|
Getting a Read on Your School - by Cindi Seddon
- What is Really Going On?
- What Does Your Classroom Say About You?
Educators:
When a person walks into a school, they can get a feel for it immediately. Schools have personalities, made up by the collectives within. There is some research (Halpert, 2007) that suggests that what adorns the front entry hall dictates what is important to a school. Think about that. When was the last time you walked into your school with new eyes and thought about what the front entrance says about what the school values. Try it. It's an interesting exercise.
For many school, athletic ribbons from competitions paper the walls, showcases hold the shields, medals and plaques of academic award winners from long ago until present. There may be a slogan, a mascot or some other artifacts steeped in history. The question we need to ask ourselves is, how do we want our school to be known, and what steps have we taken to make that come true.
I remember walking into a school that one of my colleagues was in charge of. My Vice Principal and I were going to meet the up and coming grade 6's and begin the welcoming process into middle school. I walked in the building, and I felt happy. Color, words of welcome, more color and a smiling secretary greeted us. We had a terrific visit, and I noticed that I ALWAYS felt like that when I went to visit her building. I started walking into my building trying to get a "first impression", what people felt like when they first walked into my building. We clearly had some work to do.
I started purposefully noticing what other schools were doing to their front entrances. WOW! What a difference between schools. They ranged from one school that greeted its visitors with a sign that said, "Quiet zone - no student talking" to dark tunnel like entry ways all the way to schools with art on the walls beautifully framed and displayed, couches and easy chairs... we had some thinking to do.
Over time, the entry way evolved. By the time I had left the school we had a good start to making our school look inviting. This is because by the time we decided what we wanted to say about ourselves, we were sure that we wanted all of our visitors and our residents to feel comfortable in the building. We had a large comfy seating area, flanked by two beautifully carved gateposts. The year the gateposts were completed, we had a group of grade 8 students build a story about the gateposts, and how their images fit into the school culture and climate. The story was written and published across the walls behind the seating area, and became one of the most important stations for visitors to stop at. We framed some of the art produced by the after school art class, and we had a juice machine.
We had many compliments on our school's entryway, not just what was in it, but how people felt walking in and seeing it. I think we achieved what we set out to.
Oh, we still had all of the ribbons and medals and plaques, they were just not the first thing people saw.
Your school and your classroom talk to the visitors that come and tell a story about what you value. We know that kids need to feel safe and welcomed in order to do their best work. Building such an environment begins with what you put into it. Ask you students what your room, or your entryway says to visitors. If you don't like the response, think about what you can do to make the changes you want to make.
Parents:
Keeping the kids active - get involved with them and learn about their world.
It is true now and may have always been true, adults simply cannot keep up with the world of their children. It may also be true that the current generation of adults believes that their children's world is the most out of reach it has ever been. I know that's how I feel.
The Cyber world has opened up new arenas we cannot even touch. Internet generation. Intergeneration.net. Generation internet. Any of those combinations works for the eworld our kids live in. And it comes so easily to them. So easily, in fact, that a large part of the social landscaping for kids occurs on line. They text, they cell phone, they email, they have facebook accounts, have people called "friends" they have never met, and would defend far past any point we, the adults would think was normal. And there is no way we will catch them at this game, because they invent the new language to go with the new technology as fast as we can turn around. Just when we think we might be getting the hang of it...wiki's and wii's, jings and the newest XBox have hit the market with more capabilities than we can ever imagine. So what do we do? We keep on learning, we learn how to keep tabs on our children's internet traffic, we insist on their passwords, we have rules that we enforce, and we revert to some of the tried and true methods to keep up with the kids and their goings on.
Here's a couple that we are much more familiar with.
We make time to talk and visit. Meals together at least a couple times a week are a wonderful way to share some conversation. Try getting rid of the dishwasher and set a schedule for hand-washing the dishes. That only works if you eat meals together. If not, forget it. You'll just battle the pile of dishes in the sink.
Offer to be the driver for a group outing with your child and friends. This is the single best method for finding out what is going on in their lives. For some reason, on longer trips, kids seem to forget that there is an adult in the car, and they start talking the way they would talk if it were just them together. Of course the trick here is to keep your mouth shut. If you try to join in the conversation, they will remember that you are there and keep up the "behaviour intended for adult company".
Finally, see if you can find somewhere in your area that is recreational and has no cyber access, then go there regularly and spend some time. These places are difficult to find, but when the techno-means is not available, it is amazing how much you can find to talk about. If this is impossible, try scheduling a games night with family and friends and make sure everyone, including you, turns off and tunes out. All cell phones, PDA's and other electronic devices are off. Conversation comes naturally in these situations, and interesting allegiances are formed when family members team up with one another in a game of chance. We have busy lives, but remember that kids take the stories of their childhood into their adulthood. What would you think if your child were to tell their children some day how they played board games with their parents one night a week, or a month, and how much fun they had. Try it and share the idea with your neighbours and your school. The school might well like to get involved!
|
