M. Lanca @ St. Gemma

Welcome et bienvenue to my website.

This year will be like no other before. Since March 2020 classroom education has been reinvented. This September students, teachers, families and school communities around the world are being asked to boldly go where no one has gone before. There are many good reasons for concern, and as data collects and is analysed, our policies and behaviour will continue to change to meet the situation. Nonetheless, I can't help but feel optimistics about returning to school.

I have been a teacher for nearly 20 years and the parent of two children aged 11 and 13. It is with this experience and these skills that I can confidently say that I will be ready to receive your child at St. Gemma on Wednesday September 9th. There are going to be many changes and a variety of new rules to follow. At first we will struggle all while learning from our mistakes. But with continued support, we will do our best to stay healthy and create a positive learning environment.

We know that a positive learning environment is a complex fabric woven with many different strands. This year especially, we will start off the year by getting to know each other and trying to better understand ourselves and others, through social emotional learning (SEL). If anything, distance learning has showed us that children are motivated and learn in different ways, but it is the connection they have with their peers and teachers that encourage them to persevere when they are struggling. My first goal is to foster a connection with my students and promote connections amongst their peers, all while grounding them in their own sense of safety and security.

There are so many things that are out of our sphere of influence in this ever changing pandemic, that it is easy to be swept by feelings of anxiety. More than ever, our children need to see and know that the adults that surround them, especially their teachers, are capable of modelling the management of concerns and emotions, while achieving short term and long term learning goals.

My vision for the 2020-2021 year is clear: 1) Roll with the punches; 2) Stay healthy and get stronger; 3) Strengthen personal connections; 4) Become better and brighter learners. It is with your support that I look forward to another exciting year at St. Gemma.

Sincerely,

M. Lanca