Making Sense of Our Storied Experiences of Hope and Hoping

As I listen to stories of hope and hoping during this pandemic, I don't hear many stories about setting and attaining goals.

What I am hearing, are stories of having the time and energy to participate in the meaningful and relevant activities that nourish our souls. I see and hear individuals reaching out to those they haven't connected with for a long time. I hear people telling stories about the small moments that make their day.

This makes me feel hopeful because I know how a narrative conception of hope (LeMay, 2014) has enhanced my own wellbeing long before the pandemic set in.

I imagine that when we look back at this time that we will see that although things did not turn out the way we hoped, that we are okay with how things did turn out. For this is how I've learned to understand my storied experiences with hope and hoping before the pandemic became a reality.

I am hopeful that individuals will join me in learning more about what transpires when attend to making hope visible and accessible in their storied experiences in the very near future!!

Dare To Hope

As I prepare distance opportunities to make sense of a narrative pedagogy of hope (LeMay, 2014), I am reminded of the following statements that were made by teachers and teacher assistants who attended a series of five professional development 'Dare to Hope' sessions over a period of seven months in 2008. Simultaneously, I look forward to the next iteration of 'Dare to Hope' sessions.

I used to be burnt out and detached, but now I am refreshed/hopeful.
I used to be overwhelmed, but now I can see each students' unique qualities.
I used to just care for, but now I know how to care with as well.

I used to have less of an idea of how to effectively build hope. Now I have community, caring, coping, creating, committing and celebrating as ways to think about building the courage to take hopeful actions.

I used to think only some people needed hope.
I now think everybody needs hope, needs to be a part of hope and to keep hope at the front of everything.

I used to think that hopefulness was an indefinable term.
Now I have started to use hopeful language and hopeful thoughts in a very discrete manner.

I used to teach to, hope for, see children as needing.
Now I learn with, do see children as giving.