Message from Bill Gates:
“ What is the Corona/ Covid-19 Virus
Really Teaching us? ”
I’m a strong believer that there is a
spiritual purpose behind everything that happens, whether that is what we
perceive as being good or being bad.
As I meditate upon this, I want to
share with you what I feel the Corona/ Covid-19 virus is really doing to us:
1) It is reminding us
that we are
all equal, regardless of our culture, religion, occupation, financial situation
or how famous we are. This disease treats us all equally, perhaps we should to.
If you don’t believe me, just ask Tom Hanks.
2) It is reminding us that we are all connected and
something that affects one person has an effect on another. It is reminding us
that the false borders that we have put up have little value as this virus does
not need a passport. It is reminding us, by oppressing us for a short time, of
those in this world whose whole life is spent in oppression.
3) It is reminding us of how precious our health is and how we have moved
to neglect it through eating nutrient poor manufactured food and drinking water
that is contaminated with chemicals upon chemicals. If we don’t look after our
health, we will, of course, get sick.
4) It is reminding us of the shortness of life and of
what is most important for us to do, which is to help each other, especially
those who are old or sick. Our purpose is not to buy toilet roll.
5) It is reminding us of how materialistic our society has become and
how, when in times of difficulty, we remember that it’s the essentials that we
need (food, water, medicine) as opposed to the luxuries that we sometimes
unnecessarily give value to.
6) It is reminding us of how important our family and home life is and how much we have
neglected this. It is forcing us back into our houses so we can rebuild them
into our home and to strengthen our family unit.
8 It is reminding us to keep our egos in check. It is reminding us that
no matter how great we think we are or how great others think we are,a virus
can bring our world to a standstill.
9) It
is reminding us that the power of freewill is in
our hands. We can choose to cooperate and help each other, to share, to give,
to help and to support each other or we can choose to be selfish, to hoard, to
look after only our self. Indeed, it is difficulties that
bring out our true colours.
10) It is reminding us that we can be patient, or we can panic. We can
either understand that this type of situation has happened many times before in
history and will pass, or we can panic and see it as the end of the world and,
consequently, cause ourselves more harm than good.
11) It is reminding us that this can either be an end
or a new beginning. This can be a time of reflection and understanding, where
we learn from our mistakes, or it can be the start of a cycle which will
continue until we finally learn the lesson we are meant to.
12) It is reminding us that this Earth is sick. It is reminding us that we need to look at the
rate of deforestation just as urgently as we look at the speed at which toilet
rolls are disappearing off of shelves. We are sick because our home is sick.
13) It is reminding us that after every difficulty, there is always ease.
Life is cyclical, and this is just a phase in this great cycle. We do not need
to panic; this too shall pass.
14) Whereas many see the Corona/
Covid-19 virus as a great disaster, I prefer to see it as a “great corrector”
It is sent to remind us
of the important lessons that we seem to have
forgotten and it is up to us if we will learn them or
not.
This post below was made by a Primary
School Principal.
As a teacher and parent it sums up my
thoughts and feelings on the situation we currently find ourselves in.
Covid Distance Learning Q&A
I'm a school principal but I speak only for
myself. Others may have different ideas I'm seeing a lot of threads
online with the same general theme, so I wanted to just given a schools
perspective on it all and answer some FAQs.
Lots of people feeling stressed,
overwhelmed and under pressure by the work being sent home for kids. I hope
this can help with that somewhat.
Few points to note first :
1) This is not homeschooling. This is an unprecedented emergency situation
impacting the whole world. Let's keep perspective. Homeschooling is a choice,
where you considered, you plan for it and you are your child's school teacher
in whatever form you choose . This is at best distance learning. In reality,
it's everyone trying to separate their bums from their elbows because none of
us know what we're doing and what's right and wrong here.
2) You are, and always have been, your child's primary
educator. If you decide that your child isn't
going to engage with anything sent home and is going to spend the entire period
playing in the dirt, or baking, or watching TV, that is your choice. That is
your right. It is clear in the constitution. There is nothing to stress or feel
guilty about.
3) Schools don't know what they're doing either. They got no notice, no prep time and we're told
'continue to plan lessons as normal and just send them home' as if that is in
any way possible. If it were, we'd all be out of a job very quickly. I won't
rant about my thoughts on the Dept on this, but suffice it to say your school
is winging it.
4) It is absolutely not possible to facilitate
distance learning with a primary aged child and work from home at the same
time. The very idea is nonsense. If you're
trying to do that, stop now. You can certainly have activities where your child
learns, but your focus is your job, and survival. Again, unprecedented. Stop
trying to be superheroes.
So, a few FAQs:
- My school has sent home lots of
physical work. Pages and pages, hours and hours. How am I supposed to get
through it all?!
You're not, don't try. Your child's
teacher spent a couple of hours in utter panic gathering things to send home so
they could say they did their best and there weren't a lot if complaints that
enough didn't go home. It's not a competition, or a race, it's unlikely the
teacher will even manage to look at it all.
- My school keeps sending home links
and emails with more work. How do I make it stop. Ahhhhhh
See above. These are suggestions and
ideas because the school is worried itl be said they're not offering enough.
Use them if they suit you, don't if they don't. If you're getting stressed,
stop opening the emails. No one will know!
- X in my child's class has
everything done and we've barely started. Will they fall behind?
Even if everything were equal in
terms of support and time and number of kids etc (which its not) kids learn at
different rates. In the class there's a wide range of levels in all subjects,
there's different paces and there are many kids working on differentiated level
of work. It's almost impossible for teachers do differentiate at the moment, so
you have to do it. By expectation and by time.
Your child will not fall behind. This
is all revision and reminder work. If kids could learn new concepts without
specific teaching we wouldn't need teachers. They will cover all of this again,
multiple times.
- I'm not doing any work with my
kids. All their doing is Lego, cooking and playing outside.
All of this is learning. Very
valuable learning. Give yourself and them a break.
- How can I get three different lots
of work done with 3 different kids of different ages?
You can't, stop trying. If they're
old enough, try to get them to do little bits independently. Otherwise try to
do something they can all engage with, reading a story together, some free
writing, baking etc.
- So what's the bare minimum you'd
expect?
For me, survival mode. I won't
pretend that may be true of all teachers, but you know what if they can't have
perspective in a time like this then I wouldn't overly worry about their
opinion anyway.
My ideal for my kids in our school?
- A bit of reading every day (independent or to them or via audiobook
etc)
- some free writing now and then. If
they'll keep a diary or something, great. If not, would they draw a comic?
- Practical hands on maths. Be that
via cooking, cleaning, outside or some maths games physical or digital.
- Some fine motor work. Lego, cutting,
playdough, tidying up small toys.
- Physical exercise everyday
- Some art/music where possible
through the week. Doesn't need to be guided.
-Stretch goal, if old enough getting
them to independently work on a project is great for keeping brains ticking
over. Get them researching in a book or online and putting together something
to present to you or family.
- If younger, lots of imaginative
free play, the more independent the better.
You are doing enough. You are loving
your kids and supporting them through a difficult time. Look after yourself.
Minimising stress is absolutely vital in a time like this for mental health.
Don't let this be something that stresses you. Only you can control that by
accepting it is in your circle of control, you are the primary educator and
this is all your call.
Best of luck in these challenging
times – stay safe.
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