Rebecca Reports

You Have Their Hearts In Your Hands

The origin of American schools had one basic goal; the teaching of reading, writing, and arithmetic. Families sent their children to school, when they could, to learn these basic educational skills. Some children, if not needed on the farm or working in the family business went on to higher levels of education. Either way, the "city" or as I like to call it, the "village" that hired the teacher had an unspoken "contract" with the teacher. The teacher was to teach the skills and content. The village will help raise the children. The village was very vested in the ongoing support and commitment to the social and moral norms of the village. They also understood that the teacher interacted intimately with the children and therefore needed to model the highest morals and values of the village. Most villages had very strict rules on teacher character and behaviors. We have examples from history that include not ever marrying, not ever going out after dark, that kind of thing.

Fast forward to today, 2017. It is my opinion that the original "contract" between villages and schools/teachers should be considered null and void. As with any business or organization, when significant demands are added to the structure, the structure itself needs to change with it. With the gift of Google, let me see if I can give you a very condensed timeline of our American school system since the early 1900's

Starting around 1900 to 1910, America started to add expectations, beyond reading, writing, math, and science to include:

• Nutrition

• Immunization

• Health (activities in the health arena multiply every year.)

From 1910 to 1930, we added

• Physical education (including organized athletics)

• Mandated school transportation

In the 1940s, we added

• Business education (including typing, shorthand, and bookkeeping)

• Art and music

• Speech and drama

• Half-day kindergarten

• School lunch programs (We take this for granted today, but it was a huge step to shift to the schools the job of feeding America’s children one third of their daily meals.)

In the 1950s, we added

• Expanded science and math education

• Safety education

In the 1960s, we added

• Advanced Placement programs

• HeadStart

• Title I

• Adult education

In the 1970s, the breakup of the American family accelerated, and we added

• Drug and alcohol abuse education

• Parenting education (techniques and tools for healthy parenting)

• Character education

• Special education (mandated by federal government)

• Title IX programs

• School breakfast programs (Now some schools feed America’s children two-thirds of their daily meals through-out the school year and all summer. Sadly, these are the only decent meals some children receive.)

In the 1980s, the floodgates opened, and we added

• Key boarding and computer education

• English-as-a-second-language and bilingual education

• Teen pregnancy awareness

• Hispanic heritage education

• Early childhood education

• Jump Start

• Full-day kindergarten

• Preschool programs for children at risk

• Anti-smoking education

• Child abuse monitoring (a legal requirement for all teachers)

In the 1990s, we added

• Conflict resolution and peer mediation

• HIV/AIDS education

• CPR training

• Inclusion

• Expanded computer and internet education

• Assessment

• Expanded Talented and Gifted opportunities

• At risk and drop out prevention

• Homeless education (including causes and effects on children)

• Gang education (urban centers)

• Service learning

 

Yet we have not added a single minute to the school calendar in six decades! 

It can at times feel overwhelming, too much, and impossible. But friends, remember what Dr. Gentry taught us; we are in control of our reaction to every environment. We will be our best and approach our work with integrity everyday. That is what we want and who we are becoming. Having said that,  I would also suggest that the conversations need to get real about the unspoken "contract" we are still being held to. We can do more. We can do better. However, we need the time, support, and resources from our surrounding "villages" to ultimately succeed.

For us, at Holiday Park, we know what science and research tells us about students growing up in neighborhoods of poerty. They need teachers that believe they are brilliant and capable of doing anything. Really, anything! The rigor of the work will never be deteriorated to mirror any adult judgments of inadequacy or beliefs of inability. While we continue learning and thinking about the academic content that we are delivering to our students, we know that we must also be thinking about the messages that students are receiving implicitly and explicitly from their teachers and their school environment. The new research in educational psychology shows that for young people – and especially young people growing up in family poverty or other adverse circumstances – those messages are enormously important. They change the way students conceive of themselves and their purpose in school. Which in turn has a huge impact on how they behave: how likely they are to persevere, to apply themselves, and to recover from setbacks. 

But here is what I know. We, the teachers and staff of Holiday Park, can do this! Together we can change the narrative of our school, our neighborhood, and our community. First, we must change the narrative in our own minds. Together we can;

1)  Keep rigor and academic expectations high. Prepare engaging lesson that are delivered in ways that motivate our students to learn.

2)  Stay connected with research and best practice in the craft of teaching and learning.

3) Work as teams to ensure all students are getting the support they need for learning with multiple opportunities to be successful. 

4)  Uplift each other as we do our work together. The possibilities that can happen when our actions are embraced by kindness and respect are endless. 

5)  Understand that we, the adults, are responsible to regulate our emotions and create the classroom environments that our students need. We will remain calm. We will not judge our students, families, community, or each other. We will treat all children as if they were are own. We will gracefully forgive ourselves when we stray from this understanding and do better and better each day.

6)  Commit to ensuring our environment, everywhere around Holiday Park, is considered non-violent. 

Six simple steps! I know, it's really not simple at all. But, the good news is, it is do-able. And I can't think of a better, more equipped, socially appropriate, kind and compassionate group of people to do this with!

As we do this work, we need to tell our story. The resources our students need, like authentic after school groups to feel they belong too, can only come about with the support of our community.

“Public sentiment is everything.

With it, nothing can fail;

Against it, nothing can succeed.” 

–Abraham Lincoln