Lockdown Madness

We're sitting at day 70 something and it seems to be repetitive -  getting up, logging in, seeing who has chosen to connect, who has their camera on, and going through the motions of home learning. 

My Hiss Hass Hoos boys have been at the forefront of my mind this entire lockdown. We'd gained some great momentum at the start of our intervention, planning and integrating the curriculum to help make some sort of connection to their learning. They were engaged, self motivated, turning up to my office and just taking over the space. Which brought me so much joy, because that's what I wanted. But then lockdown hit. And it hit hard. of the 6 boys, 3 have been actively engaged, attending google meets and attempting to doing some work. 

I spent some time at the end of last term trying to think of ways to motivate them. Bribe them. A feed when were back at school was definitely on the cards. But it slowly died off as the several announcements after that were making it nearly impossible. I'd sent emails to check in on them, to jump on a boys call to connect without the stress of school work, but just to talanoa. But no luck. Lots of emails to the crickets is what it felt like. 

But we're now sitting in week 3 of term 4 and I've connected in more with them than I ever did in term 3. So what changed? 

It all started with a simple email that was inspired by one of Chris' jokes of the week. Surely, by looking at the header you're intrigued. 

I kept emailing, kept hounding them. And as annoying as it is, I think it's working. I've heard back from 4 of them. The goal of this is to connect. Connect. Connect.