The first week of school is almost over. During the first week I must have overheard at least twenty teachers commenting how thankful they were that it was a four day week. It's hard to get back into the routine of it all, even for adults.
Yesterday, a colleague of mine shared with me that her granddaughter had just started kindergarten this year. She picked her up from her first day of school and asked, "How was your day?" Like most small children, very little details of the day were divulged. They had to return to her granddaughter's house to let out her new puppy. As her granddaughter walked the puppy outside, she could hear her through the open kitchen window conversing with 'Buddy', the puppy. 'Buddy', her ever faithful confidant was getting an earful. "Buddy, school is hard... It's awful scary there....There are a lot of people there and so much I got to remember".
It's easy to forget how overwhelming the new school year can be for our little people. Taking a minute to view the whole school experience through their eyes is powerful. There are so many new things....new friends, new teachers, new learning environments. What can we do as educators to help ease this transition? The most important thing is to create a "safe" learning community. Taking the time to hear the hopes and dreams of our students for the coming year, inviting their participation in creating guidelines (also known as rules) for our learning together, and just taking the time to get to know each other is so important.
Unfortunately the tyranny of the urgent competes for our time in the first few weeks of school. There is so much information to cover, routines to establish, forms to fill out....and the list just doesn't end. No wonder we're all exhausted!
I wish that every child had a 'Buddy' to confide in when they are overwhelmed and scared. I hope that all of us...educators and parents can take some time to breathe, relax, and take a peek at the world through their eyes.
0 comments:
Post a Comment