“The Grass Is Not Always Greener”
At this time of year in the great Pacific Northwest there is lots of fog. The days are getting darker and many of us long for the sunshine. It also the time where we start having “family/teacher” conferences. In many cases, families and staff go into these events with a little angst, not knowing what will be a bright spot or what will add to the haze of clarity on how to help our shared students. Perceptions are such a driving force in this dance.
As families we have perceptions about our own experiences of school. Ultimately we just want to know if our children are safe, engaged, supported, challenged and in a healthy environment. Often we are in unchartered waters, either this is our first child experiencing this grade level/school or our children are so different that we experiencing something new at home as well as at school. As staff, we have perceptions about what perceptions families may have about us, our schools and public education as a whole. We have to not only know our students individually well enough to guide them, we need to think about what strategies we can provide families to help their children at home. We want to be clear and honest about each child’s strengths and areas of growth, but don’t want to feel offensive. We want to help our families, but also need to be aware of our limitations of time and resources. For me, I am aware of both sides of the dance and always trying to different strategies to help my needs as a parent as well as honor the staff that are serving my children.
This week a master teacher taught me a few new strategies. She starts by asking families to describe what they are seeing at home when they are working with their child (assessing their perceptions about their student).
Next, she has the family watch a short video that she has filmed of the student doing some grade level work (establishing a shared context for the conversation and showing what the engagement or non-engagement looks like in the class).
Showing her human side, she is honest about her new learning of technology and her limitations(establishing that we are all learning and to take risks).
Then she asks them what they saw and their thoughts (facilitating reflection, this may be the first time the family has seen their child learning at school).
She builds off of their comments and talks about what they are doing in class to either provide additional support and or challenge the child during the day (reassuring their child is safe, engaged, supported and challenged).
Working from the standards and skills, she has a few generic strategies that are related to the standards/skills that can be replicated at home. Often these are skills that reinforce academic stamina, solid work habits, and are simpler versions of what she doing in the class already (reinforcing healthy habits that we all can support).
She reminds the family that this work needs to be low stress and not fight, “start slow and be consistent” (finding safe ways to challenge their child at home). Finally, she asks the families to contact her every few weeks to get an update and share what they are seeing at home (reinforcing the partnership without all the ownership lying on the teacher).
I was reminded that we have world class teachers and world class principals in our schools. Our teachers and principals have never been more challenged and met those challenges at higher levels than ever before. I know there are challenges in our schools across our Nation. I am not blind to the realities that not every child in our country has a world class teacher, every day.
However, there are many schools, cities and states that our global partners may want to come examine. With relentless pressure to provide quick fixes and national propaganda about the lack of the success of our schools, maybe we should look closer at the numbers (http://www.edweek.org/ew/section/infographics/math-achievement-globally.html?cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS1). In our state we are not perfect, but we are becoming world class.
This week in Washington it is Principal Appreciation Week, I am thankful for our world class principals. Their successes are marked in more than a single test score, but rather the 1000’s of lives they save every day. In Tacoma, we have some the world’s best educational leaders. Although there may be foggy days in our area, rest assure there is sunshine behind the clouds for our students, for that I am humbly grateful.
Finally from David Whelan’s “My View of Fog”,
Ask any ten people, 'what's the odor of fog? ' And...
you'll get different replies, from ten different guys,
from brisk, briny sea smell, to smell of wet dog,
to perfume worn by Neptune, essence of clouds
and blue skies
I think that fog is something and nought.
A wraith of perception
suffused with deception
as easily at home…
in fact
or in thought
Cross-posted: http://edge.ascd.org/_WILL-1314-8/blog/6554290/127586.html?b=
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