The power of the pronoun 'we' is the greatest message and achievement we are hearing, seeing, feeling and experiencing as we find ourselves in our covid-19 level four lockdown.
. The essence of the 'I', 'mine' 'me' had quickly led the way pre-lockdown as we saw panic-buying and fear with the unknown but in true Jacinda Adern style 'I' became a 'we'.
.
'Now more than ever the concept of being part of a village is starkly apparent. The world village, often so disjointed, is intricately interconnected'
He waka eke noa
We are all in this together
This blog had initially been written pre-lockdown as Being 'we'? and my sense of not being part of a 'we' as I grappled with my new role and the underlying sense of the language within a job description.
And as I rewrote this blog from a place of frustration; it became a sense of relief as the strength of 'we' was celebrated in its truest sense.
How powerful the words we say and write and how a simple pronoun has such value to people's wellbeing and for me; willingness for collaboration.
A true indicator for me as we moved into the shift of collaborative teaching and collaborative leadership were the simple use of pronouns we use in our conversations.
Does the individual refer:
- to a Puna ako group as 'my' group or 'our' group
- to another's Puna ako as 'your' kids/akonga or 'our' kids
- 'I' or 'we' when referring to decisions made or stories told at a leadership level.
Way back in a previous teaching time I shared a session at our school's Reggio workshop: A Collaborative Classroom; in which I outlined the first steps to a collaborative classroom is the pronouns we use, if we use 'our' class rather than 'my' class. Our class in inclusive of student voice, student decision making and collaborative state.
If we hear we are included,
we will feel we belong.
Blog post Be-longing expands this idea further.
Blog post Be-longing expands this idea further.
This willingness to include and be trully collaborative may have to be a conscious and intentional act to alter but when that act is naturally occuring what else maybe also be naturally occurring....
'E le sua se lolo ise popo e tasi'
A single coconut is not enough to make coconut oil.
Collaboration....and the true impact of working as a collective.... this shared responsibility as a collective can do so much. My blogs Collective responsibility explore this and Being...cohesive digs deeper.
Yes, we have all been forced to be in lock-down, but the language we are hearing, the words we are seeing and the actions we have to take are that WE have to unite to fight this and be greater than that of a few. The messages from our leader is that for success to be achieved or in this case a safe space to live for all, especially our vulnerable, we have to work as a 'we'. The message that we were in someways introduced in the aftermath of March 15 2019. This simple act a genuine show of compassion and kindness with a mindset of acting as a 'we' for the greater good.
and in the message so simple, the change from an 'I' or do 'you' want to a 'we', we are stronger,
'For the vast majority of people nationwide and worldwide,
this virus is not about you.
This is one of those times in life,
in history,
when your actions are about something bigger.
They are about someone else.
They are about something greater,
a greater good that you may not ever witness.
A person you will save who you will never meet.'
and despite the loss of our usual days..... let's do this out of love.
Written as part my lock-down blog series:
Being....we, Being...our now, Being our 'new' norm
with add-ons: Being....cohesive, Be-longing (digging deeper)
Resources:
http://gretchenschmelzer.com/blog-1/2020/3/10/can-we-make-this-our-finest-hour
https://wordsgrow.com/2020/03/22/v-is-for-village/
