Greetings one and all,
You are receiving this as the fifth message in my Global SKILLs series - which began as ‘reconnecting’ and now is transitioning into what I envision as an on-going “connect”.
The first 4 messages were sent in May, and I fully intended to ‘connect’ on a weekly basis...but then the weight of these turbulent times got the best of me and my plans had to be postponed!
Can you relate?!
Physical dynamics compounded by stress, including back pain with incapacitating sciatica and a (thankfully mild) case of shingles, took me down. I’ve been out of circulation for about 6 weeks...trying, as so many of us are, to just get our heads around what to do - today! Here’s how I expressed some of it in a recent journal entry: “...we’re still in the midst of a very active, very unpredictable, still very little understood global pandemic. Every single day, multiple times a day, I am thinking pandemic related thoughts and experiencing pandemic related emotions and dealing with pandemic related physical impacts and making pandemic related decisions.
And that’s just my personal version of daily life which in the grand scheme of things is abundantly protected and provided for...multiply all that impact and all those challenges countless times around this pandemic weary world for countless people (who are not abundantly provided for or protected) and just the thought of it does truly seem impossible...”
Can you relate?!
That said though, I will quickly add that one of my priorities through it all has been to cling (some days almost desperately) to the assurance that not only are we going to get through this but that there already are and will continue to be ‘silver linings’ to all these dark covid clouds.
So, even as we’ve been so isolated personally and borders have been locked up tight, people around the globe are reaching out and touching each other virtually, building dynamic global communities of practice and innovative collaborative networks. It’s been awesome to observe and participate in!
One specific silver lining I’ve personally experienced and interacted about with colleagues has been seeing a willingness (granted, based on sheer necessity) for individualized (or autonomous) learning, and the essential skills which enable it, to be seriously considered as valuable components of lifelong learning. This has long been at the core of my own experience as a learner. It’s the very foundation of my approach, through all that Global SKILLs offers, to engaging, empowering and supporting learners of all ages. It’s great to see it being embraced - or at least taken seriously now - beyond the classroom, beyond traditional curriculum…into a promising future of innovative, strategically planned and truly “learner centered” education.
What’s a silver lining you have seen or heard about?
Think about it, share it here or with someone around you...and, please, be encouraged!
Until next week, Betsy
Silver linings, Sunset in central Florida, USA