A Week of Firsts

Monday we welcomed the class of 2022! 134, four and five year-old students entered our doors for their first week of school. There are very few things I remember from my days as a Kindergarten student. However, writing helps me relive some of the profound events that happened during that year.

When I went to Kindergarten we only went for half days. We played blocks a lot. Ronnie Jenkins jumped out the bathroom window and ran home. I was the tallest student in my class, and at 5 years old was almost as tall as Mrs. Glickman, my teacher. My mom would have triangle cut peanut butter and jelly sandwiches ready for me when I got home from school, and by the way, we walked to and from school, uphill both ways, and in 6 feet of snow (I'm from Buffalo), it was really 30 below zero with the windchill.

Back to the point. Our theme for this year is Structure, Consistency and No Excuses. Many of the children that populate the class of 2022 will have significant challenges. Many will have resource challenges, some will have language barriers, many will come from broken homes, some have been through trials that the grown ups in our buildings have not seen before. We have a choice to make; 1. Make an Excuse or 2. Open new doors. The law of attraction states "if you truly believe in your success and what you will be, it will happen." You've heard this from me before, and you will hear it again. We cannot make excuses for our students, we can not allow our parents to make excuses for their children. We must find a way for each child to experience success.

This week our students will have their first taste of success in reading, their first collective cheer for problem solving in math, the first celebration of publishing their first written word, their first expression of creativity through dance, or drama, the first creation of a masterpiece of art that will surely make Mom and Dad proud enough to hang on the fridge for all to see.

To me this is one of the greatest opportunities and adult could ask for. The opportunity to be the first person to introduce so many exciting new things. I get emotionally charged when I read the drop out rates for students in school. I wonder where or when it was that this young man or young woman realized that dropping out of school was better than enduring the challenges of adults who want to open the doors of success for us.

This week; let's open that first door! Welcome class of 2022!

Open Dream Ensemble

What a great experience, for our BHESA tigers today! We were visited by the Open Dream Ensemble. They did a performance for our students on the Wright Brothers and the trials of learning to fly and build an aircraft. They used our students as their test drive (not literally). The producers writers and cast performed two shows and afterward asked our teachers and our students what they could do better. WOW! What a noble thought. Professional artists asking kids what they can do better and actually listening to their audience. Artists asking non-artists about how they could improve.

I thought about the parallel to our profession.

Do we listen to our audience? Do we ever ask our students what they thought of our lesson, or our performance? Did they get it? Did they like it? The approach these performers took today reminded me that we are never above asking the two most important questions in the field of education. What can we do better? What can we do different? Often times we satisfy our own need to teach, but miss the students need to learn, because we don't ask the question. In teaching it's what did you learn today? If they can't answer it then we should re-think our performance. We should re-cast our crew. We should re-write our script. However often we file our production into the vault of lessons to be re-produced to next year's audience.

Remember to take time to think about what it is you want to teach, what it is you want your students to learn, ask the questions and perform as if you were on stage seeking the response you have worked so hard for, the silent applause of a mind that has just learned something new.

And Action.......................................................

Structure, Consistency, No Excuses

Structure, Consistency and No Excuses

I know you probably expected the old football coach in me to start with No Excuses. I'm t throwing you a curve ball here, keep you on your feet and let you know which one of these three words I feel is the most important. I would like the focus of our time this week to be spent thinking about consistency. Consistency is defined as, - steadfast adherence to the same principles, course, form, etc.

How does one have a steadfast adherence to a course that has not yet been embarked upon? Simply put, you can not be consistent on something that you have not yet started to do. Monday will be the first day of your journey on the course you plan to take this year. I encourage you to stick with that course as long as it is the course you and I can agree will take our students to the place they need best.

I had the privilege last week to interview the President of Football Operations for The Carolina Panthers, Mark Richardson. I asked him questions about employee development, customer service, public relations, team building. He responded to me that these things were established at the onset of this organization. They have deliberately maintained a consistent approach to how they do things, why they do things, and a litmus test that has withstood the test of time. Their test is based on a similar principle that I have shared with you in the past. We treat our customers as if we would want our granddaughters treated if they were to go to a football game. There is no Grey area, the lines are very clearly drawn.

Draw your lines, start your routines, and do it everyday.