One of the things I loved about having my own classroom was when a student would say or do something that made me feel like what I was doing was making a difference in their life. I loved seeing their little light bulbs go off, loved watching them succeed and loved seeing their confidence grow. On Wednesday, I had the pleasure of spending some time with Ashley and her group of 5th grade EL students. The group happened to consist of all girls and Ashley was doing a lesson with them for her Black History Month display. They were learning about Shirley Chisholm and had been reading the book Shirley Chisholm is a Verb. As part of the lesson, Ashley asked the girls to share their verb! They discussed different verbs and one of her students named Yuki immediately raised her hand and wanted to share! Well, what she shared turned into one of "THOSE MOMENTS". You know what I mean, those ones you can't plan for but when they happen it's like your heart could burst? Yuki said, "My verb is SPEAK!" Ashley said, "Wow that's a great verb. Can you tell us why you chose it?" Yuki said, "...because when I first came here, I couldn't speak English. I was quiet. But, now I'm brave and I speak." How lucky was I to get to witness this moment? Next Ashley had the kids write about their verbs. Here is Yuki's writing. We have the BEST jobs! I hope you treasure the times that you have one of "those moments" this school year!
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to Yesterday, I got an email from a teacher who wanted Michael and I to know that one of her students, who we have been quite worried about, scored in yellow on STAR. Now, that might not seem like a big deal for everyone, but this little guy couldn't even get through the practice test in the fall! Michael replied by saying,"that makes me super happy, we sometimes forget that amazing things are still happening this year."
I couldn't agree more. And, I'm with everyone else when it comes to forgetting to look for or not even noticing the amazing things that are happening! This means, we need to DO THE WORK and be more INTENTIONAL! So the next time you go in the work room you will notice a big piece of paper on the back of the door. I want you to be intentional as you look for amazing, great, wonderful things that are happening around you, in your classrooms or in our school. Then I want you to write those amazing things on a post it and stick it on the door!!! WHAT WE SEE DEPENDS MAINLY ON WHAT WE LOOK FOR! So, LOOK for the good, the great, the wonderful, the AMAZING and you will definitely SEE more of it! As I sit here and write this blog post, we have an irate parent calling the school on repeat. He is mad because the bus was late and his daughter came inside, took her coat off and then missed the bus. He wants to yell at us. He will not leave a message. I have instructed the office not to answer when he calls and if he somehow gets through by blocking his number or calling from a different phone we will simply say, "Please call back and leave a message."
In my early years as an educator I would have been very upset that this person was mad. I would have tried to solve his problem immediately. What I've learned over the years is that not everyone and everything that demands my attention actually deserves it. In this case, we have a parent who wants to yell at us. He has the opportunity to leave a message on our voicemail, but isn't taking that opportunity. So, he is not getting our attention. What is demanding your attention but not deserving of it? When is doing nothing or waiting to do something the best thing to do? Remember that R Factor teaches us to press pause and get our minds right. In some situations it is below the line to respond at all. For several years I have heard people refer to books as windows, mirrors and doors. I assumed that I used picture books in ways that were empowering to children. But, as I've reflected over the past few weeks, I have realized that there is so much more to be done to ensure that children really SEE themselves at school. We have been on a journey of social justice. We have been engaged in book discussions and actively trying to be inclusive, equitable and anti-racist. We will never fully arrive because as we know, education is a journey without a destination. However, each day, each week, each month we move forward on the journey and we are better because of it. A few days ago I stumbled upon Molly's Facebook post. I was instantly touched after I read it. Then I started to wonder why it's taken us so long to read books with black characters in school. I wondered if we all felt like we needed permission. But, then I noticed the hashtag that Molly added to the end-- "#hope". And, I realized that what has really happened here at JW is that we have HOPE! We have hope that we can make tomorrow better than today and today better than yesterday. We have hope for the futures of our students and our eyes have been opened to THEIR realities.
This place isn't about US, it's about the CHILDREN. We are blessed to be a school with children who can see themselves in books about black people, Latinx people, Arab people and many other kinds of people. But WE the educators are the ones with the power to bring the stories that reflect our students to life in the classroom. Think about that for a minute! We truly have the power to shape how our students SEE themselves and their futures. We cannot waste this opportunity. As you can see from the infographic above, we are going to have to actively seek out books in which our students can SEE themselves. In 2018, 50% of picture books had main characters who were white as opposed to just 10% depicting characters who were black. No wonder we haven't been reading books with diverse characters to our students! We have to actively look for them! But, now our eyes have been opened. I don't think we will look at pictures books the same way ever again. |
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