An exciting day today with 21 new teachers joining our team, including two staff from the satellite unit that is going to be within our kura.
My ‘words of wisdom’ from last term for myself were ‘Take Your Time and Be a Sponge’. I have been reflecting on this and how I can support the transition of the new staff members to our place of learning. Transition is a process rather than a one off event and it is important to acknowledge the social and emotional learning journey that new staff will be on throughout the term and the different stages people will be at during this time.
Excitement Vs Grieving
Depending on previous experiences everyone will have mixture of emotions potentially swinging from excitement to grief for what they have left behind. I found myself going through a ‘stage’ of shedding a skin as I felt more at home in my new surrounds. In his blog Bob Miglani discusses how to embrace the chaos. On one hand you are looking back with rose tinted glasses and this will happen in times of stress and uncertainty. This feeling can also swing in the opposite direction and you spend time demonizing the place you have left to make you feel better and to ease the grief. http://www.embracethechaos.com/2014/06/how-to-adapt-to-change-in-the-workplace-6-tips-to-gain-control-and-move-forward/
Moving Forward…Next Steps For Me
What I have learnt from my personal experience in term 3 and from my observations and facilitation of transition this term I hope to develop into a robust programme that I can adapt for all staff and learners in the future. I aim to delve deeper into the process of transition and will reflect regularly including reading previous blog posts. Oh how I wish I had reflected more often on my own experiences in writing when I started last term!
sophieralphnz 