Year 10 ID

‘The New Normal’ workshops in Year 10ID

In order to support students to manage the difficulties faced during remote learning, Year 10s recently took part in virtual workshops.  ‘The New Normal' sessions were conducted by young people from the Reach Foundation. The workshops provided a space for students to connect with one another, gave them the opportunity to understand how others were experiencing life at the moment, and empowered them to realise they have control of their own lives. 

The words of the students best sum up the experience:

I liked how people felt open to talk 

• It opened up a lot of things people won't normally talk about
• At ease knowing everyone is struggling
• We should be more open about what’s happening
• People are more accepting than what you think
• I liked that people were revealing things about themselves that were personal, they made me feel that I’m not the only one who is bored during COVID
• It was a great experience to talk to others and hear their stories. The workshop enabled me to see things from a different perspective. It was really nice to have some sort of interaction with people.
• I like the relationship the facilitators had with the class, they urged for students to answer and wanted all the participants to answer question. They urged for inclusion and made sure that everyone knew that what they said was confidential and that is was a safe space to share personal information.
• Seeing my classmates faces because a lot of people don't have their cameras on. So seeing people I'm used to seeing every day is good
• How we were all able to find out about some of the people that we would normally never talk to or don’t know much about personally

When asked for one word to describe the workshop, students provided the responses in the word cloud below.  The larger the font, the more the word was used by students. 

Our students contributed to the workshops in a very mature, thoughtful and respectful way and were commended by the organisers for their level of engagement in the activities

Danielle Murray

Year 10 Interdisciplinary Studies Leader