I saw her walking up to school just like every other day. She didn’t have a car, didn’t use internet nor did she have a computer. I had built a relationship with her since translating during a parent conference for her only child’s first parent conference. I saw resilience in her daughter even though she was struggling academically. I saw progress in language that was phenomenal. In effort to respect the teacher I translated what was being said but included that language development would take time. Having looked at the calendar that morning I saw that the annual kindergarten performance was slated for the last part of the day. The MPR was full of proud families watching their first born or their last sing and celebrate their first year of formal education. Unfortunately, this mom walked up right when it was ending. The look of confusion on her face made me quickly realize she was never notified. She just missed her daughter’s performance. In an effort to save paper the teacher sent announcements via email only. I was furious and heartbroken for this mom. I would have called for the teacher had I known. I should have known.
My belief statement stems from my experience working in both low and high performing schools and seeing one too many times students falling further behind because they don't fit the mold of a typical student. Too many times the relationship between home and school is nonexistent because an extra step may be needed to contact them. Preconceived notions of an ethnicity or language background has allowed others to narrow their minds and limit a child’s capability instead of building on what strengths the child brings to the classroom. In high performing schools it can be a sink or swim viewpoint and the safety net is not there for many students when they begin to sink. In lower performing schools engagement can be low as well as teacher expectation. Our students cannot afford for us to lower any expectation of them however challenging that may make instruction. Some days there may be tiny baby steps and other days we may take two steps backward. As long as we are continually moving forward with student achievement we are moving in the right direction for every child. Education. A nine letter word that has the power to change everything. I believe education has the ability to transform lives and open doors that were previously closed to many. I believe that every student has the ability to learn and should be given every opportunity to thrive in an educational setting that is safe and engaging. With education evolving faster than we can keep up I believe it is our responsibility as educators to be lifelong learners recognizing the need and opportunity to teach in ways well beyond the ways we learned.
This means it is up to us to embrace and learn how students learn in the 21st century in order to meet their academic needs and nurture their emotional needs as well. Through this belief I know that we can build a better tomorrow for our students than that of today |
Kelly
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