Friday, September 08, 2006
The Educational Cycle
What comes around, comes around ... last year and this year and next year. That annual week of high hopes -- the start of the school year.
Grandson Aleister is doing his second go at kindergarten. As a 'drug baby', he has always run about a year behind and we agreed with the school that he might get into a better alignment with life if he stayed back and repeated the year. I had no problem with that ... I had to do the first grade twice (1940-1942), so it seemed like a normal and natural thing to do. What doesn't seem 'normal and natural' is the fact that he will have four years of school behind him when he finally hits first grade and will be expected to perform there at a level that I did not achieve till maybe the end of second grade / beginning of third grade. It's a different world out there!
And to what end? So that he can eventually enter the frenetic American rat-race and turn his earned holiday time back in at the end of each year? But WHOA!, I'm digressing into an area too big and complex for today's subject.
So the school wanted Allie to improve and WE (Bookworm & I) wanted his experience at school to improve. We came up with three goals: 1) get him shifted to a morning class so's he be 'fresher' when he hit the classroom, 2) get him into a different class than his last year nemesis Anthony (who was also held back), and 3) get him off the Special Needs school bus and onto the regular big yellow bus so's he could feel like he was moving up in the world.
Having something of an 'in' with the principal at Allie's school, Bookworm called him and laid out our three wishes. He said he'd see to them and did what we wished on the first two points. He wasn't able to handle the busing problem as that was out of his realm of expertise .... so on day one, a small Special Needs bus showed up at our door. I went out and told the driver that we wouldn't be using her services this year and that we'd get it all straightened out by the morrow.
That afternoon DR. Bookworm was back on the phone to 'transportation' and 'special services' and by evening we got a call informing us that he should catch the big bus the following morning. All missions accomplished!
Last year, his school day started with he and I loitering about in our semi cul de sac driveway at 12:30 until this empty little bus came down the street and spirited him away - alone. Now I walk him up around the corner where he immediately joins a half dozen other boys in impromptu games and craziness. Last year he drug his feet till the last minute before taking up his backpack. This year he is hot to trot twenty minutes before bus time.
I had simply thought that being on the big bus would allow him to feel more a part of things, but I see that it goes way beyond that .... it's a quarter hour of intense socializing and whomping up those good old High Spirits. A whole social structure exists at the bus stop (i.e., the single file line-up to get on the bus is initially created with dropped backpacks). When the bus appears in the distance (8:48 am), games stop, bodies rush to backpacks and the 'line' is established and orderly, ready to file onto the bus at the driver's signal. Accomplished on their own without on-going adult instruction. And Allie immediately began to follow the 'rules' and the process.
So I have High Hopes for Allie for this coming school year. I can see that his experience is going to be much 'larger' due to the bus change. He is leaving happier. He is coming home happier. And he seems to be happier about school itself. And that makes me happier. And it makes Bookworm happier. And that's a win - win!
# posted by Clear Creek Girl : 9:08 AM
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It's a huge huge thing to make one child happier. It carries over. It seeps into teacher's life, classmates' lives, our life. One child's happiness can move little bubbles of gladness across the ocean - - just like one child's sadness can touch another country's shores. I know this doesn't make much sense, but its true. Allie's greater degree of happiness is not just HIS - it's much more than that.
So GOOD FOR YOU, FOSSIL-GUY, for responding to this little kid's pride and gladness in such a way as to touch other people and their view of the world.
So GOOD FOR YOU, FOSSIL-GUY, for responding to this little kid's pride and gladness in such a way as to touch other people and their view of the world.
Sometimes it's just the little things that make the biggest difference. Good for Allie in getting to be a "big kid" now!!! :o)
# posted by 
: 11:04 AM
: 11:04 AM
Ann and I are always commenting on the way schools have shape-shifted into management systems. Too many kids equals a need for management of large numbers. Hence, the BUS drives (no pun intended) the classroom schedules, the school offerings, and yes, even a child's sense of self-worth.
Advice from this old teacher? Advocate, advocate, advocate for your kid (or grandkid as the case may be) because no one else will do it for you...they're all busy managing the large number of kids dropped off at their doors.
But don't forget to pay your taxes, so we can have cell phones in Iraq!!
Advice from this old teacher? Advocate, advocate, advocate for your kid (or grandkid as the case may be) because no one else will do it for you...they're all busy managing the large number of kids dropped off at their doors.
But don't forget to pay your taxes, so we can have cell phones in Iraq!!
Oh, Hooray for Ali, Hooray for FG and Hooray for BW. The household on Liverpool should be so much happier now! FG, you and the Doctor did a very good job. And NoApol is so right about the advocacy. We have to do it in every part of our lives now or we become just one little number that means nothing to anyone.
I am so moved by the care and kindness you are raising Allie in.
Most of the women I work with never had anyone to advocate
for them when they were small...and I'm here to testify that - as acts of generosity enrich the world - so acts of selfishness bleed it dry.
Everything we do translates into a consequence for somebody,someday, somewhere down the line - thank you for choosing actions that are full of goodness and willingness and love.
bs
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Most of the women I work with never had anyone to advocate
for them when they were small...and I'm here to testify that - as acts of generosity enrich the world - so acts of selfishness bleed it dry.
Everything we do translates into a consequence for somebody,someday, somewhere down the line - thank you for choosing actions that are full of goodness and willingness and love.
bs
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