Today marked day 40 for my students. 40 days of learning, 40 days of being in "real school", 40 days of staying all day.
Even though it isn't my 40th day of school, I have noticed tremendous growth in all of my students. It's been two weeks since I've seen any early-morning "i don't want to go to school" tears. Most of my students can say and sound out at least 1/2 of the alphabet or more. No one struggles to write their name anymore and no one complains about writing the date. My students are EXCITED about school, almost every single one of them loves learning. And I love that about kindergarten.
But where does that all go? As I just think back to my last summer in Detroit Public Schools, I had students ready to quit, to throw in the towel. They hated school, in just three short years, and they couldn't wait to get out. I saw a really excellent TED talk about this phenomenon in my 401 class, you can access it here: http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html
The talk is called "Schools kill creativity" and it is given by Ted Robinson. Now, this slow-building feeling of apathy and even hate towards the school setting. It is not something I have necessarily noticed in my classroom this year, but its something I have noticed in other classrooms at other schools.
So how do I, as a teacher, prevent children from beginning to feel this way? Is it inevitable?
I also began thinking of this after I taught a social studies lesson. We were covering "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Most students chose "gendered" jobs (lots of little girls chose nurses and teachers, while lots of little boys chose a police officers or firefighters). But a point of awkwardness came when one of my male students said he wanted to be a nurse. "That's what girls do!" someone said "Ew!" another girl giggled.
"Wait a second, boys and girls," I said "What's wrong with Jovani wanting to be a nurse?"
"That's for girls only, Ms. Robb." one boys said.
"Oh, really, hmmm.." I pondered.
The next day I brought in a picture. A man with a bright smile, tall and husky had his arm wrapped around the shoulder of a slightly shorter woman. Both were in scrubs.
"What do you think this man does?" I asked.
"He's a doctor." said a student.
"There is a doctor in the picture, but its not him." I said.
"The girl, the girls a doctor?" another student said.
"Yes. And the man, is a nurse." I smiled. "And I know because he's my Dad."
They looked sort of shocked, except for a smiling Jovani.
"You can do and be whatever you want to be. Just stay in school and love to learn."
And I know I can say it a thousand times. And maybe that message won't make it through to them all, but it matters to me that they know, even from a very young age, that they have someone who believes in them, and supports their dreams, whatever they may be.
Sorry for the mellow-dramatic post, I just needed to get it out there!
This was a great post to read. I would encourage you to think about how you can actually manifest this image of school (You can be whatever you want if you stay in school and learn) in your curriculum and instruction. How can you meaningfully integrate students lives, cultures, ambitions, dreams, etc. into what you are actually doing in the context of your mathematics instruction? Of course, the more you can integrate student interests into your instruction, the more they will realize that this statement (stay in school to achieve your dreams) is not just a lie but a possible reality.
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