I Want to Start a Movement: You can Make Something with Lemons
The old expression, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade,” is built on the premise that something great or ‘sweet’ can come from something that isn’t ideal or ‘sour.’ To me, the saying is also a reminder to work with what we have in any given moment.
For more than a year, we have been dealt with what might be the biggest lemon of all: COVID-19. The pandemic was a lemon we did not want, but as I reflect on this time, I can see what we’ve made with all we experienced and been given. As teachers at our Early Learning Centers prepare for summer break, I want to spotlight how they’ve made the most out of the challenges they faced.
Our ELCs provide meals to children every day. When the pandemic hit and the Centers closed, the meals could no longer be served at school. The ELC teams found other ways to feed the students. Teachers, office staff, and part-time and full-time employees came together to make a plan to deliver food to children’s homes. Staff involved their families, friends, and community partners to make sure our efforts were successful. The extra efforts made by staff and volunteers to get food delivered to doorsteps helped ensure that kids and their families were receiving and eating healthy meals.
As weeks turned into months, teachers began hearing concerns from parents about new behaviors arising in their children due to the pandemic’s impact on daily routines. Mixed emotions from household to household, some children were upset and often asked why they couldn’t go to school, while others were embracing their extended summer, using it as an opportunity to stay up late and sleep in. Teachers embraced the concerns and worked with families one-on-one to develop morning and night-time routine charts to support children’s new normal. Teaching teams also began sending out classroom materials and activity packets to support learning at home during the summer months.
As the Early Learning team approached the new school year, they needed to develop a new plan. Would they operate in person or virtually? They chose to do both, but it was far from easy. While the world was still partially shut down, the Early Learning teams understood the need for child care, especially for families who are essential workers. As in-person learning teams met to discuss new procedures for dropping-off and picking-up, cleaning schedules, and classroom arrangements; virtual learning teams were meeting to discuss realistic expectations for preschool learning through web platforms, deciding how to get materials to students each week (an equity practice), and how to engage with families. Whether students were face-to-face or virtual, learning was happening in new, flexible, and engaging ways. Instructors, parents, and children were excited to get settled into a new routine.
Throughout the year, the Early Learning team built a culture of learning, about learning. How can they give their all and meet the needs of students on Zoom? How could they create a classroom that is safe and consistent when the world outside their walls was not? This new learning culture happened through the power of connectivity to each other, to students, and to families, as well as remaining positive amongst the abundance of lemons. Recently, a mom who had a child enrolled in virtual schooling shared how scared and isolated she felt in the fall. It was her child’s teacher’s cheerful morning routine that helped the entire family to find joy and stability.
I never want us to forget how we’ve adapted, pulled together, and met the needs of our families over the past year. We did not give up in the face of some scary choices, and for that I’m grateful to everyone-especially the Early Learning teams-who did not give up or give in. I hope all of our Early Learning team members will take a well-deserved rest before returning to school in the fall when teachers and children can all be together again. Let’s appreciate what they’ve discovered, how they’ve adapted, and what they did to bring the ‘lemonade’ of learning to our children and communities.
