Have you ever been confronted by someone with a question about a topic that you feel deeply about and want to be supportive of, but you just can't find the right words to say when confronted with an opposing view?
This exact thing happened to me a few weeks ago after we had a student check a book out of our library that was called This Day in June. If you haven't read it, it's a beautifully illustrated book about PRIDE and in particular the Pride Parade. The parent of the student who checked it out was not happy with us. Jim and I talked to her, Hilary Sloat talked to her, and Central Office talked to her. I just couldn't understand her anger. To me, we were just teaching kids about a real event in our world that celebrates love. Now, I'm not naive, I do know that many people are very uncomfortable with the idea of discussing LGBTQ topics at all, especially with children. And, boy did Jim and I find that parent who was really uncomfortable. In all honesty we both tried to rationalize and talk to the mom about her concerns and we really missed the mark. It was a learning experience for sure. Today, I was able to participate in a PD at CO from a presenter from the Kaleidoscope Youth Center. Check out their website here! I had so many take-aways and a-ha moments today. The biggest one was this: When talking to children about LGBTQ identities we are not teaching sex-ed. We are talking about love, acceptance, identities and families. We say LOVE is an INTERVENTION and this is just another meaning of that saying. We cannot be afraid to read books about LGBTQ people and their families in our schools! We must be inclusive of all students' lived experiences without fear of offending those who are not yet educated enough to be okay with it. Want to learn more? Check out the notes (you will need to be logged in with your HCSD google account to see the notes) that a principal colleague of mine shared with me after the meeting!
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YOU HAVE READ THE FIRST PART OF THIS STORY, BUT BE SURE TO READ THE REST BECAUSE THIS STORY CONTINUED WHEN OUR SWEET FRIEND WHEN BACK TO MISS KERR'S CLASSROOM!
Mr. Williams to a first grader---"Stand up and own it, tell Dolly what you did" Student--(looking at Dolly) "I don't know how I got this marker on my arm" Mr. Williams and Mrs. Prati ---"Oh no, stop...you better try again" Mr. Williams--"Not telling the truth will break Dolly's heart..." Mrs. Prati---"Into a million..." Mrs. Williams--"A zillion, billion" Mrs. Prati'--"pieces!" Student--"Dolly, I wrote on my arms with marker it was below the line" Mrs. Prati--"Why didn't you stand up and own it to Dolly the first time?" Student--LONG PAUSE Mr. William--"Why didn't you stand up and own it?" Student--" (long pause again) "Because I didn't know her heart would break into a zillion pieces." HERE IS THE REST OF THE STORY: Miss Kerr: “so how did that go?” Student: “well… not that good.” Miss Kerr: “oh no.” Student: “first of all.. Mrs. Prati was in there????” (seriously confused- he thought he was just talking to dolly) Miss Kerr: “oh, that’s weird.” Student: “yeah. and I broke Dolly’s heart.” Miss Kerr: “oh my.” Student: “into a zillion pieces.” Miss Kerr: “wow.” Student: “Miss Kerr, can I ask you something?” Miss Kerr: “sure” Student: “is a zillion a lot?” I don't know about you but sometimes I can just FEEL it when we're all in a good groove around here. And, right now, I feel like we are rockin' and rollin'! Title groups are running, we have 4 noon aides, we just did tons of data teams, the xSEL room is firing on all cylinders and we are working together so well as a team! After a crazy start to the school year, it feels good to feel like we are all moving forward in a positive way!
Thank you for your hard work, your commitment and your willingness to try new things! Please take a minute to reflect on the things going well right now! I love JW! Phone rings during the school day. It's Rocco.
R: Mom I stepped on a nail at school. Me: WHAT?!?! R: I stepped on a nail. Me: How?!?! R: It was on the ground. Me: What do you mean it was on the ground? R: It was on the ground and I stepped on it. Me: Can you please give me more details? R: I was in woodshop and I stepped on it. Me: YOU DON'T TAKE WOODSHOP! R: I know. Me: Okay let's try this another way....Fill in the blank "I was in woodshop because ________________." R: I was in woodshop because my friend needed help. Me. Fill in the blank... "I was in the woodshop during _________________(which class did you skip?) R: I was in the woodshop during lunch because my fried needed help. Me: My god Rocco....just stop going to places where you don't need to be. R: The trainer wants me to ask you when my last tetanus shot was. Me: I don't know, Rocco! Let me find out and call you back. The end! Enjoy! You all do such an amazing job of loving students. I think it's such second nature to us that we stop noticing it!
Pay attention to how amazing the adults are in the this building and the love they give to kids! It's truly inspiring! See this shirt?
It's been in the staff bathroom all week. And, it's been driving me crazy. I keep meaning to send an email saying, "If you're missing a shirt, it might be in the staff bathroom." This morning I was getting ready for school and could not find my "Love is An Intervention" shirt anywhere. But, I'm in the middle of having two our our bathrooms remodeled, my house is a mess, my mom hasn't been over to do laundry this week and after digging through piles of dirty laundry, I picked a different shirt. When I got back from my admin meeting today, I went to the bathroom and again looked at the shirt. I thought to myself "For crying out loud, I'm so sick of seeing this shirt." So, I picked it up and realized that it was MY FREAKING SHIRT. I then had a flashback of changing my shirt really quickly after Fall Fun Night last week because I was going to the UA Football game. Anyway, what did I learn? Sometimes we miss what is right in front of us. Take time to slow down and be in the moment, it just might save you time later! Have a great weekend. Over the years, I've written a lot about comfort zones. We've all heard about stepping out of our comfort zones; productive discomfort; and getting comfortable with being uncomfortable.
But, how many times do we really have the opportunity to do that? This pandemic definitely forced us out of our comfort zones, but it's safe to say that we didn't have much of a choice in this one! However, as we move forward this school year, I am seeing teachers at every grade level pushing themselves out of their LITERACY comfort zones. Grades K-2 have attended 95% training, grades 3-5 have taken it upon themselves to rethink the way they teach reading so that it aligns with the work of grades K-2. We are giving different assessments, reading different professional books and delivering reading instruction in new ways. You are all the DEFINITION of ELITE! Just ask your K-2 colleagues if you don't know what I mean by that. Over the past few weeks in their district trainings they have witnessed many colleagues from other schools who were resistant to change. Our staff members were shocked by this behavior because that is just NOT how we operate at JW. So, today I say THANK YOU. Thank you for having open minds, thank you for learning new things, thank you for dabbling, dipping toes in and taking risks. Remember I will always be here as the safety net! I love learning from all of you! You all have taught me so much over the years. But, someone who seems to teach me a lot is Jim Smalley! I think you all probably agree when I say that he is such a positive force in our school. While, he teases me frequently and is SUPER sarcastic, Jim is one of the people at JW who has taught me the MOST over the years. I don't think Jim means to teach me things. But, his enthusiasm for learning new things is INFECTIOUS!
Jim often bounds into my office to share his latest thought, idea, podcast tidbit, quote that made him think or question he is pondering. A few weeks ago, Jim shared the notion of UNSCRIPTED moments. He then told me that he wanted to share this idea with the staff. Most of you have filled out the UNSCRIPTED form that Jim shared with you a few weeks ago. He shared the importance those little moments that can brighten someone's day. Jim had this to say about an "Unscripted" moment: "An “unscripted” moment goes a long way and can help us through these tough weeks!" Click here to see everyone's unscripted info! Maybe you can use it to brighten someone's day! I'm not sure if you feel like this too, but lately I feel like I've been pulled in a million directions. A few weeks ago, I wrote about the importance of not giving our attention to everything that demands our attention. Tonight, I was reminded that I also need to follow this advice when it comes to social and other forms of media. It's easy to get sucked into the negativity of discussion forums like "Hilliard People In the Know", neighborhood Facebook groups and other public forums. It's easy to start to feel the negativity, sarcasm and meanness (is meanness a word) of the people posting in these groups.
Today, I reminded myself to CHOOSE WISELY what I spend my "free time" doing. I'm asking myself to determine if the words I'm reading, the podcasts I'm listening to, and the images I'm seeing are feeding my soul with positivity or bringing me down. It's easy to get sucked into negativity. I want to BE positive, I want to spread positivity and I want to focus on the good! Have you noticed the amount of PURE JOY in our school? If you haven't then I challenge you to look for it. This week, I decided to BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR JOY!
Here is what I found: -Lily and Kaleb's mom stops and talks to me almost every morning and told me that she has been praying for us. -Ella was walking into the building, walked right by me, turned around and yelled "TELL DOLLY I LOVE HER!" -95 fourth and fifth graders have asked for applications to be Student Leaders. -Tiba hugs me EVERY TIME SHE SEES ME! -I counted at least 12 skippers each day this week! What JOY can you find today? |
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