This photo speaks volumes about the power of water. We need it to survive, and it can be both nourishing and destructive. It has many properties, depending on the conditions. Water vapor can cloud the atmosphere or let off steam. It is an excellent solvent and cohesive. In the winter, water freezes and provides a solid layer of support. Beneath the calm surface is abundant life waiting to emerge. You can also see the impact of rushing water, displacing the smooth sandy lake bottom with rough rocks, which won’t be terribly comfortable on the feet come summer!
This photo also represents to me the changes I’ve had to make in my teaching approach over the past year as the pandemic situation has evolved. In the beginning, we had to pivot quickly to remote teaching, without any advanced preparation. It felt like the rushing waters following a torrential downpour, which is difficult to hold back. Once the flooding subsides, the impact can be assessed and adjustments made. As the water level rises and falls with the changing seasons, more adjustments are needed; so it is with the changes each semester has brought over this past year.
Lao Tzu once said, “Nothing is softer or more flexible than water, yet nothing can resist it.” My first impulse might have been to resist the changes required during this pandemic. What good would that have done? The only way to manage these changes is to be open, fluid, and adaptable (easier said than done!). When the waters become rough, as with the white waters of the rushing Kennebec River or the riptides at Old Orchard Beach, the advice is always to not fight the current and go with the flow. Working with the team and asking for help is also crucial for survival. I’m really trying to follow that advice, and I haven’t always been as successful as I’d hoped. Sometimes I go under, coming up spluttering and gasping for air. Other times I feel the exhilaration of riding the big waves and making it to the other side. In any case, going with the flow has been the most effective strategy and produced the best outcomes.
Water has many unique properties and changes form under varying conditions, but it is still water. The teaching/learning conditions have changed dramatically over the past year, and yet we are still educators committed to quenching our students’ thirst for knowledge. I’m looking forward to calmer waters and smoother sailing!