Wabi-Sabi Collaboration in a Time of #RemoteLearning

As we transitioned to remote learning, our struggles have been largely dealing with technology and finding ways to problem solve the glitches that showed up in online lessons. When I saw this graphic shared by Dr. Jennifer Chang Wathall on Twitter, I could relate to where our school’s teaching teams were at with instructional design with remote learning.

However, what this graphic doesn’t show is the fierce collaboration that underpins moving from one stage to the next. Collaboration is how we move through those e-learning stages: from survive, to strive, to thrive, to arrive.

Perhaps it has been different at other schools, but our leadership has really demanded our teachers work together as a team, co-planning and co-creating lessons for online learning. We did this for 2 main reasons.

1. Divide and Conquer: If teacher teams could collectively share lessons and post them onto SeeSaw, then they would feel less overwhelmed with the new demands.
2. Team building: The collective struggle would help support teams to form stronger bonds, nurturing relationships despite our distance.  Teachers wouldn’t feel “alone”, they’d feel supported during this time.

This has been a transformative process for our grade-level teams. Earlier this year, we did some professional learning into team teaching and best practices for co-teaching. One of the artifacts that we co-constructed was a reflective tool that helped us to define what are the stages  we were at as teams:

What has been interesting, is that since we’ve started remote learning, every one of our teaching teams has encountered conflict which, as they navigated their emotions and processed their perceptions, has deepened their ability to communicate and collaborate. And, as they work through their team challenges, it has moved them through lower-level stages into true “knot working”.  Remote learning has been the catalyst for really digging into our toolbox and using strategies that help members to share openly, be vulnerable and remain open to change. So, instead of confrontation, we have CAREfrontation.

I’m coming to understand that there is an “art” of being in intellectual communion with others. And I have noticed that these CAREfrontations employ the Japenese concept of finding beauty, Wabi-Sabi.

wabi-sabi (侘寂) 

Wabi originally referred to the loneliness of living in nature, remote from society; sabi meant “chill”, “lean” or “withered”. It can also refer to quirks and anomalies arising from the process of construction, which add uniqueness and elegance to the object. Sabi is beauty or serenity that comes with age, the life of the object and its impermanence Wikipedia

When I reflect on this definition, I think about how social distancing has the potential to bring out the worst and the best in us. This belies our own imperfection and flaws. But it is these idiosyncrasies that make us special, a one-of-a-kind. And when members on our teams can convert these flawed images of one another into a new perception, then our weaknesses can become our strengths. According to Barbara Bloom, “When the Japanese mend broken objects, they fill the cracks with gold.  They believe that when something has suffered damage and has a history, it becomes more beautiful.”

Isn’t that lovely? 

So how do we fill these “cracks” with gold on our teams?

I think the first step is having awareness. We know that having differences are inevitable. What matters is how we manage our differences. When we apply Wabi-Sabi to our relationships, we have to embrace the most fundamental aspects of who they are. Yes, we wish they were “perfect” but they are not. They are who they are, so we must accept and value them. This perhaps is the hardest part. Accepting what is. But when we can acknowledge a member’s uniqueness, we validate their worth and the effort that they make to the team. This is a must. It is the only way we can move through conflict.

This validation helps support teacher self-efficacy– the #1 factor that influences positive student outcomes. So the ability to support and appreciate one another on a learning team is a vital component of collaboration. We elevate the learning when we provide an emotional and professional boost to one another.

Through this process, I have come to understand that acceptance of others is a kind of generosity. It is an opening in our hearts to allowing what is presenting before us to be there. If this tender heart doesn’t exist, then we must find a way through this impasse. This becomes the work of leadership, to be the model, to demonstrate this unconditional love. If we can do this, then we can support teams to release their grip on this notion of “perfection” and expand the team’s definition of it to include all the failures and mistakes that are made as we fumble through developing amazing experiences for our students online.

When we can appreciate the learning process that we are all going through professionally and personally, then we can find humility and humor–the gold that can be used to fuse our teams’ gaps.

I cannot say that Wabi-Sabi alone is the only principle that can guide our teams through this transitional period, but it is one that is serving our personal and professional growth at this moment. Perhaps it can benefit your community as well.

Judy Imamudeen

Developing learners as leaders is my joy! I am committed and passionate International Baccaluearate (IB) educator who loves cracking jokes, jumping on trampolines and reading books. When I’m not playing Minecraft with my daughter, I work on empowering others in order to create a future that works for everyone.

judyimamudeen.com