On December 7th I wasn’t feeling like myself. I sneezed twice, coughed once, had 0 appetite and my body ached. Living during a pandemic I thought, uh-oh I got Covid, I need to get a PCR test. My husband and doctor both laughed at me and thought I was crazy for even thinking that! I ignored them and got a PCR taken regardless of what they thought. The wait killed me. I was sleeping and at 2:13 am, I received the message from the Ministry of Health saying that I was positive! I cried and was scared. Little did I know it was like a normal flu but a lot stronger with no taste and smell. I stopped exercising and isolated myself for 12 days in my bedroom away from my kids and husband. I got annoyed and frustrated as I was doing so well with my workouts. But I knew that I couldn’t change anything.
Category: About Me
Covid-19 FITNESS JOURNEY!
Since Covid hit Kuwait on February 24th, I have increased my workouts and started watching my food carefully. March 1st schools shifted to Virtual learning which meant that I could manage my own schedule and fit my workouts between meetings. During the first week, it was difficult to sit in front of the screen all day in order to attend meetings one after the other as well as making sure both my children were completing their work. It was hard and rough.
My First Podcast!
Thanks to Twitter for increasing my circle of PLN (Personal Learning Network). One evening as I was watching TV I got a message from Dr. Ilene Alzaid, who invited me to be her guest on her podcast “Journeys To Belonging.” I read her message twice maybe three times. I was excited yet nervous! If you know me you know this is out of my comfort zone! I couldn’t believe it. I messaged back asking for more details about what I would be talking about and how it all worked. Very patiently, Dr. Illene answered all my questions and gave me more or less 3 topics to choose from. As you know, I picked my favorite topic which was speaking about my role as an AP. I would be discussing how I support my students and staff when it comes to belonging and what I do to try and bridge the gap between my International and local hires. We set the date and time and I began thinking of what I was going to speak about.
Virtual School – Week 2!
Week 2… I was thankful for Kuwait implementing a curfew in which we had to be home by 4pm. In the mornings, I would go to the office till 3, I did all my work and meetings at school then came home. At 4pm, I started to help my kids with their work. It was so much better for me as it gave us a routine and the kids adapted to it quickly. It went a lot better than week 1.
As for my staff and meetings, I could not do what I did during week 1 and that was being in every single meeting every single day with ALL the teams. As my principal said, “You will kill yourself before you know it.” She was correct! During week 1, I barely slept and could not fall asleep. So instead, we agreed for the Grade Level Leaders to invite us to one meeting weekly. I did the beginning of the week check-ins with each team and my principal did the end of the week check-ins with all the teams. This way they got the best of both worlds. They asked their questions to begin their week with me and they asked our principal their end of the week questions they had that came during the week.
Week 2 was still a roller coaster ride for me. Between our ministry of education changing things and us coming up with a new plan according to the new rules and regulations for virtual school. We always had to plan how we would tell our staff yet another new decision that had been made. This means that what we had previously planned, no longer applied. It was tough BUT we managed. Yes, many staff had a lot of questions and many felt frustrated and annoyed. But we listened to their concerns, we answered as best we could and then we moved forward. Being in front of the screen through tough times was even harder because we couldn’t really read our staff’s reaction nor knew how they really felt. We did know that when it was silent and no one spoke or had any questions that it wasn’t a good sign nor felt right. When we asked, “is everyone ok?” they would reply with a “yes” and we took it as they were digesting what we just told them.
The minute I felt some staff needing extra support during meetings, I would message them privately and ask if they were ok and if they wanted to talk without anyone around. Gladly they did and I would answer all their questions and assured them that we were in this together and that they were doing an amazing job. Once, I sensed they were truly ok, we would end our chat or call.
Week 3 to 8….
Virtual School- Week 1!
February 24th was the last day we saw our students. Had anyone told us our life would change over night we would have definitely planned something totally different. In Kuwait February 25th & 26th are two public holidays celebrating National and Liberation Day. February 24th all private schools celebrated this event. We planned big events and then students and staff went home at 12. That was the day we had our very first corona case… That was when everything changed.
We said bye to our students and staff as we had 5 days off. But who knew that was the last time we would all be on campus and saw each other. Had we known that we wouldn’t have been returning I promise you we would have planned something different.
Next thing you know, we were informed that schools were going to be closed for 4 weeks. Hello Virtual School. Luckily we were semi prepared for this as we practiced Virtual learning through Seesaw in January. Were we fully prepared? Of course not! Were we mentally ready? Definitely not! BUT as a team we pulled through.
The first two weeks of Virtual School were overwhelming, exhausting and insane. That is how I described my first two weeks as an AP point of view and mother with two young children. The first week we were booked into virtual meetings from 8am till maybe 2pm-3pm. The amount of screen time increased and that caused me to get very little sleep and I was sitting down most of the day. There were a lot of new things that we had to get used to. Between my husband being home, him needing his own work space, to my kids having virtual school and then also needing my help, (especially my 1st grader son), to my meetings with admin or teachers… It was a roller coaster ride and trial and error for my family till we got the hang of things.
I would finish my meetings then sit with my kids and help them with their assignments. By that time I was mentally drained and had zero patience for my kids but I had to sit with my son and teach him.
Week 2…
Staff Wellbeing
I attended the MENA 2020 on Inclusion and Wellbeing in Dubai this past weekend. I got inspired by 3 keynote speakers on the second day. It is rare for someone to be able to grab my attention right away but these 3 powerful women were able to suck me in from the first minute they began to speak. It was a great second day and I benefited so much from it.
Mary Barret really got me thinking about my staff’s wellbeing. During her talk I felt that I wasn’t doing enough. Many ideas started going through my head. I started thinking that I should be doing more but given the size of my elementary staff and being the only AP for grades 1-4, having 600+ students and about 40+ staff members there is only so much that I can do. I try my best to build relationships with each staff member – both homeroom teachers and specialists so that I get to know them as a person and not only as a teacher. One thing I am proud of is that during both recesses (which are 20 minutes long), I go outside not only to check on all my staff but mainly to touch base with them. I call it my 30 seconds check in with them. There are some days I can’t do the full rounds as some might ask a question or tell me a story about their student. I make sure to not rush them to finish or keep walking. The next day I make it a point to go see the teachers I didn’t get a chance to connect with the previous day. There are days which I might not go out but that’s very rare. I make sure our secretaries do not book any meetings during both recesses. If I am in a meeting, I excuse myself to go do my quick 1 round and go right back to the meeting. I feel like that’s my only time in the day to see as many teachers as I can. Another way is when I have my post evaluation meetings and after we are done and before they leave I ask “How are you doing?” and we chit chat for a few minutes. It’s very rare that we get that 1 on 1 without 101 interruptions. Ever since my first year of being a teacher, I swore that the day I become AP I would never neglect nor not know my staff. During my 10 years of teaching, I have had admin who never knew me nor made the effort to get to know me. After 3 years of being AP, I can say with full honesty and pride that my staff knows that I care about them and that I support them and will always be there for them no matter what. During the summer I checked in on ALL of them with a simple message. Simple actions make all the difference.
When we hire a new staff member for the following academic year, I welcome them by email and give them my number to whatsapp me should they have any questions they would like to ask. This helps them to feel welcomed and it gives us a chance to connect and start building our relationship there. It has made a huge difference to many of them. When greeting them at the airport the first thing they say is thank you! Thank you for answering my endless questions and always clarifying things for us. It gives them a sense of security and warmth.
After listening to these powerful presenters I now have a few ideas that I can do along with my 2 counselors to check in on them and their well being. I will tell you all about it once I meet with my team and see how it rolls out.
As admin AP or Principal, how do YOU check in on your staff’s wellbeing? I would love to hear your ways.
Happy teachers = Happy students= Positive atmosphere.
Get to know me!
Myself in a nutshell. Born and raised in Kuwait. I received my high school and bachelor degrees from academic institutions in Kuwait. Married with two children. My passion while growing up was always to be a teacher. As my aspirations grew, I set my goal towards becoming assistant principal and, ultimately, principal, which I have partially accomplished thus far. Growing up in Kuwait as a minority was not easy. I am ensuring that any negativity I endured as a child is not repeated in school with other students. I take the responsibility of shaping future generations very seriously in mind, body and spirit.
Name : Dana Shuhaibar
Birthday: October 5th
Nationality: Kuwaiti, Middle East
Experience in teaching: 10 years
Experience in Assistant Principal: 3 years and going
Schools I taught in: Bayan Bilingual School for seven years (BBS.) I taught Grade 3 for five years and Grade 4 for two years. I moved with my daughter when she entered KG1 to American International School of Kuwait (AISK). I taught there for three years in Grade 3 and was the Team Leader for two years before becoming Assistant Principal.
Education:
- M.S., Interdisciplinary Studies and Educational Leadership Certification, Buffalo State SUNY – June 2011
- B.A, English Education with a teaching certificate, Gulf University of Science & Technology – December 2006
- HS Diploma, American International School of Kuwait- June 2001
Credentials
- Principal Training Center-enrolled 2016 (2 courses completed)
- Principal Training Center-enrolled 2017 (Graduated)
- TESOL Kuwait Conference –November 2013
- PYP “Introduction to the PYP Curriculum Model” Certificate – October 2013
- ICDL Certification – January 2009