Relentless – Stronger Than Resilient

April 30, 2020 

1 month into Covid Emergency Online Education 

7 AM – in my basement – ready to start my morning workout before heading to the computer 

Hating life and missing what we are no longer doing at school – Rockathon – Alberta Student Leadership Conference – Leadership Grad – being with my classes 

I push play on Phil Boyte’s podcast School Culture By Design episode #55.  Kristin Patten shares that she is RELENTLESS rather than just resilient.  To her resilient means surviving but RELENTLESS means stating what we value most and then finding a way to make it happen. 

I immediately thought about Link Crew in the fall.  I love that program.  Link Crew trains Gr 11s & 12s to be mentors for our incoming 10s. It is awesome. 

I pushed pause on the Podcast and wrote down “RELENTLESS – stronger than resilient!” and started to get a little excited. 

The next day I held a Skype meeting with my two Link Crew teaching partners.  Shared with them the idea of RELENTLESS – stronger than resilient.  I told them how strongly I felt that we needed to find a way to make Link Crew happen in some Covid friendly form.  They were on board.  Two of the best teachers I know and get to work with. 

We recruited Link Leaders through the school Instagram account @chscoyote and had them apply in Google forms.  Lots of great kids signed up and let us know how glad they were that Link Crew was on. 

August 24, 2020 

My Link Crew teacher team meet two days before the Leaders are coming in to make a plan.  I had been thinking about what was possible all summer. I just wasn’t sure how it would all work.  By the end of day 1 of brainstorming we had a modified Link Crew plan that I was excited about. 

Fifty Five Link Leaders arrive sporting their back to school masks.  They were pretty nervous and quiet.  We started the team building and training and they started to find their groove.  Introduced the theme of RELENTLESS  to them.  They responded.  Link Crew 2020 will look different but it is going to happen. 

September 1, 2020 

First Day for the 10s.  The weather gods have cooperated for our opening assembly on the field.  Thank goodness because there was no Plan B.  The music is grooving thanks to a staff  member who loaned us her generator.  No plug ins on the field. 10s are lined up in their rows with masks on. Much tougher to deliver an assembly on the field rather than the gym.  But it worked.  The 10s met new people, connected with their Link Leaders, and got the school tour.  It was a great day. The Link Leaders and my Staff team were incredible!!!

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One of the best days of my teaching career! 

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RELENTLESS 

Challenge Time  – Take a look at your life, professional and / or personal.  Choose something you are passionate about and be RELENTLESS in making it happen. 

My commitment to you – I will continue to share stories, lessons, activities, and ideas that make a difference in these strange Covid times. 

Classroom Team building Activity – What music is on your phone?

Put your class in partners. Then model for them by sharing a song or what type of music you have on your phone. I play some PEI folk music and tell the story about how it takes me back to the Canadian Student Leadership Conference 2008. Then have them interview their partner to find out what music they have on their phone. They will then introduce their partner to the class and what music is on their partner’s phone. This may take some time because kids will be very interested and it will lead to some cool conversations.

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As the Grampster says – “Stay positive, test negative”

Brent