Business Unusual in Casa One

It was beautiful business-as-usual in Casa One …

… for the first several months of the 2019/2020 school year, the classroom abuzz with busy little bodies and brains immersed in our bountiful learning environment.

We were enjoying one another’s company, sharing knowledge, love and laughter and taking for granted that school and life in general would cruise along in this happy and predictable manner. Enter stage left, one 7.7 magnitude earthquake and a world pandemic forcing a school closure that would bring our on-campus school year to an abrupt and disconcerting end.

Adults and children alike, we all had our foundations rocked and experienced fear, frustration, and major challenges as a result of these unexpected circumstances. As teachers, however, we came to realize that we benefitted from an advantage in the optimism department because our profession kept us in the company of children, albeit remotely. Although we weren’t in their physical presence, our Casa One children remained constantly in our hearts and minds and their resilience, humour, joy and perseverance were heartening to witness, restoring our spirits and instilling us with hope.

Thank you to our Casa One families for welcoming us into your homes and partnering with us on an unprecedented remote learning journey. With any luck, the upcoming 2020/2021 school year will be less “eventful”. However, we are grateful that we were given this opportunity to see the world anew, with one eye gazing under the spotlight of hindsight compelling us to appreciate more deeply what an average day in the Casa One classroom brings, and the other eye peering optimistically towards a future that is in the hands of children who have demonstrated that they can remain brave, loving, open-minded lovers of learning through challenge and adversity.