We are very important to our students!
We are very important to our students!
A good friend just reminded me that repeating positive affirmations helps us to embrace, recall, and remember to live the sentiments expressed. We are very important to our students. It's no secret that the year is winding down...everyone can feel the tension in the air...and yes, it is tension. At times, the tension can be seen as excitement, and at other times relief. Perhaps it is a stress or anxiety showing up at inopportune times and misconstrued as attitude. But in the end, it is tension, and we need to keep reminding ourselves to make no mistake. What we all, students and teachers, are feeling as the conclusion of another school year closes in is that, "We mean a lot to our students."
As teachers we have the foresight to know that the summer will come and go quickly enough. September will arrive in just a short time, ushering in another school year. As long as we are willing to embrace growth, life in its cyclical nature does not afford us the luxury of settling too long into any one feeling or situation. We all continue to grow, age and develop. We know that nothing lasts forever, and tough times will pass. Even so, when the horizon is not showing a comforting future, knowing that both good and bad times come and go does little to ease the tension in our hearts and minds. This might be the state in which many of our students find themselves during these final days of the school year.
With summer approaching it is good that all of us in teaching should look toward the coming break since this is a wonderful gift of our profession, but I implore you to please allow your perspective to be painted with the paint brushes of your students. Talk to them about summer as it approaches. You might get a new way of looking at the months ahead. The routine of school, while sometimes tedious, allows our students to feel a sense of control. They know exactly where they will be during those 7 hours. They know they will see adults who care. They know they will eat. As summer approaches, the certainty of a daily lunch and teachers who will provide sustenance is erased by empty cupboards for some. And if you do not work with students in need or those who experience food insecurity, you are not immune to the tensions of the approaching summer months. Empty kitchen shelves are not the only absence our students will face this summer. The daily schedule of the school day allows students to experience a purpose that is not fulfilled by empty summer days. With parents working and few responsibilities, students will find their sense of purpose diminishes as the summer months progress.
Our perspective of what others face is undoubtedly shaped by our own experiences. If we are accustomed to sending our children to various camps and summer programs, we envision the same for our students. If we take family vacations, enjoy family outings and look forward to family reunions, we can often think the same holds true for others. It's not a judgment, it is just human nature to imagine that what we have is the norm for everyone, even when this is not necessarily true. And while I don't send my kids to any camps and I know that they are going to spend their days lamenting the boredom, I also know that they are going to experience the summer with each other and a mother who will be enjoying the moments we have together. Our "boredom" will breed ideas, creativity and spontaneous outings. We will be planning to possibly open our home to another foster child, readying Max for college and entertaining our neighbors at our annual "Neighborhood Get-Together". I will plan experiences, even if they are in our own yard. I will provide meals for them. I will continue to teach them...they just can't escape learning with me as their mother. In other words, their summer will be a lesson in taking boredom and using it to be creative and grow. But I know from talking with my students, this is not their reality. Their idea of summer is boredom, sleeping for lack of anything else to do, watching TV or YouTube and playing mindless games on their phones. They will lack purpose in the summer, and that feeling is a lousy one to foresee as one gazes upon the looming horizon.
So it's become obvious to me that some folks are just going to count down the remaining school days regardless of how many times they are reminded it is not best practice in education. Perhaps their minds just can't see the end of the school year any other way. I marvel at the fact that we are the only profession that looks forward to ending our services. Imagine if the movie theater, sports venue or Great Adventure advertised how lucky everyone is because they are closing for two months. How would that be for business? Not good at all! So if you must count down, please count down in such a way that reflects the reality of your students. Count down to their boredom. Count down to their lack of purpose and limited food. Count down to their parents needing to work all day instead of being allowed the luxury of lazy summer days with their children. And while you do that, please know that your students, other educators who see how important we all are to our students, and I will be counting down to the first day of School Year 2019-2020. Can't wait, because, "We are very important to our students!"
