Day 19

I’m intentionally crafting and publishing today’s post early this morning as I’m anticipating that once 1:00 pm rolls around and the Minister of Education makes his announcement about the remainder of the school year, regardless of the message, my mind will begin to shift in a number of directions. If the message is that we’re maintaining Learn at Home for the next 6 weeks, how do we continue to engage families and maintain positivity among our staff?  What will it look like as we distribute the personal belongings for over 750 students? But most importantly closure ~ not the physical closure of the school, but the emotional closure that happens at the end of a school year.  For us, our tradition has been that at 3:29 p.m., on the P.A. system, we play “What Time Is It?” from High School Musical 2, as the staff and students dance out of the school.  Then as a full staff, with the song still playing on our portable sound system, we line up and wave good-bye to our students who are exiting the school via their school buses. Without the possibility of physical closure, undoubtedly, this will be our opportunity to collectively be creative and construct a virtual closure for this most unusual school year.

So, in not knowing what today is going to bring, I was drawn to this quote by Maya Angelou, “This is a wonderful day. I’ve never seen this one before”.  It is from a beautiful gift that was dropped off at my place last week, from a wonderful colleague. It is a journal, entitled, “Good Days start with Gratitude” ~ Cultivate an Attitude of Gratitude”.  Along with the journal was a heartfelt and beautifully composed card.  I’ve revisited that message in that card a number of times over the past week and it has given me the inspiration that has been needed on those days where seeing a purpose was a bit more challenging than normal.

Today, indeed, will a day that I’ve never seen before.  From meeting four new educators who are interviewing for positions on our LTO team, along with a good friend and colleague, to having rich conversations with colleagues about placing our newest Coyotes into each of our 7 kindergarten classes, to the inevitable reactions to today’s announcement. From any angle, today will be wonderful!

And as for the Minister’s announcement at 1:00 pm, I have no doubt that whatever he shares will create the conditions for us to collectively say that “we’ve never seen a day like this before”.   Let’s make it wonderful ~ as there are so many counting on us to use that lens of positivity!

What are you looking forward to today?

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