I am writing this post many thousands of miles from my country – Australia. I left Australia the day after Christmas to share a long planned and much anticipated fortnight with my younger daughter in Europe and then to travel on to work here. While I have been away two events have happened that have made it harder than ever before to be away from home. A dear friend – who was terminally ill but doing so well before I left, had a fall and died. It has been heartbreaking to be away, to say the least. And parts of my country, my beautiful Australia was (and continues to be) ravaged by fire in ways we have never seen before. I have thought long and hard about cancelling work and returning early and have been faced with an enormous, personal dilemma… but on balance, I decided to stay. There is much work still to do when I do return. And some of it is grief work.
Grief work is something I am sadly familiar with – most of us are in one form or another. But grief is important work and many teachers in Australia will be facing the challenge of engaging in this work in some way over the coming weeks and months. It might feel like the wrong word to describe the impact of the fires but, for me, the deep sadness, sense of loss, the bewilderment, the helplessness, the anger, the hunger for community, the longing for what was and the uncertainty about what is to come are as true for my feelings about my country – and about our Earth – as they are for my friend.
The overarching purpose of this blog is to explore what it means to bring an inquiry stance to teaching and learning. Underpinning all my posts are the values of curiosity, wonder, open-mindedness, courage, open-heartedness, compassion, deep, critical thinking, exploration and agency. I can think of no more important context than right now, this time, to champion these things and to place them firmly at the centre of our work with children. Most importantly - our own bewilderment, anger and uncertainty have the potential to lead to helplessness, disconnection and even cynicism. Deliberately nurturing our own curiosity, optimism, courage and compassion can help avoid that trap and offer a more constructive way forward. Grief leans on compassion in order to recede - compassion for self, others and the planet.
As I write this, I am gazing out the window of a hotel room in Zurich. When I woke this morning, I could see nothing but fog (eerily like the images of smoke filled vistas that I have seen in news from Australia). Gradually, as the morning progresses, the mist is slowly clearing and the view becoming more apparent. I can now see the detail on the houses directly in front of me while those on the hills further away remain shrouded. I trust that in time today, the fog will lift and I will see more clearly.
This is what grief work is like. Indeed this is also what inquiry as a process is like. It requires trust. It requires the understanding that we CAN’T see it all at once. We don’t know where it will go but, gradually, we see the path and trust in our instincts. We stop, we reflect, we get feedback, we question some more, we check in, we move forward and our understanding grows. We both allow the path to emerge AND we help construct it.
In returning to our classrooms in the coming weeks we will need, in part, to trust that the learners will lead us – if we take time to listen. Of course we will need to make some plans, and think ahead about what and how to manage the opportunity and the challenge but if we plan too tightly (even with the best of intentions) we may miss out on the most important element in the inquiry process – tuning in to the thinking and feeling of the learners themselves in order to get gradual clarity about the best ways forward. So ask your kids – ask them for permission to have the conversation in the first place, ask them how they feel about talking about it and – if they want to – ask them to share their wonderings and allow yourself to ask “What does this reveal to me? Where might we need to go next?”
Bringing the spirit of inquiry to the beginning of the school year in Australia may well mean we change what we had intended to do. If every cab driver, waiter, shop assistant, flight attendant, etc. I meet here on the other side of the world has questions/opinions about the fires – I can only imagine how present it would be at home. For the remainder of this post, I want to offer some thoughts that might support the discussions you are having. as teachers ahead of those vital first days and weeks and also link you to some resources
1. Stay truly open to possibilities.
It won’t be until you meet with your learners that you will have a sense of what they night want and need to explore. This will vary enormously across classes, age groups and of course across schools. Some schools are sadly in the very thick of the fire experience while others have not been as directly affected. Be mindful of “units” and other activities that are offered on the topic. Some will be just right for your learners while others inappropriate for your context. Inquiries are best born of the interests, questions and needs of your students.
2. Invite rather than assume
IF your learners are OK with this, invite them to share their questions but don’t feel that the questions must be answered. Many of the questions associated with this time are not easy, googleable, questions. This is a good opportunity to allow questions to unfurl, to be explored, discussed, pondered – but to also help children understand that the question itself might be all that is needed for now.
“I suggest that we balance our moral ferocity with humility and tenderness. First, we need the humility of consistent self-examination. This requires us to do something very countercultural: Celebrate questions even when we do not have answers. Our culture rewards certainty, confidence, and definitive answers. By celebrating questions, we increase the likelihood of identifying the potential harm we might do in the name of our values.” (Rabbi Doctor Ariel Berger, 2019)
3. Provide options.
For some children, having direct conversations about the situation. might be too confronting while others will be desperate to talk about it. There may also be teachers who feel more capable of facilitating these conversations who might offer to work with kids on an opt in basis. It is unlikely to be a one-size-fits -all approach.
4. Start building a bank of resources
There are so many clips, articles, images) that you MAY find useful depending on the needs of your learners. - so many incredible stories that illustrate the goodness in humans. The work being done in animal shelters, the fund raising efforts, the day to day compassion and kindness shown to those in need. These are powerful case studies that can inspire and reassure.
5. Commit to a slower, more open culture in your classroom
Big issues, big questions take time. The NEED time and space to be explored properly. Know your curriculum for the year really well so you can see how the pathways you might take actually support the curriculum. The general capabilities (especially personal, social and ethical thinking) are central to this work.
6. Think conceptually.
“Topic level” inquiries like “natural disasters” are not necessarily the best way forward with this. But the issue abounds with potential connections to powerful concepts and big ideas. These are some of the questions that may emerge or be useful to provide a broader conceptual frame:
How do people make a positive difference to their lives and the lives of others?
How can we respond to challenges in our lives?
Who’s got the power? How are decisions made in this and other communities?
How do people use their talents and passions to change the world?
How have innovations in science changed the world?
What can we learn from other cultures to strengthen our own?
How are we connected to the earth?
What makes places special/unqiue?
What is the role of the arts in bringing about change?
Are we a sustainable school? How can we be even more sustainable?
What does it mean to be part of a connected community?
What can we learn from the past in order to shape the future?
What does it mean to be a leader?
What kind of community do we want to be?
What does it mean to be resilient?
7. Take action
Many of us feel more positive about challenging situations when we feel we are taking action – when we have some agency to make a difference. Your students may wish to explore some of the many ‘actions’ being carried out by people within communities all around the world and be part of these, This is a great time to make real connections with individuals, community groups, and organisations and empower your students through involvement in real projects.
8. Focus on community building.
This is something we do at the beginning of the year anyway but it is so very important in these times. As Brene Brown says “Rarely does a response make something better, what makes something better is connection”. This is a powerful time to inquire into the relationships we have with each other and to think deeply about the kind of relationships we want – in our classroom, in our teams, in our staff room, with our leaders, with each other and across the world. Strong, respectful, caring relationships will be the key to recovery. Of that I am sure. And schools are places in which young people learn about relationships – for better or worse. Let’s champion kindness, let’s commit to showing kids what it means to truly have each other’s back. Lets model respect and compassion. In times like these the petty conflicts that seem to pervade some schools have no place.
9. Keep it balanced.
It hardly needs saying but of course none of us wants to inadvertently overwhelm children or exacerbate anxiety. For many children, school might be a place that allows them to voice their concerns and curiosities but is also be a place that is an emotional refuge from what they have been hearing/seeing and thinking about over summer. Routine, a focus on the things that bring us joy, play, continued inquiries into all manner of fascinating things … help bring balance, perspective relief and hope.
10. Stay connected to nature
Finally – and most urgently, I want to encourage you to do whatever you can to get your kids out INTO the natural environment and to do whatever you can to foster the deep connection with and love for the earth we all need. For decades, environmental educators have offered this simple adage that we need to teach children about, for and IN the environment. This situation could easily create an image of the natural environment as something to be feared and avoided. It certainly needs respect – but it also needs our love. We are more willing to care for the things we are deeply connected to. Explore the incredible work of Bush Kindergartens, contact the environment officer in your local council, see if there are walks/tours run by Aboriginal educators and elders in your community, commit to creating greener spaces in your school grounds, check out the beautiful work done by https://www.natureplay.org.au or https://www.gould.org.au. Invite parents and children to share some of their most treasured outdoor places. Use the outdoors as a context for inquiry.
As our return to school becomes ever closer, there is a growing number of offerings on this very subject for teachers. I have shared my thoughts here but you can also find some great thoughts here:
and, if you go to my facebook page and see the post there…there are dozens of suggestions and links to more articles and reflections from teachers to add to my own:
https://www.facebook.com/KathMurdochConsulting/
https://sites.google.com/uldtraining.com/bushfireseduhelp/contacts-map?authuser=0
Finally – one of the most amazing things about this time has been the incredible offerings by artists (writers, singers, dancers, visual artists…) to help make sense of things and to raise funds. I am unashamedly sharing my daughter’s offering – using her role as a singer and songwriter to make a difference. All proceeds from this song go to Greenmusic which is working hard to make that industry more sustainable
https://open.spotify.com/album/1dpZNak4zAmCvYXwH7a1Eu
So….
Are you still with me? If so – thank you for reading through such a long post. I feel that this has been part of MY grief work – processing, clarifying and making a connection to you - the amazing community of inquiry educators who read this. Outside, the mist has indeed lifted a little more but there remains an unseen, unknown element in my view. I need to trust that this too, will become clear in time and that my heavy heart will lighten. May yours also.
“In this encounter lies hope for the future. If we can educate new generations to balance ferocity with humility and tenderness, questions with responses, then our encounters with darkness, whether in the study of history or the daily news, can galvanize thoughtful, compassionate action. And maybe one day, when it is very quiet, we will hear, not the cries of the suffering, but laughter.” (Burgur 2019)
How do you see your role in these challenging times?
What other thoughts do you have about way an inquiry stance can help us do this important work
Just wondering…
Reference: https://www.globalonenessproject.org/library/articles/learning-and-teaching-heart-troubled-times?fbclid=IwAR2L9vgCnhS2eCE-2fJVz4xxHaWbS9VFKjCsI3DqYH1oSX6u6FKdmmGEp8g