Crooked Trees
A reflection by: Nursery School Director Eileen Sharbaugh
Each of us has tried and true ways of dealing with our day-to-day stress, one of mine is to go for a walk. Recently while on a walk an oddly shaped tree caught my eye. The sharp angle of the trunk’s growth made me wonder what caused such a startling shift in the plant’s growth. Why would the tree have shifted so dramatically? Why not continue to grow on its more predictable trajectory of straight up, and skyward?
Recognizing that a tree’s growth pattern can be affected by a storm I imagined perhaps a snow or ice storm pushed this tree over – but did not kill it. The injured tree adjusted its new growth pattern and perhaps began to grow again from its point of damage, creating this unusual angle in the trunk. I wondered if the tree grew in this oddly angled manner, not because of natural disasters, but because it was searching for the best place to grow.
As I looked at the tree, I thought of the ways the pandemic has affected the staff at the nursery school. Teachers have had to adjust their typical ways of interacting with their young students. As early childhood educators, our primary role is firmly rooted in the careful care and connection we have with each of the children in our classrooms. Finding new pathways to continue to nurture these important relationships was not necessarily easy or intuitive. Yet, by searching for the best manner in which to continue to grow and nurture these cherished relationships, some new ways of connection began to emerge. New ways to partner teachers with students were now being made through phone calls, zoom sessions, videos, and letter writing. We quickly determined our connection with the children, and their families could indeed continue, thrive, and grow, in new and never-before thought of ways.
The path to developing a remote learning experience for preschool-aged children may not have been straight, nor one any of us had predicted or planned for. Changing direction and searching for new strategies we were able to re-establish the important connections between teacher and student. Like the tree I saw on my walk, many of us may have found the need to change direction during these unprecedented times, to shift, and find new pathways so that we can continue to grow and thrive.
For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, Which spreads out its roots by the river, And will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, And will not be anxious in the year of drought, Nor will cease from yielding fruit. Jeremiah 17:8
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