There Should Be Balance!

There Should Be Balance!

There Should Be Balance!

Dr. Marcia Davis-Dawkins

 

By Dr. Marcia Davis-Dawkins

Mother’s Day 2020 was not a normal one. It seems like it would be just another COVID-19 day, one that we were quarantined and would sit and be grateful for being alive and well unlike so many others who had succumbed to the dreaded pandemic. After all, Mother’s Day will be special for me whichever way I took it.

Grassroots Education My daughter decided that she would surprise me and teach me to ride a bicycle! This sounded crazy especially since most people at my age can ride a bicycle, so the comments I usually get include, “How come you can’t ride a bicycle?” “You really can’t ride a bike?” “Were you just a scaredy-cat?”  Little did they know that not everyone is privileged to have access to a bicycle, and that was not priority when I was younger. Anyway, as I was learning I realized that there had to balance and that was the key to my being successful. I needed to face my fear of falling and learn how to balance on the bicycle!  Albert Einstein’s words rang in my ears as I tried the arduous task of balancing. He said that “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.” I have taken cycling classes before at the gym and in fact, seen this quote on the wall of the cycling class but it didn’t matter then since the bikes were stationary and all I had to do was pedal to get going and the more I pedaled the faster I would go which would mean that I burnt more calories. This I had to put in place the hard way and truth be told, I learned the hard way because I tried to do things my way and let fear get in the way. Now I have a scar on my shin to show that I need balance in my life!

 

How many of us can remember being on a seesaw as a younger you? Well, I can especially since being on a seesaw was not much of challenge, so I masteredGrassroots Education There Should Be Balance the art of see-sawing! Well, think about it if there is balance with the see-saw then both sides are on the same level. For those of you who are unsure what a seesaw is it a common playground equipment that features a board balanced in the center. One person sits on each end, and they take turns pushing their feet against the ground to lift their side into the air.

 

Taking care of ourselves includes having a balance so that we are not indulging in too much of anything. It means that we are listening to our bodies and ensuring that everything is aligned and feels good or okay. Many of us can tell for instance, when we have eaten too much and feeling stuffed. If we eat too much, then we will feel stuffed as well as gain too much weight. Then there is a spiral effect, if you gain too much weight then, there could be health issues like diabetes, or heart problems which then means that we don’t feel good about ourselves.

 

Setting boundaries is part of making things balance. If we are not balanced emotionally, then we are always down on ourselves. For instance, we might spend too much time watching the news, which tend to be sad and disturbing so watching the news can cause us to be depressed and unbalanced emotionally. We should therefore set emotional boundaries, so we don’t become too upset or even angry. We should be emotionally okay so much so that if we feel as if we need to talk to a therapist, then we should and avoid the misnomer that people will assume we are unstable if they are aware that we are seeing a therapist.

 

Balancing can also mean management of people we listen to or the types of people we surround ourselves with. Most times if we are surrounded by negatives people in our space then we tend to think just like they do which can become draining. Get rid of toxic people, who thrive on getting us down. Take time to breathe and feel save. Talk to friends and family who make you happy and confident. Sometimes our space has too much unnecessary noise and we find that people are saying things without even aware of facts versus false news. We should consider fact or just simply knowing the truth. Sometimes if we are uninformed, we can read to get informed and read from reliable sources so we can get in the know. Again, know when we are reading too much – stay balanced and know when to take a break and even say the right thing to others. Everyone’s mental health is not the same so we should balance and choose our words wisely.

 

Grassroots Education There Should Be BalanceAnother important part of the balancing act in life is learning exercise often, so that we will stay healthy and even feel good about ourselves. This also ties in well with eating healthily so that we can no doubt feel happy because we won’t develop chronic diseases. Overall, we take care of self emotionally, spiritually, and physically. But in everything, don’t overdue things, don’t overeat, don’t over exercise, don’t over talk, and so on. As educators, we tend to take care of others, before we take care of ourselves. We must ensure that we are sending the correct messages to our children and believe it or not they will know when we are not taking care of ourselves. Help our students celebrate wins, especially when a skill is learned.  Sometimes we extend ourselves too far, too much time for family and none for self – set balances. If there are no balances, then we eventually get burnt out.  Be and feel valuable, affirm ourselves and feel confident! After all, our bodies should be our temples.

 

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Determination and Perseverance

Invisible Child

Invisible Child

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Invisible Child by Dr Marcia and Grassroots Edu
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Invisible Child by Dr Marcia and Grassroots Edu

Invisible Child

Dr. Marcia Davis-DawkinsBy Dr. Marcia Davis-Dawkins

Recently I was asked by one of my friends, why I didn’t play a sport. Well, I calmly responded, “I didn’t get the opportunity to do so.” In my heart, I thought it would have ended there but it didn’t. He gasped and said, “Don’t tell me non-sense, in Jamaica, that is a poor excuse! There are so many sports in Jamaica and so many opportunities.” Needless to say, I was upset, but the conversation didn’t end so I gave him a brief version of the story. I was not convinced that he was satisfied with my reasoning but ah, well.

Long after our conversation, I was still a bit perturbed because I thought of how many times people including me, assumed that others have “so many opportunities”. The assumption is that we can be better with the presumed opportunities. Some educators assume that students cannot learn and they or their parents are not interested in learning. In the early stages of remote learning, it was evident that there were some teachers and parents who had resources to learn and assumed that every student had the same opportunities. There were students who didn’t have laptops or internet, for that matter, and those same students were not able to continue learning because of lack of resources. We must remember that not all students have the same opportunity. cGrassroots Education

As I reflect equal opportunity for students, I can’t help but to be reminded of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. This concept emphasizes the basic human needs: food, water, clothing, and shelter. Many families from low income neighbors are determined meet the needs of their families for survival, but schools may not be sensitive to the fact that many laptops and electronics are considered luxury items.

These students, who are overlooked and forgotten, I would consider an Invisible Student. Like myself when I was younger, the Invisible Student is the last to be considered. Their circumstances feel uncommon to a typical middle-class experience and many decisions made by educators are not in their favor. We as educators make decisions that affect the students negatively because we are making assumptions. For instance, a typical assumption is that they are troublemakers who can’t or refuse to learn. We make assumptions that some students or even colleagues are of less value than others and therefore, we treat them differently. It saddens me that we say ALL students are equal and yet we don’t treat them as such. Are we just saying things and not acting on the words?

We must realize that when students or people in general are hurting, they will yell. When the yells are not hurt, they start screaming. After the screams are not heard, they will act out because they feel frustrated. It was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who once said, “A riot is the voice of the unheard.” Obviously, students will yell because they feel they are not being heard. The Invisible Students want to be seen and heard. Do we take time to listen to them?

Most times, they do have underlined issues why they act out. We are failing them by not taking the time to listen to them.

Sometimes it seems as if we as educators are not compassionate, we tend to scream at our students too, and expect them to feel special and work to their full potential. Students are individuals who deserve respect. Unless we acknowledge our students’ hurt and realize that they have a purpose, we probably won’t make a marked difference in their lives. Are we playing the role of educators and helping the students reach their goals? We might not be validating our students’ emotions or make them feel as if they have a voice. Dare I say, we might be stepping on their progress because we disregard that they are visible? At times we are simply passive observers and take out our frustrations on the students. Life for us can be so unfair and painful, that we too label students and colleagues negatively and have the nerve to say they are ANGRY, without knowing their stories – we prejudge them!

The Grassroots Education It is a fact that if we treat people less than they are worth, then eventually we will be treated badly as well – karma as it is known. Let us make an effort to see others as equal or even special. Help to motivate and encourage our students to feel better about themselves. Let us examine ourselves and see if we are stifling our students or colleagues. Like Maya Angelou once said, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Help students feel visible! Let’s make a difference as educators and I feel hopeful that we can send positive energies in our students’ spaces since we are who we think! We can release hopelessness and/or anger in our students. As the “Starfish” story states, at the end, “no we can’t save every Starfish” but “It makes a difference” to those who you do reach and help and send on to greater heights. Encourage equity among your colleagues and students. Try to make a difference to ALL students, even the invisible ones.

 

https://youtu.be/bck-Pm-VDpk   The Starfish Story   I invite you to watch this video and be inspired

Back To Home

Springtime!

Springtime!

Springtime!

By Dr. Marcia Davis-Dawkins

Hello everyone,

Grassroots Education

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I’m bringing you this blog in a different format primarily because of the topic for discussion. Since it is springtime, which brings about change and change is not a new topic to my blog as almost 2 years ago, I wrote on the topic “Change Our Positions!” Why the same topic you might ask? Well, change seems like it is ongoing and like the seasons – always changing. Hence, Springtime. What do you know about Springtime? Well, you are right when you say it brings rebirth, renewal, blossoms, growth, productivity, newness, cleansing, among other things. Not many people like the word “change’ because it means getting up and actually doing something instead of being stuck doing the same routine every day. I, for one, don’t really like change. In fact, I had to think long and hard about changing the way I am presenting this blog and when it was brought to me by a colleague, I thought it was different but seemed interesting, so here goes! Grassroots Edu

I am sure you are tired of hearing and/or reading about COVID-19, and I can’t help but say that COVID-19 will help us to make changes whether we like to or not. This pandemic has forced us to change our perspective and look at many things differently. It has and will help us change the way we relate to each other. One thing that is already etched in my mind is that this year I had my first virtual birthday party, all because of COVID-19. I would never dream of this happening and guess what? It was a fun filled party with no expense, no frills or horse & pony show. It will indeed be memorable because it was different, and my friends were not in the same house, state or even country with me. The important thing is that I was present. Apart from being present, I had fun and so did my guests (friends). The COVID-19, Corona virus changed our norm, changed our standards and charged us to change our foundation and make sure it was solid. We were/are forced to change our direction, slow down and do some self-love. We didn’t embrace the changes, but we can embrace the way we do things and make the best of the situation.

As we make changes in our personal lives, educators are making changes in the way we teach, present lessons, and even we way think for that matter. The newness in education seems frightening for some and for others adventurous. Most of us are accustomed to changes in curriculums, to evaluations, students, schools, new school year, administrations, policies, laws and other things, so then why not a new way of teaching because of the threat of COVID-19? Well, might I say that it is because most of us are afraid of the unknown! Change sometimes seems slow but then can also come quickly and suddenly.

I believe it is important to approach the change and the new norm without blinders, learn from all the opportunities that will present themselves and stay focused, so we are not left behind. Covid-19 came without warning and suddenly, there is a new norm, we literally had to obey the order to “Get work for students, give work to students, stay home, and teach from home!” We are now forced to make a difference in the way we teach. As we are teaching from home, we are realizing that we have to be more patient in the way we give students directions as well as what work we are expecting them to give us. We have to refuel, when our tanks are empty, so I believe the call is for us to use the time to refuel so that the seeds we plant in our students will bloom when all is said and done. Teaching and learning are now online – Life as an educator after this dreaded COVID pandemic should be a reflection of “good” change in this unchanging world. We should seek to change our norm to a new way of teaching. The teaching profession is normally very nurturing, yet some of us are not nurturing, we could change the way we relate to our students, help them feel like they belong. Help them feel better about themselves, maybe they have another way of learning and we didn’t realize, well, it’s our job, to find the way they learn and be more accommodating. The idea is that when all of this is said and done, everyone, including educators should come out better than we did before. In this Springtime, and Covid-19, this pandemic is teaching us to let go of the old way of communicating with our students, parents and colleagues. Fresh perspectives! Embrace the new and shift to better!  Like Zig Ziglar once highlighted “The 3 C’s of Life:

You must make the choice, to take a chance, if you want anything in life to change.”

 

Education and Success

Dangerous Disturbances

Dangerous Disturbances

Dangerous Disturbances

Dr. Marcia Davis-Dawkins

 

By Dr. Marcia Davis-Dawkins

Music has always been a source of inspiration, a time of reflection and motivation and I recently heard a song during the dreaded COVID-19 pandemic that we faced and I thought of how disturbed this virus had made us.  The song, titled “Dangerous Disturbances”, by a Jamaican Reggae group called Chalice, refers to reggae taking over the world and I thought how interesting that it is indeed a shock how the human coronavirus has literally taken over the world.

Because of this virus, everything has come to a halt. Well carved out plans, which were put in place months and years ago, are disturbed. Plans that have disturbed our peace of mind and sent us scurrying and wondering what next. This dangerous, disease came and disturbed us in so many ways.  It brought about scarcity of common household items including paper products, cleaning items, disinfectants and variants of food.The Grassroots Education

Teachers are collaborating and gathering ways of teaching from home. Who would have thought that this was possible for teachers, especially for elementary teachers, to be working from home? What a challenge this has been.  The same invisible disease has incited fear in so many of us in us on a global scale. Well, new things are happening and 2020 – a leap year too, has been disturbed in many ways. With teachers working from home, parents are forced to become teachers and educate their children.

It is sad realize that some students will not get the support from some parents and we wonder how they are surviving – we know that there are students who definitely need teachers to encourage and support them. There are students who are desperately seeking love, kindness, wisdom and understanding from many of their mentors and may not receive. We often think of those students who have stopped learning and are distracted by various entities within their home environments and wish they could be in the school setting. For some, school is a part of their regular schedule and may even comfort them.

Students who may have been preparing to take state tests or final exams have plans that have been disturbed. These exams would have determined which student would be promoted to the next level of schooling or the next level in life. Suddenly, these plans are simply wiped out.

As educators, we are grateful for technology that is available. This technology gives us opportunities to encourage learning, as well as to teach virtually. I recently saw that one person even referred to this form of teaching as “quaran-teaching”. To top it off, there is a definition that states “teachers scrambling to prepare for digital learning with zero training, funding, or assistance, for an undisclosed amount of time, for parents who have an equal amount of preparation.”

For whatever it is worth, I hope that this dangerous disturbance is bringing, a sense of connectivity and most of all love in the family. Families that are isolated and quarantined are often too busy to even talk to each other have finally received the chance to truly get to know one another in this time of crisis.  Dangerous disturbances cause us to pause and reflect on our lives and to think of those around us. Interestingly, the disturbance didn’t affect a certain, race, color, creed or country – everyone was disturbed! The Grassroots Education

Students and teachers who are confined in their homes and fearful and tend to feel hopeless, but I certainly will not encourage it. There is a sense of hope and love among each other. The educators are hoping that even though we are not connected physically, there will always be a way to connect virtually; there will always be a way to put our hearts in it.  As the late Country and Western singer Kenny Rogers, would say, “When we put our hearts in it, it can take us anywhere, and who’s to say that we can’t make it, it’s the same dream that we share.”

There are many questions we may have, but in the end, we will be drawn closer to each other and assist our neighbors, families. So many losses, so many broken promises, so many broken plans – plans that are simply wiped out (disturbed) because of the pandemic. Amidst our challenges, though seemingly disturbing, is a hope that we, as educators, can send wonderful messages of encouragement to our friends, families and students. Hopefully we will find the good in the disturbance.

 

Even though there are fears, fears of not knowing enough for an exam, fear of what is going happen to students, or just fear of the unknown, we can see that there is a silver lining behind the dark cloud. This disturbance is giving us a chance to be attentive to our way of life, our way of teaching and the hope is that; our students’ families are able to get to know their family members again through bonding and talking to each other. They can read, play, be creative and problem solve together. The idea is there is a sense of support and renewal in the family. Most of all, the dangerous disturbances usually help to discover and reveal the true us. Through the educators collaborating, there is a new sense of community, creativity and shared responsibility. We are all in this thing together and we will work things out. We are in solidarity!

 

Fear

Generational Impact – What is Your Legacy?

Generational Impact – What is Your Legacy?

Generational Impact – What is Your Legacy?

Dr. Marcia Davis-Dawkins

By Dr. Marcia Davis-Dawkins

February was Black History Month in some countries, including the United States of America. Throughout the month, time was set aside to highlight and celebrate some notable history makers in our lives. At times, it seems as if we only celebrate certain people while omitting others. Maybe we can’t celebrate everyone, but at least highlight a new person or two, and not continue to celebrate the same every single year. Maybe we should celebrate people who make a difference in our lives daily and not simply wait for February. This could, no doubt, help students to learn to celebrate and feel good about themselves.

It really takes a village to raise a child and even though some period don’t believe that we can and should say anything to children in the 21st century, it really makes a difference when you do have certain people in the village who are still willing. A few months ago, I lost a colleague, a friend and a mother figure to me. It was sudden and unexpected. This loss hit, dare I say, “Like a ton of bricks!” I knew she was sick, but I kept praying for the best, or plainly put, for her to come through, I believed she would recover and come back to work where we would sit and exchange wise and pleasant talks about human nature and how we could help shape some of our troubled students. The weight from the bricks sent me in a downward spiral because I soon realized that she was really gone and we weren’t able to talk again. Needless to say, I miss her warmth, her wise talks, her understanding and calm sense or twist on a bad situation? Well, even when things just seemed unbearable, this friend/colleague/mom would speak wisdom into my heart and make me realize that “we must look on the bright side of life.” In fact, I can envision her sitting up in her chair, moving her neck from side to side and then saying, “Dr. D, let’s see what this means and how we can get another perspective.” It is as if changing her stance and moving her neck were the signal that she was getting more wisdom to pass on to me.

This person I cannot claim for myself, because she represented the same “idol” to so many other persons. Truth be told, she was like that to so many other people and, in particularly, to the students at the school where we worked. Students would get in trouble and be sent to the principal’s office and she would be a ray of sunshine to the students. As a matter of fact, it seems as if some students wanted to get in trouble and be sent to the office so they could get some of the “good wisdom talk.” The fact that she was able to mold and mentor them simply made my heart melt, and it didn’t matter who the student was, she saw potential, possibility, and promise in that student. Her calm spirit, her presence, her elegance, her aura, her demeanor were evident when she was around.

At school, she was honored during Black History Month, and while this effort was laudable, I would propose a somewhat different approach. She was an ardent proponent of the Amistad initiative and pressured the school board to make it a reality. If we truly want to honor her legacy and continue her work, we must TEACH WHAT SHE PREACHED.  In place of a memorial that will come and go, ensure that black history is an integral part of the curriculum, all year long, not limited to a shallow exercise during February and then abandoned. Reject merely teaching about historical “ firsts,” such MLK, Rosa Parks, Jackie Robinson, etc. While every student should, of course, recognize these people, limiting lessons to this leads students to believe that Black History consists of a few heroic characters. Focus on and highlight the often-unacknowledged contributions that so called “ordinary” people of color make EVERY day. In doing so, her passion lives on, long after the plaudits and commendations of a memorial fade.

It is my aim that I am able to leave a legacy that would make this person proud and that people will remember me for my sense of peace and kindness. That somehow, I am known for the fruit that I grew based on the seeds that were planted or sowed. Did I spread good news or spread love and peace just like my former colleague? Did I spread the good news to my students or people that I meet, to imply that they were special in their own special way/s?

I, without a doubt, want to hear the words as quoted below:

“If it falls to our luck to be street-sweepers, sweep the streets like Raphael painted pictures, like Michaelangelo carved marble, like Shakespeare wrote poetry, and like Beethoven composed music. Sweep the streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth would have to pause and say, “Here lived a great street sweeper.” ~Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. addressing the Jamaican crowd in the National Stadium in 1965.

(Source: Dr. Rebecca Tortello, Pieces of the Past ~ The Gleaner)

I want to be the sowers of great seeds so others reap beautiful and tasty fruits.

 

Family is Everything