La maîtresse part en live and no it's that kind of mistress

 A kindergarten teacher - called in France la maîtresse - who lives in Brittany has become a youtube star.

Surprisingly for the teacher, Marie-Solène Letoqueux, she received the National Education Academic Palms, an award bestowed by the state on distinguished teachers for valuable service in education. Ironically, she was even chosen as Breton of the Year at the annual “Victoires de la Bretagne” ceremony, which rewards people who have made regional news during the year. “It's funny, considering I come from Normandy,” she said with a smile. She was also offered new projects, such as writing children’s books.

It all started she says when her baby was four months old and Covid closed the schools in her area. Her husband - a video producer for the Arte (like our PBS or BBC channel) was stuck at home.The equipment and the skills were there; all Letoqueux had to do was roll up her sleeves and turn the project into reality. The couple transformed a room in their house into a classroom and created the show’s framework.

A small team of professionals quickly came together: Ronan the husband, with daughter in the baby carrier, served as director; a graphic designer created the set and another designed the opening credits – which left Letoqueux the job of teaching and presenting.  

After a few rehearsals, the team took the plunge. They invited the parents of the class’s 26 pupils by email to follow the new programme, “La maîtresse part en live” which can mean either, “The teacher goes live” or “The teacher spins out of control”. 

I love that.

When French President Emmanuel Macron announced the closure of schools on March 12, 2020, Letoqueux was rather pleased. “I figured I’d be able to take care of my little girl, who was only 4 months old at the time," says the 34-year-old teacher in Luitré-Dompierre, a town of 2,000 near Fougères. "But my husband quickly understood that I couldn’t stand not working for long, that I would go stir ”

The first episode went online March 23 – aired live, to avoid hours of video editing. Some 60 pupils watched the first virtual lesson with their parents. 

“I wasn't really very comfortable during the first episodes,” Letoqueux says. “But I improved, thanks to feedback from the parents. I became more theatrical and I learned to adapt to the constraints. For example, I realised I had to give students more time to think and respond, since it was all about teaching. I wanted to foster community with my students and parents.”

The live video sessions, initially intended for the nursery school students of the tiny town of Luitré, quickly spread beyond Brittany. “People were connecting from all over the world – from Canada, New Zealand, Chile, Japan, Africa, the Middle East ... I absolutely did not expect to cause such a stir,” Letoqueux says. 

Some episodes reached record audiences of about 400 kindergarten classes – and around 13,000 parents were exchanging photos, videos and impressions on a shared server.

“The show responded to parents who found themselves a little helpless during that period. Others were just happy to be like little flies on the wall, observing their children’s behaviour in class."

Faced with the scale of the show's success, the team recruited a community manager to moderate the inflow of comments. A small group of parents helped the team store all of the support material. Letoqueux also relied on other teachers – members of a “remote kindergarten-teaching” Facebook group – for new ideas, since she was producing a one-hour live broadcast, four days a week.   

The show’s formula was always the same: opening theme and credits presented by the teacher, the date and the weather, followed by stories, songs, handicraft workshops, cooking lessons and other activities, sometimes with Letoqueux in costumes or capes. It was a winning formula: “You’ll never get bored on this show,” the daily introduction promised, and the proof was in the numbers – the channel soon had more than 90,000 subscribers.

As a former preschool teacher, I'm so happy at her creativity and goal in serving her community and bringing families together.  A tip of the chapeau to Marie-Solène young mother and teacher of the year who showed a positive way to deal with a pandemic.

Cara-Tuesday