By Amber Strong Makaiau

In Remaking Gathering: Entering the Mess, Crossing the Thresholds, author Priya Parker shares about the “art of gathering.” She explains, “gathering matters because it is through each other that we figure out what we believe.” Given the number of ways human gatherings have changed over the course of the pandemic, she contends that the current moment has the potential to transform the ways we spend our time together – at work, at home, in our communities, and beyond. She elaborates, “this time of regathering”--as many transition from online large-group community meetings to in person events-- “offers a threshold we can decide to cross with imagination, purpose, and joy.” This message resonated with me as I recently joined Hanahau‘oli School faculty in our first in-person faculty meeting since March 2020. 

The faculty meeting was led by Hanahau‘oli’s Head of School, Director of Curriculum & Innovative Technology, and School Counselor. It was held in the school’s open air pavilion and was set up so that faculty could sit at large tables with a small group. Each table had art supplies and space for writing and artmaking. The meeting agenda started with important announcements and a bit of business. Then we each took out our journals and responded to the prompt, “How are you feeling about being back in-person for our meeting today?” We were also asked to generate a question to talk about with our colleagues. The questions were gathered and then redistributed to small groups to stimulate discussion and inquiry. The questions were wide-ranging, and included: 

• What was one highlight from your day or week?

• How are you managing with the COVID restrictions (i.e. wearing masks, physical distancing, helping children keep to expectations, etc.)?

• What will “normal” look like?

• How do others feel about our pacing and schedule this year?

• What’s working for you currently in your work life?  What’s not?

• Any podcast recommendations?

• What routines and activities do you intentionally engage in to lift your spirits and stay positive?

Directly following this time for connecting and sharing, we were each given a piece of paper with a circle drawn on it in pencil. We were asked to reflect on words and intentions we had set in another reflection at the beginning of the school year and then express these values in visual images. We spent a little over twenty minutes composing our drawings before putting them on display for our peers to view in a gallery walk around the pavilion. 

At the very end of our time together, meeting leaders asked us to reflect on our experience in writing. The responses were collected, transcribed, and shared with all faculty and staff via email. To follow are some of the reflections that came out of our time together. They are grouped by a set of emergent themes, which as Parker suggests might help us “remake the ‘how’ of coming together — and more importantly, the ‘why’” of future faculty meetings at our century-old progressive school. 

Facilitating Calm, Relaxed, and Connected Feelings

• I‘m feeling calm and nourished. I feel hopeful. I feel connected, and very grateful to be a part of a talented, caring, and curious group of learners.

• Relaxed (calm), joyful, appreciative. This time together is a reminder to not take things for granted. Taking the time to focus on how we feel, listening to others about how they feel, knowing that I’m not alone, very grateful.

• Calmer, less alone (in the wild that is COVID-time), grateful for a breather, happy to see everyone. It’s nice to feel like how I imagine the kids feel, having “their people,” that familiar comfort of being part of the larger group (which surprised me because I’m okay being alone).

• They are ok. We are ok. Everything will be ok! This activity totally shifted our mindset…

• Embraced, calm, centered, belonging

• Calm, relaxed, reflective, appreciative, hopeful

Valuing of Art as Experience

• To be able to express my feelings through art and share in person with others was a joy. Connecting through means other than the computer was uplifting.

• After walking around the room. I am reminded about how lucky I am to call this diverse, talented, creative, and expressive group my colleagues and my friends. The beautiful and varied art reinforces the idea that we are diverse … but the overall beauty shows me that these people are all amazing individuals.

• Feeling more grounded, relaxed, joyful, and focused getting to chat with others and spend time doing art.

• I feel lighter, more energized, and hopeful. I’m reminded how important these social and artistic learning experiences are for everyone and how much they fill our cups.

Including and Integrating New Community Members 

• This felt GREAT! It was my first in-person staff meeting at the school. I got to “socialize” beyond the screen.

• I am feeling hopeful and curious. After entering a community under COVID restrictions, what will a return to greater freedom be like?

• I feel inspired by what others have expressed with their words and illustrations. I am amazed by their positivity and diverse ways of thinking.  This experience made me feel included! I am thankful for my mentor teacher! I am thankful for the conversations I had... I am excited to grow. Mahalo!

• I’m feeling relaxed. Great to see and be with everyone...relief for some who don’t feel connected yet. Happy to feel the vibes this afternoon.

Catalyzing Positive and Productive Energy

• I feel reenergized and reconnected.  It was a truly enjoyable experience to be around each other in a beautiful space taking time with one another.

• Energized, positive experience.

• Lifted, connected, appreciative, invigorated.  There is an energy that exists when we gather in person as an entire group that can’t pass through the barrier of the screen. I think feeling this energy is our most important reason for gathering each week and I’m so happy to have it back!

• I feel refreshed and fulfilled to be with my work family again!

• Light-hearted, my bucket is full!

“Humanizing” Time Spent Learning Together

• I feel grateful to be a part of a dedicated, inspirational, fun-loving, and strong community. We reconnected today, not only as colleagues and comrades but as humans. I’m hopeful we can continue to stay connected during these times.

• I love sessions and experiences like these because I get to experience Hanahauʻoli once again as a learner.  Expressing feelings, thoughts, and wondering in a creative way, sitting and working in a companionable silence (or not so silence). That feeling of being cared for, supported, validated - it really is emphasized when we are all together in person. One of the qualities I admire best in a person is curiosity.  This group is always such a curious, dynamic, hardworking collective that sitting in everyone’s presence is like a “recharge”.

• I am moving from hope to optimism! It feels really wonderful to be back together: the conversations before, after and in between the formalities; the wind gracing my skin in the pavilion; ambient noise (welcomed not muted); seeing people from the neck down; and best of all an overall sense of ease in the group, rather than fear.

• Feeling full of gratitude for our group’s trust in the process! Looking forward to another amazing year of learning by doing TOGETHER ...

The principle of “growth” is central to the progressive education philosophy and pedagogy. As it was practiced at the Laboratory School of the University of Chicago (1896-1903), “education is growth at all levels and results from intelligent action － from the constant adjustment of an individual to his environment both physical and social as he uses or modifies it to supply his needs or those of his group... it is continuous... It goes on at one or more levels during the whole lifespan of the individual'' (Mayhew & Edwards, 1965, p.413). The findings to emerge from the reflections on Hanahau‘oli School’s first in-person faculty meeting in nearly two years are helpful in determining how and why we must grow to meet the needs of individual educators and the group.

The toll of the ongoing nature of this pandemic on educators is real. It is for these reasons that we must harness imagination, purpose, and joy as we rethink what it means to gather together as faculty and staff in our regularly scheduled meetings. It is true that the hard work and business of running a school must get accomplished, but we must also provide opportunities for: facilitating calm, relaxed, and connected feelings; valuing art as experience; including and integrating new community members; catalyzing positive and productive energy; and humanizing time spent learning together. With intelligent action we can remake the faculty and staff meeting. Let us enter the mess, and cross the threshold into the future with purpose.

Works Cited:

Mayhew, K. C. & Edwards, A. C. (2007). The Dewey school: The laboratory school of the university of chicago 1896 - 1903. AldineTransaction.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Dr. Amber Strong Makaiau is a Specialist at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Director of Curriculum and Research at the Uehiro Academy for Philosophy and Ethics in Education, Director of the Hanahau‘oli School Professional Development Center, and Co-Director of the Progressive Philosophy and Pedagogy MEd Interdisciplinary Education, Curriculum Studies program. A former Hawai‘i State Department of Education high school social studies teacher, her work in education is focused around promoting a more just and equitable democracy for today’s children. Dr. Makaiau lives in Honolulu where she enjoys spending time in the ocean with her husband and two children.