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Well that year went fast

Picture of Michael
Michael

It’s been a while since I’ve written an article, but I’m excited to be back and sharing my experiences with you. Like many of you, I was bouncing back from two years of lockdowns due to COVID, and unfortunately with how busy it was returning to school, I didn’t get to write an article for all of 2022.

As a teacher with over 20 years of experience, I’ve seen a lot of changes in the education system. But the two COVID years were extraordinary, and the move to online teaching was a significant challenge for everyone. However, after a year of face-to-face teaching, we were faced with new challenges and opportunities.

One of the significant challenges has been engaging with students who for some of them have spent most of their high school years learning online. Engaging students has always been a challenge, but after two years of online learning, the challenge has been heightened. As a teacher in the performing arts, I have found it challenging to keep students motivated and engaged in the classroom, especially as performing is a skill that you need to keep practicing, and many students didn’t get those opportunities when working from home.

The pandemic has taught us the importance of being adaptable and flexible in our approach to teaching and we made many advances during the COVID years. However it has been disappointing that some teachers reverted to traditional approaches and styles of teaching once students returned to in-person learning. Moving forward, it’s crucial for educators to continue to build upon what we’ve learned and incorporate new teaching methods and technologies to enhance student learning and engagement. By doing so, we can continue to provide students with the best possible educational experience.

As the Director of College and Community Engagement, I’ve got to see firsthand the importance of communication in making the transition back to face-to-face teaching as smooth as possible. Keeping parents informed and updated, listening to feedback and responding to concerns, and being open and transparent in all communication has been essential.

In some ways this year was tougher than the previous two. I like many other educators were not ‘match fit’ and I have never seen staff more tired than I did during this year.

However it is time to turn to the positive.

We have been through something that we hopefully will never see again, so it’s time to take the lessons we have learnt and move onwards and upwards.

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One of the strengths of the book is how clearly Breakspear describes what many educators experience but rarely name. He refers to “weary talk”, conversations that go around in circles, where some voices dominate, others disengage, and time runs out before anything meaningful shifts. This is not framed as a problem with people, but as a problem of structure. Bringing people together is not enough on its own. Good collaboration needs to be designed.
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Grounded by Katrina Bourke is one of those books.

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Conversations on Leadership, AI, and the Arts

Over the years, I’ve been fortunate to contribute to a number of podcast conversations, as well as host a series myself during lockdown. Each of these experiences gave me a chance to step back from the day-to-day of school life and reflect more broadly on the issues shaping education.

Across these episodes I’ve explored a range of themes: how the arts have influenced my leadership, the opportunities and challenges of AI in classrooms, and the behind-the-scenes realities of staging a school musical. I’ve also had the chance to talk with students and colleagues about community, connection, and the ways schools can adapt in times of disruption.