With all of the backlash against Common Core, much of our dialogue about our local schools has consisted of common complaints.
Mainly, these complaints have to do with the amount of hours our children have to take less-than-quality standardized tests.
Many of us feel that these tests seem to set our children up for failure. Along with this over-testing, many are appalled at the age-inappropriate Common Core curriculum which, in an attempt to teach children to think critically, have more often than not seemed to frustrate and confuse students.
Teachers are stressed about their own “testing,” too — an evaluation system that seems so burdensome to our pedagogues, that it hampers their spirit in the classroom.
Parents and teachers are often equally confused by this new curriculum and new methods, doubting much of its usefulness.
Worse than being useless, many worry about the strain that it is putting on our children and that it is robbing them of the essential aspects of childhood that allows them to develop into joyful and well-rounded individuals.
An unsuccessful attempt to propel ourselves into a supposed race with other world-wide math and language scores has left many to fear that the social and emotional well-being of our future generation is being compromised in the process.
However, with all the well-deserved scrutiny that Common Core has received lately, there still seems to be a large gaping hole in our dialogue about our local schools.
In a desperate attempt to rally against the ills of the current system, many of us are forgetting all the good, and all that we have to be grateful for, when it comes to our local schools.
After all, gratitude is not only nice, it is useful. It makes us realize what should be valued and nurtured.
I think, just maybe, that some of the things that I am grateful about when it comes to our schools, others are grateful about, as well. I’m grateful that over the past few years, my elementary-aged son has met wonderful, sensitive, smart, and engaging teachers and staff that generally care about whether he has a smile on his face, or not.
When I see him get off the bus at the end of the day and he is smiling, I know that somewhere along the way, a teacher inspired that smile.
I’m grateful that the administrators in my son’s school district see technology as a way to motivate learning and differentiate instruction, rather than as a new necessary evil.
My son’s school recently hosted “Meet the IPad” night, where staff helped teach parents about the applications on their children’s IPads. One such application help students take ownership of their schoolwork by submitting work and receiving feedback quickly and directly from their teachers.
Other apps provide interactive reading material on the child’s specific reading level with high-interest, child friendly topics. I’m grateful for this engaging new technology and for the administrators and staff that were not only there that night, but were really “present” and ready and willing to engage enthusiastically with parents.
I’m grateful that my son voluntarily, and “just-for-fun” plays an app on his school-issued IPad that teaches him how to “code” and another one that helps him learn Presidential facts. I’m grateful that although he may not always be a fan of all of his homework, he actually looks forward to going to school.
He genuinely likes his classroom teacher and the welcoming and engaging environment that she has fostered. He also looks forward to all of his “specials” which include science lab, library, Spanish, art, physical education, music, and special instrumental instruction with an instrument of choice. He even likes the more mundane and non-academic aspects of the day, including school-bought lunches, recess, and bus-rides.
This means that he feels that he is part of a community, not just a school.
So, I’m grateful not just for the teachers and administrators but for all of the other staff and parents that make our children feel that they are part of a cohesive community. I’m grateful for the district’s secretaries, nurses, aides, monitors, custodians, cafeteria workers, bus drivers, and all the PTA moms and dads that work hard to raise money and plan events.
No school is perfect, and no community is perfect. But, I am certainly grateful that the children in my son’s school district are part of a real community of learners and are able to go to school every day in a place that values not just test scores, but also social, emotional and character development. They get to go to school in a place that is not afraid of the word, “fun.”
They are learning to be not just hoarders of information, but real citizens. It is a community that values diversity, culture, empathy, individual talents and passions. I’m grateful for the way in which the vast majority of our local educators help our children feel successful and reach their potential in a happy and healthy way.
After all, if we want our children to be “college and career ready” then we want them to have a positive experience about what it means to be a productive part of an enriching society so that one day they will not only be ready, but will be able choose the right kind of college and career for themselves.
The American dream may have changed over time and become a bit more liberated.
Yet, still, at its core the dream is that sense of having the freedom to celebrate our own individualism while engaging in a thriving community. This is what our schools help our children achieve.
So, as we serve the turkey (or tofu) and cranberry sauce this Thanksgiving, I will try to remember the gratitude that I feel towards what is really the heart of our community: our local schools. I’ll try to remember all of the common gratitude that our ancestors have had for decades and centuries, and I’ll say Thank You.
Diana Poulos-Lutz
Mineola
