‘Together Strong’ has message of hope, resilience

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This article was published 21/05/2021 (1794 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Two days before their school went into remote learning, Grade 4 students at Grosvenor School made a special video that carries a message of hope to the community.

Teacher Jennifer Leslie said her students wanted to do something for each other, for fellow students at school and for everyone, saying, “Together we will get through this.”

“They asked if they could do a video, to put a positive spin on what the pandemic is doing, to say that we’re stronger together, that COVID can’t stop us,” Leslie said. “One student, Sara, picked the song Together by For King and Country. We then worked on the choreography, like the domino effect and reversing the shots. Everyone wrote a poster with a message.”

Fifteen out of her usual 24 students took part in the Together Strong video, which Leslie shot on her phone and edited at home. “We thought it was important to share a message of hope and strength to staff, students, and parents as we went into remote learning,” she said. “I’m amazed at their resiliency. It gives me the sense that these kids are going to be OK.”

This year, the focus in Grade 4 has been on kindness and how kindness can have an impact on those around us. “We have shown kindness to our school community through activities such as creating kindness postcards which are ‘mailed’ in our kindness mailbox, doing our part to maintain a clean classroom to support our overloaded custodians, and creating videos to show our appreciation,” she said. 

Her class has been making videos all year, including a big production in December, and a recent flash mob as a thank-you for the school’s principal, Camie Lawson.

“We couldn’t have our school assembly in December, so the kids and I made a 35-minute-long video about a family fighting over a TV remote. The TV shows they were watching were things like COVID’s Got Talent and the Twelve Months of COVID and a baking show.”

In fact, the whole school year up to now has included the use of video in an interactive newsletter written by her students. “I think parents are getting a greater look into what we do in the classroom than ever before,” she said. “The students chose what goes into the newsletter, and we made short videos on our activities, like making bird houses. Parents can’t come into the building, so we took our activities to them this way.”

Leslie describes herself as having a “high energy” teaching style. She prefers doing hands-on activities rather than worksheets. “I’d rather talk about things, rather than just assigning reading and writing,” she said.

Interviewed after the school moved to remote learning on May 12, Leslie said she is using Google Classroom to teach lessons. “I’m sitting in my classroom, with my computer and four Chrome Books grouped around me, so that I can put students into smaller groups and keep track of what each group is doing on a Chrome Book,” she said. “I feel like I’m sitting at NASA with all these screens.”

She misses having her students in person, but knows staying home is for the best during the spring lockdown.

“I’ve watched the Together Strong video so many times since we made it. The video is in black and white, because my students wanted the message to be that we’ll be back, in colour, when we’re together again.”

Find the video online on Facebook at www.facebook.com/WinnipegSD/videos/219550539932780