Staff Refections 2007

Reflections for the year 2007

Kerri Hamlett, pre-school teacher

My first year at Synergy has come with many and varied challenges, special moments and emotions. The challenges, special moments and emotions of this year have all come together in one result for me: transformation. If I had to summarize the year in two words it would be: inspired transformation.

I moved from a space from wanting to leave Synergy school and never look back, now to a place of knowing there is no other work place that would work for me in my life at this point…

For me being part of Synergy School in 2007 has left me…

1. Being inspired almost everyday
   
2. Being challenged and the best part of being challenged is learning that you, yourself are able to find ways to overcome it or make it work for you.
   
3. Everyday brings with it a new possibility… for me that is an exciting way to live as we constantly seek out what could work better for us and those around us.
   
4. I have become present to the enormous value in meaningful relationships for adults and children alike. I am consistently becoming aware of how one’s experience of life changes because of powerful relationships. I have experienced this principle in the classroom, seen the difference it makes to children’s lives and become passionate about making it happen as often as possible.
   
5. I have realized that, if I choose to, I can create anything I want for my life. I have come to believe that this is also possible for children and that I am able to play a part in making it happen in children’s lives.
   
6. I have become passionate about transforming education in our country, for all walks of life and building a nation of people who are empowered.
   
7. I have learnt that the word “potential” limits what one can accomplish and create.

It is my belief that the spaces that are created for personal growth and development at Synergy have supported me in getting to where I am at in my life now… I am hesitant to say 2008 excites me…at times I find the challenges frightening and insurmountable, at the same time I am willing to continue creating the possibility that 2008 will be beautiful…

Cindy Adams, Grade 1 & 2 teacher
I have grown and changed so much this year. Looking back, this year has been a real life-cycle for me. I have grown from a caterpillar, living on a leaf and getting ‘bigger’ and ‘fatter,’ into a butterfly. Growing wings to explore and be creative, moving beyond the leaf and cocoon to spaces of infinite possibilities. My sense is that the children have similarly experienced such transformation, each in their own unique way.

The caterpillar stage

At the beginning of the year I remember being unsure of what the year would look like. There was an open space and many possibilities before me. At the same time I was certain that I was in the place I needed and wanted to be. I felt a sense of belonging and connectedness with the people around me and with the principles that our community upholds. In a similar way, our group started off together with a sense of uncertainty as to how we would become a group, a team. At the same time there was a tangible sense that this was a space where we all belong, a safe and secure space. From this space our group started to create many deep and meaningful relationships. I remember many times when there was a tangible sense of community within our space. For example when we explored bones together: looking at our own body and seeing the differences and similarities between us. Or welcoming new children into our group: sharing our space and making them feel welcome. And the many community rings of listening and sharing, and learning how to engage with and support each other. The most tangible example for me and my highlight from the first half of the year was when shared what we liked about each other. The connectedness between us significantly increased and our self-esteem grew, as each of us realised just how much we are valued and loved within our group.

Working with Carey I grew very ‘fat’ and a lot stronger as a teacher and a person; soaking up everything that I could from her. I was shaped and moulded by her. She often unashamedly threw me in the deep end and then allowed me to find my own ways of doing things within our space. I learnt a lot about how to work in a team with her. I learned about myself through the mirror that she was for me. I also learned a lot from merely observing her incredible example and way with children. In many ways she mentored me into being a teacher. I grew into a very big and strong caterpillar under her wings and started to spin my own cocoon, continuing the transformation into being my own butterfly within the classroom.

The cocoon process…

From the time that it became a possibility to be the core-teacher for our group it felt as if a cocoon process begun for me. I started to step more into the powerful person that I inherently was, taking more responsibility for who I was and what impact that had on the children and our space. I really got that I was the one who was going to make this work or not. I could blame circumstances or external things, or I could seriously take responsibility and be a teacher. An incredible teacher who is certain of the inherent worth and power that she has inside her, and is consequently able to empower and support the children in a unique and significant way. The process of taking on the role of core-teacher was significant for me. I transformed from being fearful and unsure to being confident, certain and more powerful; taking more responsibility and waiting less for others to do so for me. I then began to create within myself and within our classroom space too.

Becoming a butterfly, growing wings…

Starting the third term as the core-teacher was amazing for me. I had the support of Carey, at the same time I took ownership of the space and began to make it my own. I started to try out some new ideas and the things that we created as a group are real highlights for me. The Friday project was a mini-life-cycle in itself. The children’s projects were birthed in their imaginations and took shape and form throughout the four weeks. I saw each child grow and develop through their project. The projects and children took on more definition and shape, things were removed and things were added. They learnt from each other: sharing ideas, working through conflicts and creating solutions. This process culminated for me in the exhibition. Each day I saw the children become more confident to share their projects and their self-esteem tangibly grew. Other highlights were our explorations into the Rain Forest, sharing vulnerably about our families and learning how to support each other in deeper way through becoming more comfortable with conflict.

Being the core-teacher has grown me incredibly. I am continuously learning about myself. Through this transformation process I became aware that I was scared of anger and other ‘negative’ emotions. I have now grown to be more comfortable expressing and working through these feelings. This has created a space for the group to become more comfortable to express and accept a myriad of emotions that they experience. Linked to this I became aware that I sometimes ‘rescue’ the children: trying to solve their problems and make them feel happy. I have now grown to support them in working out their own solutions and I am more comfortable with them not always being happy within our space. This has allowed the children to be more authentic in expressing how they feel and not feel pressurised to always be happy or to find solutions immediately. In addition, the children are increasingly able to solve their own problems and make things work for themselves with little teacher support. Consequently, they have grown stronger and more mature; creating things for themselves rather than relying on me or the environment to make things work for them.

Sources of support in the transformation process…

I feel incredibly supported in this transformation process by the parents in our group. This was very evident when we planned the social together. This process brought us closer and deepened our relationships. I have become more confident engaging with the parents and have enjoyed the consequent intimacy that has grown. Doing CCI and Landmark has supported me greatly. I am much more powerful and secure within myself as a result of the awareness and skills that these courses have provided. Another source of support in my transformation process has been the Synergy staff – we have also been through a life-cycle process as a team. We function as a team more powerfully than before. I am excited that we are moving more into creating our school together with increasing clarity and power.

Now that I have found my wings and have become more aware of my inherent value and power, I look forward to ending the year with much strength and joy, completing the year well as a school and as a group. Deepening our sense of community and strengthening the connectedness between us and continuing our journey to become more powerful individuals.

CJ Allen, Grade 3 & 4 teacher

The day I observed a class at Synergy, followed by an interview with Robin, I left the school with a strong feeling that Synergy was the school I would start working at. The feeling was very strong within me, definitely my gut speaking. That night Robin phoned me to let me know I was on board! I remember clearly the morning I was to meet some of the children who would be in my class, as well as meet their parents. The first people I met were Michael Coombes and family. And so the journey began, getting to know the children, parents, the routine at Synergy, the day to day operations including daily pictures, journals, meetings, reflections, staff development, preparation, workshops, ways to engage children and just being – growing and learning in the context of Synergy.

To adjust to a new system, a new way of life, although exciting, can also be overwhelming at times. Not only in fulfilling day-to-day responsibilities and policies, but more importantly that I am working with children who will be our next generation; individuals all so unique in character, each with gems inside of them, precious little beings with their own jewels to share with the world. In my heart, this is the most important responsibility, one not to be taken lightly. The first term was my most challenging term at Synergy. Not only in trying to learn multiple things as quickly as possible, but also because I did not want to make any mistakes in dealing with the children. Perhaps one of the things I learned in first term is that everything is a process. Learning a new system and way of life will have its challenges and in that one will make ‘mistakes’. However, I learned to see it as ‘learning how to do it better’ rather than making a ‘mistake’. Perhaps it is only a mistake if you already know better?

While I am there as a facilitator to guide their education and development in any way I can, I too can learn and grow from everyone and everything around me, and indeed I have. In that beautiful symbiotic relationship, we give each other gifts that will always be a part of us and will stay with us forever. Happy faces due to achieving swinging from a height, getting a concept in class, developing pride in themselves as they realise they CAN, is what has been a gift to me and will always remain with me. The greatest joy I have within me now, stems from the journey I have travelled this year, with the parents and children. Seeing our class go through changes, building friendships, developing in more ways than merely Numeracy, Literacy and world knowledge, but more importantly as a human with emotions, needs, thoughts, talents and social dynamics has been what really touches me. Focusing on the self-esteem, confidence, clarity, compassion, understanding, patience and the human heart is what has made this year so beneficial for me. It is what I see as the driving force in building relationships, with other people around us, as well as the way we deal with ourselves.

I will leave with a smile knowing that each one of us, parent, student, teacher, staff... human, is a part of a greater mosaic, impacting each other and together creating something greater than an individual on our own. Our uniqueness can enhance another and in our own learning (from others), we can benefit and impact others around us, celebrating each other as unique individuals with something to offer, something to learn and possessing the ability to progress. We are unique, at the same time part of the human family. One of my favourite quotes attests to this idea:
“Consider the flowers of a garden; though differing in kind, colour, form and shape, yet in as much as they are refreshed by the breath of one wind, invigorated by the rays of one sun, this diversity increases their charm, and adds to their beauty.... Diversity of hues, form and shape, enriches and adorns the garden....” -Taken from the Baha’i writings, written by Abdu’l-Baha

Tahirih Cook, Grade 5 & 6 teacher
As a teacher at Synergy Schooling, my reality consists of a number of different interactive levels of community. There is my classroom community – me and the children in my group. Then there is the small community of people who inhabit the top house space – the grade 3 and 4 children and their teachers. From here the community expands outwards to include the rest of the children and adults in the lower house (grade 1, 2 and preschool) and school administration. Beyond this, there is the parent community and other adults who are associated with the school. Embracing all these little communities is the wider society of South Africa and the global community. Obviously, it is my classroom community, the children that I teach, which consumes the majority of my day-to-day reality.

A personal highlight of 2007, has been my growing awareness of these different levels of community. I have become increasingly conscious of the way they impact and shape the educational experience of the children in my classroom, as well as my day-to-day reality in the classroom. I have had tangible experiences of how interconnected things really are and for the first time in my life, I understand why it is impossible to solve the problems of the world on your own. This was a startling insight for me, because I was brought up with a belief that individuals can change the world. Naïve as this may seem, I really believed in the power of the individual to create transformation in the world. Even so, I could never understand why it was so difficult to do everything on my own.

This year, I have gained some insight into why community is so important. I have also realised why we need to create conscious communities to harness collective agency to create real change in society. In a sense, I have finally understood that an individual's 'power' (or agency) is a reflection of the quality of the relationships that exist in the communities that they are part of. This realisation ties into the things which stand out for me in educational experience with my group this year. As my awareness of community, relationships and communication have shifted this year, there has been a noticeable shift in the quality of these things in the classroom. Yesterday, I was observing the 8 children who I spend my days with, play together during break. I could see how much they enjoyed being in each other's company, how well they communicate with each other, how easily they relate to one another and I felt a deep sense of satisfaction. I realised that this small community now is populated by a group of individuals who feel connected to each other and have a deep sense of belonging. I know this is a powerful force because each time we have a new child come to visit or join the group, there is a collective shift to incorporate this new member, like muscles stretching to make space for new growth.

As you can imagine from what I have written so far, it is the project work of the children in my class which has been a highlight for me this year. Things took off in the first term with the playground equipment project that turned into a 3-dimensional landscape of a wildlife sanctuary. In the second term, the class decided to explore the theory of evolution as a group. Then in the third term, we focused on a class trip which in turn, led to the emergence of the music cd. This theme has continued well into the fourth term and more recently there has been a desire to get involved in science experiments and learn about human history. The content of the project work provided the group with a challenging, exciting, uncertain and dynamic space for learning to take place. We have all learned how to confront challenges, work together, communicate and deal with uncertainty. It has not been easy. There were times when I longed for the structure of a ready made curriculum which I could teach rather than an emerging process which I was facilitating. It did not take me long though to realise that what I really wanted was 'structure' to remove the uncertainty and the sense of responsibility I felt to control the learning process. This is something I have had to confront in different ways at different times. For example, when things were not going anywhere at the beginning of the year with the play ground equipment project, I decided to hand this responsibility to the group rather than take control of it and make it happen on my own. I presented the problem to the group - “We are 3 weeks into the playground equipment project and we are still in the design phase....what is the problem?” This was one of the first big risks which I took in the classroom this year and I am glad that I did because I think that this decision was a catalyst to the community building process in the classroom. The children's response to my question (after some discussion of course), “We don't know how to cooperate. Let’s figure out how to work together as a group.” So we talked about it and the project worked out. More recently with the music cd project, I handled things differently when we got stuck. I asked the group if there was anyone who wanted to manage the project after we worked out everything that we needed to achieve to make it a success. When no-one volunteered for this role, I offered to take it on and the class agreed. In this project, we have all worked together but our roles have been different. In the first term, the group was just beginning to confront the relationship between their ability to work together and the success of their project. This term, I feel that the group is deepening their understanding of what it means to work together. The children are starting to see that it is their diversity and individual contributions to the 'group project' that make it successful.

Learning how to work together has really been the unifying undercurrent in everything my group has done this year. Each time we have tackled a new project or confronted a new challenge, it has been our ability to work together which has determined the outcome. So, as I sit here writing this reflection and see all the children I spend my days with in my mind's eye, I know that this year has been a success. They have all grown and matured. They have formed a connected community. They are strong, capable, caring, intelligent, interesting and compassionate human beings. I also know that I have done this on my own, my ability to have an impact on the classroom environment is shaped by the quality of the relationships which exist in the communities that I am part of. The other staff at Synergy and the parents of the children I work with, give me the energy and support which makes this all possible. So I think we should give ourselves a big round of applause for a great year!

Vuyo Madlingozi, Grade 3 & 4 Assistant

This has been a wonderful year and has been a learning curve for me. With the support of the courses that the school offered me I have a wonderful experience of discovering myself. As I’m still on the journey of self development and personal growth I enjoy the getting in touch with the true self. That is supporting me in managing our class with great confidence and worked on my low self-esteem. I am at a very good space with myself and that is evident by the relationship that I am having with the children in our class. It is easy to support and understand the children when you are having a good relationship with them. Trust is being built out of the relationship that we are having. As I’m working with CJ we managed to form a great team. That is made possible by the fact we always make it possible that we are on the same page about things that concerns our class. Because of the opportunities that the school made possible for me, I am now open to constructive feedback and understand that it is about growth and support. That strengthened the relationship that I have with my colleagues. What I like most with Synergy is the fact that there is a strong support system and it is nice to know that you are not alone when things are not going your way.

I’ve grown to relate freely with the parents from our class and grateful to them for trusting me enough to leave their children under my care. I count myself lucky for working at Synergy because I am now exposed to revelations about myself and getting insights about things that I used to take for granted. That leaves me empowered and clear about what I want to achieve by the end of each day .When you are clear the children can get you easily. It is such a pleasure to work with our children as they are teaching me how to be a teacher all over again .Their enthusiasm and their eagerness to learn new things put the smile on my face and make me realise that they do get something out of our partnership. It is such an opportunity to come from a different background because it gives them an opportunity to learn a thing or two about me and I also get an opportunity to learn more about them. My Xhosa lessons have been good as the children are giving their best effort. Once again I would like to thank you for trusting us with your kids and for making this year work for all of us. Thank you for being wonderful parents to your kids because most of the things that happen at home impact them at school. I wish you to have a wonderful holiday.

Debbie Ntshangase, Pre-school teacher
It was just the other day that we started the school year and already we finding ourselves at the end of it. It was an exiting year for me. I came from a space of uncertainty and fear of whether I will be able to create a classroom where parents and children can be a part of. My biggest fear always has been when parents shared our morning ring. The question was whether I can support both the children and parents during this time. As much as I wanted to work with children I came to realise that it is not about loving children but really being part of a bigger picture. Whether it was taking minutes for parent sharing or getting the Journal out on time, it was all part of being a Teacher.

Looking back, I had grown so much as a person and all because you really supported me in my journey in becoming this new person. I acknowledge you for the understanding and compassion that I received from you whenever I slipped up by forgetting things at times. Having got that really gave me the courage to take initiative to hold my first Parent sharing and really taking a stand in sharing with you how important it was for the children to have you with us in the Morning ring when I experienced a bit of a resistance coming from you at the time. It was for the first time that I was excited about having parents in the ring. I also give acknowledgement for the part that CCI played in supporting me in creating this new more confident me.

Just to share with you that CCI gave me the tools to live my life powerfully whether it was in my relationships with you or your children or my self. My reflection of this year was really of children being happy and looking forward to come to school. They are proud to be a part of Synergy and so am I.

I would like to take the liberty to really thank you for your commitment during this year to in supporting me supporting your children.

Patsy Hamilton, pre-school assistant
As the end of the year is rushing toward us and I pause to reflect, I am not sure where to begin. I’m not sure whether it is human nature to automatically dwell on the things that have had a negative impact or maybe it is just me. And if it is just me, being a more aware, more conscious person, I choose to dwell on the positive.

The children! I have watched children master physical challenges like the monkey bars and riding a scooter for the first time, feeling so proud and chuffed that one would swear I gave birth to them. I’ve watched children finding their voice, expressing what they need. I am thrilled to see children dealing with shifting leadership rolls. Children who used to just tag along are now “the boss” of the game and others are asking them to play. Most of all I am still blown away with some of the thinking and understanding that they have. A conversation about God, the soul, birth and where we come from clearly stands out in my mind. I can go on and on but apparently, I have to fit this on one page.

Kerri, Debbie and I set ourselves the goal of becoming a highly effective team. It was not always easy as we had to get to know one another on a new level, sort out communication, get a clearer understanding of each other’s understanding. We also wanted happy children and parents. In that area we had MANY challenges and did not always get it right. Yet we emerged on the other side stronger, surer and more determined.

Looking through the projections for each term, balance seems to be the common thread. Although I haven’t quite managed to get everything done to my own exacting standard by five everyday or managed to not favour one area of my life at the cost of another; I am happy to say that I am happy. I am thrilled to have done Landmark and honestly ecstatic about having completed Master I. I get that I am able to choose how and from what place I want to view everything in my life. I am powerful and every day I, me, Patsy Hamilton makes a difference. Knowing that the last term was going to be fast and hectic my goal was to make it to the end of term with my sense of humour intact.

So what is blue and doesn’t weigh very much?
Light blue.