now my fervent hope is that everyone will have safely navigated through this crisis and is enjoying the simple pleasures of life in a deeper and more fulfilling way knowing how fragile and vulnerable life is.
Anne-Marie O’Carroll rsm
Southern Province
