In spite of some critics who downplayed the importance of social and emotional learning and the value of belonging, to me it is clear and has been for some time: When kids spend their daytime hours in safe, supportive schools where teachers work every day to build strong relationships with every student, they are simply better, more engaged learners.
Teaching during the lockdown was indeed about the technology—the mechanics of how to teach remotely.
But it was mainly about how we were going to hold our students’ hearts.
It was about connecting everybody and making them feel safe and secure ,before we got to the academics.
This virus had definitely stolen our students’ school experience for the rest of the year and we were not sure what would come next. Our students, missed their friends and their teachers, the feeling of being together and connected.
So we had to work on relationship skills and how to talk to each other the right way. It was back then, more important than ever .
I hope, we all agree that ,as teachers , we are leaders, guides, facilitators, and mentors.
We encourage students when they struggle, and inspire them to set and reach for their goals. We are role models, leading by example and giving direction when necessary.
In the very first days of the lockdown, my initial thought was not to rush to teach them Grammar and Language skills but to have my students express themselves!
Because, I know that when we can share our sensations, thoughts, and feelings, we feel a sense of relief, safety, and calm, and sharing our feelings and learning about them is one of the most powerful ways to regulate our nervous systems during stressful periods of time.
Many of my students reported feeling isolated, depressed, and overwhelmed!
The lack of a support system had definitely been the hardest part about not physically attending school.
What I had in mind before I decided to launch “Our FEELINGS project” on e-me was Growth Mindset.
Last year, I was introduced to Growth Mindset by Jennifer Schmidt of The Cogent Construct based in Spain.
Jennifer, had partnered with Pilgrim’s based in the UK to offer a new and innovative online teacher coaching / mentorship program and I was asked to contribute to it!
About Growth Mindset
This is a term introduced by Prof Carol Dweck and a concept that many schools are now introducing as a way to support a positive learning mindset. Those with a growth mindset (as opposed to a fixed mindset) believe they can improve with hard work and perseverance and that their intelligence isn’t fixed. They display better self-esteem and increased resilience. The journal encourages a growth mindset through checklist prompts and use of daily quotes to remind children about the importance of not giving up when faced with challenges.
During the lockdown, we were all developing empathy.
Empathy is the act of meeting someone in their pain and helping them feel like they’re not alone.
In order to inspire my students to take that journey, me as a teacher could not pretend that human feelings were something to which I was immune.I had to feel with students, which required both an acknowledgment that my own feelings existed and a desire to understand the feelings of my students. If I could create a fertile space for empathy to grow, I could also provide the opportunity for meaningful connections with my students.
I also used some writing opportunities for my students to get their thoughts, feelings, fears, and questions down in a creative format of their choice.
I gave them an option to share with the e-class.This did not only allow them to share out their feelings but also gave me a place to check on them and follow up when I saw any of them expressing sadness, fear, etc.
Most importantly , I was honest and as understanding as possible to let students know we were all in that together and would likely all need a little grace.
Αfter the first shock, I decided to focus my teaching on supporting my students emotionally.
Actually, the very first idea which I used in our synchronous meetings, during the lockdown, belonged to our inspiring colleague Effie Kyrikakis.
It was all about sharing our wishes and sharing positive messages within our families and the local community and about committing small acts of kindness.
The message to my students was:You can always fly with your imagination! Spread your positivity! #PlanesofHope
The main idea was that, each adult in their lives -teacher or parent- focuses on helping them bolster their strengths, discover their affinities, and realize their personal visions for the future.
Afterall, each teacher should be a role model of calm reflection within their school.
To me,it is crucial that we should avoid exhibiting our own frustrations, especially in emergencies.
As a result, my students became more likely to think of setbacks as temporary. They recognized that by using more effective personal strategies ,they could overcome obstacles and turn setbacks into triumphs.
During those challenging times,I thought that ,rather than jumping in to fix the problem when my students were bored or unmotivated to do online work ,I should let them feel their feelings as they faced those challenges. The key was to listen to and encourage them so that they felt comfortable taking control.
My motto: Let’s let our students discover their own ways to cope. This is phenomenal emotional growth and skill-building for the future.
Consequently, it was highly important that I should encourage my students to talk about their feelings but also express gratitude.
Therefore,I decided to incorporate another inspiring idea into our asynchronous meetings during the lockdown, which belonged to my amazing colleague Theodora Bogiou.
It was about sharing and spreading positive messages, during the lockdown, within the local communities.
Practising gratitude this way,not only helped my students to see the goodness in their lives but also realise that it could come from a number of sources, even inside their homes .
It proved to be highly beneficial for the kids, to enhance our practical optimism through focusing on gratitude, small acts of kindness, emotional mindfulness, brain exercise, and positive surroundings, especially in those difficult times of self-isolation.
THE #I_love_ME_project IDEA, IN BRIEF
We hang some messages on a tree in our backyards and balconies.
The first messages was on a red heart
The second message was on green leaves 
The third message was on suns
All in all, I managed to promote emotional growth by encouraging my children to talk about their feelings, helping them identify those feelings and validating them.
In addition to practical steps to prevent illness (like washing hands and keeping a safe distance from others in the grocery store), I wanted to stress to my students that there were many other areas of pandemic life that they could control: how they spent their time at home, what they did to manage tough emotions, which self-care tools they utilized to reduce stress, etc. Me and my students discussed those coping methods and even made a list of them together.
Consequently, the next idea for our webex online meeting, came from Effie Kyriakakis’ #re-bloom project
They actually wrote about their inner strengths ,on their artwork, on paper flower petals and shared them with the class both synchronously and asynchronously.
We also talked about resilience! Talking about resilience and the positive things that can come out of a crisis was not an attempt to paint a happy picture of those times, but to create real, measurable factors that can be gained by coming through a difficult time.
I thought that I should first demonstrate how I face challenges and frustration head-on and use different coping tactics like talking to loved ones, making art or playing music, which I later asked my students to try ,at home.
I often give my students’ brain and body a positive workout, in the school classroom . I decided to do the same,during the lockdown.
Why?
-I believed that finding ways of calming the body could help some children, too – for example, using breathing or meditation techniques. Many of my students told me that being very active and ‘keeping busy’ stopped negative feelings and reduced stress levels to them.
– For almost everyone, physical movement and exercise are very important. Scheduling time for that ,especially during the lockdown, helped my students to make sure they remembered to do it. I decided to ask them to do that, at the beginning of each synchronous class meeting.
– I also encouraged them to find an activity which they enjoyed that was completely separate from any homework tasks – it was cooking, art, a new sport indoors, catching up with friends on a regular video call, etc.
– My suggestion to them about doing things for others had also been found to help my students manage their own stress. i.e. helping around the house.
Being mindful of our emotional state, matters.
I personally believe that we have come into this life to make a positive impact on the world. Our inherent nature is at odds with growth—we tend to want to stay in our comfort zones.
If we always seek comfort first, we miss the purpose for which we came into this world.
My students and I came to understand that challenges are opportunities for growth. It is through life’s challenges that we find its greatest gifts, but we need to know how to look for them, and, more importantly, appreciate them.
Few weeks later, I decided it was time to talk to them about true and authentic confidence and courage.
We discussed that that’s how we survive when our confidence takes a hit, and how we can actually enhance our self-assurance when we struggle.
Believe it or not, even my youngest learners, got the message!
STORYTELLING and facing our covid19 fears
1.LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD and covid19
I decided to use a well-known fairytale , to talk to my youngest students about the pandemic: Little Red Riding Hood.
Why? Well, because of its symbols.
There are many versions of the story of Little Red Riding Hood but in many of the stories there are some common symbols.
A sweet innocent girl: Little Red Riding Hood (aka:my students) is unaware of the danger ahead. The wolf ( aka: covid19) easily convinces her to linger and give him time to reach grandmother’s house. She is also unaware of the wolf’s devious nature.
Her cap or hooded cloak suggests family protection.
It was given to her as a gift from her wise grandmother connecting the two. (Innocent becomes wise through painful experiences.)
The grandmother represents the wise, aged woman, the experienced one who is sick and needs our help and care. The grandmother represents the elderly and other vulnerable members, in our family.
There are three generations represented in the story. Red Riding Hood represents the first generation, her mother represents the second generation and the grandmother represents the elderly.
The wolf is the Coronavirus, the danger ,outside . He tricks the innocent Red Riding Hood just as anyone can deceive us if we are not aware of the dangers.
The forest is where the life away from home is.There are many distractions along the way and sometimes this allows our covid19 to get the better of us.
If not for the huntsman, who represents the doctors, all would be lost. The huntsman is keen and alert, always on the lookout for the virus. He rescues both of them from the belly of the wolf. They are unharmed.
Happy ending: The wolf is killed and the huntsman takes the pelt. Grandmother and Red Riding Hood eat and are merry.
The message to the kids : Whenever we overcome the danger and bring awareness to our behaviors there is a time of lightness and joy.
Our family, represented by the mother, is there to advise and support us!
2.THE WIZARD OF OZ and covid19
I decided to use another well-known story which had already been introduced to my kids, before the lockdown and during our English Drama Lab meetings, to talk to my oldest students about the pandemic: The Wizard of Oz
I thought, it would be a great idea to keep working on it, remotely, too, during the lockdown, in order to teach the kids about how to cope with life hardships and enhance their confidence and boost their courage!
WHAT DOES THE WIZARD OF OZ HAVE TO DO WITH CONFIDENCE and covid19?
If you think about it, each of the characters in The Wizard of Oz are searching for a different aspect of confidence.
Lion fluctuates between fearful and overly aggressive behaviour, because he lacks the confidence to face his fears.
Scarecrow is very intelligent, but lacks belief in himself, or self-confidence.
Tin Man searches for the confidence to know that expressing his unique feelings and sensitive side is okay.
Dorothy searches for the ability to follow her own heart and to learn how to stand up for what she believes is right with authority figures like the Wicked Witch and the Wizard himself.
All of the characters find their confidence along the journey, and they become more alive and more themselves as they do.
As for courage, what we all learned was that, like the Cowardly Lion, we could already be far more courageous, more valiant, more heroic than we imagine. All we need may be a little encouragement and affirmation of the considerable inner power we each already possess in order to rise courageously to the challenge of this current existential crisis, and those we will inevitably face in the future.
Certainly, we all had, all those lockdown days, to search for and summon up such inner personal and collective courage, in order to cope constructively with the cataclysmic and chronic covid19 crisis.
To sum up,this is what we actually focused on, both synchronously and asynchronously:
It is what Lion learned…
the ability to face your fears and try new things.
ΑΝΤΙΜΕΤΩΠΙΖΩ ΤΟΥΣ ΦΟΒΟΥΣ ΜΟΥ!
It is what Scarecrow learned…
the ability to believe in yourself and be comfortable with your own abilities and strengths.
ΠΙΣΤΕΥΩ ΣΤΟΝ ΕΑΥΤΟ ΜΟΥ!
It is what Tin Man learned…
the ability to express your feelings and thoughts, your true self, and not be afraid of how others see you.
ΕΙΜΑΙ Ο ΕΑΥΤΟΣ ΜΟΥ ΚΑΙ ΔΕΝ ΕΠΗΡΕΑΖΟΜΑΙ ΑΠΟ ΤΟ ΠΩΣ ΜΕ ΒΛΕΠΟΥΝ ΟΙ ΑΛΛΟΙ!
It is what Dorothy learned…
the power to stand up for what you believe is right.
ΥΠΕΡΑΣΠΙΖΟΜΑΙ ΤΟ ΔΙΚΑΙΟ!
My students were learning to be courageous, instead of disappointed or depressed, when their boundaries were crossed.
They were learning that their words can make an impact on others and when they see that they are effective, they learn that they are capable of dealing with problems themselves which boosts self-confidence.
CONCLUSION
Much like developing the skills and knowledge that we need to advance as a teacher, becoming more optimistic , especially in emergencies, entails deliberate effort.
And as with maintaining other competencies, sustaining a positive outlook may require a practical maintenance routine of being mindful about the good things in life, in us, in our work, and in our students
ELT inspired 