Yair arrived on the first day of school from rural México and left to go back to his village on Friday. He was my student for 54 days. He had the sweetest smile and an enthusiastic spirit. He was eager to participate in whatever conversations we were having, always raising his hand to say something. What did he learn in our classroom that he can take with him into his future? It happens from time to time, more in some schools than others. Children enter our classrooms, are with us for a few weeks, few months and then life takes them away to the next school, next town or even the next country. The realization that there are kids who may not come back to class tomorrow gives me the urgency to focus on teaching skills that will serve them for life. What do I hope Yair learned in the eleven weeks he was here? I hope he learned that reading is the most powerful tool he can possess, that his stories, his thoughts and opinions matter, that it is important to learn to express those thoughts and ideas in a way that others are influenced, that learning with a partner is better than learning alone, that there are always people around who will help him, embrace him and include him. I hope he learned that he can learn.
Some years ago, I had a student very similar to Yair who came to our classroom after the year had already started. The first few weeks he said very little. He was still learning to read and write and do math. But little by little he came out of his shell and we could see his eagerness and capacity for learning. One day he came up to the classroom while I was having my lunch to get his things. When I said - see you tomorrow! - he replied that he wasn't coming back. His father had gotten a job in another town and they were moving. I didn't know what to say, what wise words to leave him with. All I could think of was to tell him that he was a good learner and he should never forget that he can learn no matter where he ends up.
My husband went to twelve different schools in his years between kindergarten and twelfth grade, mostly because of his parents' divorce and his mother's adventurous spirit. He turned out ok. He is an engineer and has a PhD in linguistics. He is a great father to our four children. When I became a teacher and saw the effects of transience on children's education, I became amazed at how he had survived all the moves and all the different schools he had attended. But he tells me that he never looked at school as his only source of education. He did have educated parents who answered his questions and fueled his curiosity about the world. He knew how to read and more importantly he knew how to learn. So wherever he ended up - the neighborhood public school or the experimental schools run by hippies in California, the American school in Samoa where lessons were broadcasted through television or the one in Bolivia where he didn't speak any Spanish or the Martin Luther King Day School, started by a member of the Black Panthers in San Francisco, where he was the only white student - Ben tried to learn. It wasn't always long division or English grammar but it was valuable lessons that taught him about the world and its wonders. I am grateful to him for instilling that same love of learning in our children.
Sometimes we don't have 180 days to teach our students. Sometimes we only have 54 days. What are the lessons we should teach? I'd say the ones that will teach them to think deeper, ask questions and always, always, always pursue learning.
Some years ago, I had a student very similar to Yair who came to our classroom after the year had already started. The first few weeks he said very little. He was still learning to read and write and do math. But little by little he came out of his shell and we could see his eagerness and capacity for learning. One day he came up to the classroom while I was having my lunch to get his things. When I said - see you tomorrow! - he replied that he wasn't coming back. His father had gotten a job in another town and they were moving. I didn't know what to say, what wise words to leave him with. All I could think of was to tell him that he was a good learner and he should never forget that he can learn no matter where he ends up.
My husband went to twelve different schools in his years between kindergarten and twelfth grade, mostly because of his parents' divorce and his mother's adventurous spirit. He turned out ok. He is an engineer and has a PhD in linguistics. He is a great father to our four children. When I became a teacher and saw the effects of transience on children's education, I became amazed at how he had survived all the moves and all the different schools he had attended. But he tells me that he never looked at school as his only source of education. He did have educated parents who answered his questions and fueled his curiosity about the world. He knew how to read and more importantly he knew how to learn. So wherever he ended up - the neighborhood public school or the experimental schools run by hippies in California, the American school in Samoa where lessons were broadcasted through television or the one in Bolivia where he didn't speak any Spanish or the Martin Luther King Day School, started by a member of the Black Panthers in San Francisco, where he was the only white student - Ben tried to learn. It wasn't always long division or English grammar but it was valuable lessons that taught him about the world and its wonders. I am grateful to him for instilling that same love of learning in our children.
Sometimes we don't have 180 days to teach our students. Sometimes we only have 54 days. What are the lessons we should teach? I'd say the ones that will teach them to think deeper, ask questions and always, always, always pursue learning.
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