Lower School Parents Night, 2008, excerpted remarks:
I’d like to start by saying that today’s quote of the day from Google is:
“It is not how much you do, but how much love you put into the doing.”
This quotation does a great job of capturing the spirit of the work of the faculty, families and children in the lower school. It is not how much you do, but the love you put into the doing. What a fortuitous bit of timing to have this reminder today.
For those of you who know me, you know that I enjoy poetry. I would like to share with you a poem from Naomi Shihab Nye titled Shoulders.
Ms Nye was born in St Louis and is the child of a Palestinian father and an American mother. In her life she has lived in St Louis, Jordan, and now resides in San Antonio, Texas. She gives voice to her experience as an Arab-American through poems about heritage and peace that are infused with a humanitarian spirit.
About her work, the poet William Stafford has said,
“her poems combine transcendent liveliness and sparkle along with warmth and human insight. She is a champion of the literature of encouragement and heart. Reading her work enhances life.”
High praise, indeed. Her poem, Shoulders, reminds us that teachers and parents have so much in common and care so much together for the children entrusted to us.
Shoulders
by Naomi Shihab NyeA man crosses the street in rain,
stepping gently, looking two times north and south,
because his son is asleep on his shoulder.No car must splash him.
No car drive too near to his shadow.This man carries the world’s most sensitive cargo
but he’s not marked.
Nowhere does his jacket say FRAGILE,
HANDLE WITH CARE.His ear fills up with breathing.
He hears the hum of a boy’s dream
deep inside him.We’re not going to be able
to live in this world
if we’re not willing to do what he’s doing
with one another.The road will only be wide.
The rain will never stop falling.
Parents and teachers hear the hum of a child’s dream and work to inspire and nurture it. And let’s remember the Google quote: It is not how much you do, but the love that you put into the doing. Our commitment to you is to know, understand and love each child, and from that foundation to challenge and support each student academically, athletically and in the arts.
I’d like to shift gears a little bit now, from poetry to pop culture.
We are all familiar with those ubiquitous “Top Ten” lists of reasons that we should or should not do something, and so on. Well, I have a Top Ten list for you tonight. It comes from an article that was published in an education journal nearly twenty years ago, but I believe the advice it offers is timeless.
Here goes — The Top Ten Things That Parents Can Do To Help Their Children Be Successful Students. And I need a little help: if you could, please, imagine a drumroll like the one that David Letterman gets for his list every night. Ready?
10. Regular contact with teachers.
9. Clearly understood house rules that are enforced consistently.
8. Family sees itself as a mutual support system that works as a team to solve problems.
7. This is a hard one—approximately 25 hours per week of home-centered learning activities.
6. An active lifestyle. [Juvenal]
5. The sense that success comes from hard work.
4. Optimism about the future.
3. High expectations, appropriately communicated.
2. Children have a sense of control over their lives. [Internal locus of control]
And the number one thing that parents can do to help develop successful students — Send your children to Latin!
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Don,
Excellent essay and Top 10 list. We fall far short of spending 25 hours per week on “home-centered learning activities.” In fact, we’re more likely to let the kids play video games after a long day of school, team sports, and homework. How do you balance the need for “down time” with the importance of additional “learning activities” as we try to avoid stressing our kids out?
Charlie
We need to remember to define learning activities pretty broadly, and in that way I think families can come pretty close to the weekly goal. I’d say that time spent practicing an instrument or singing is a learning activity. Ditto for playing sports or engaging in pleasure reading. And let’s not forget homework or hobbies or household responsibilities. Plus there are the things we do over the weekends or with our extended families or on vacations. In other words, if we remember to define learning broadly, in a way that includes lots of Howard Gardner’s various forms of intelligence, we can see that learning activities do not necessarily add to stress or burn-out. They can even be fun!
Yes, #7 is the real killer. If both parents get home at around 5-6 PM on weekdays and don’t work weekends, we’re talking maybe 40 hours, maximum, with the kids.
Maybe if we include “modeling mature and rational behavior”, as I like to think my wife (Beth Manning, Latin’s 7th grade science teacher) and I do as a matter of course, we can hit that 25 hour mark . . .
Don,
I came across your blog. I like what you say about rigor, I felt the same way in Biology and Geology Class back in the UK, carried away in the microscopic world of Precambrian cellular biology, or wondering Jurassic wilderness wondering what a world without people might be like. We were attempting to email you after your meeting recently with Sara Shuck. If you could respond to this post perhaps we can bypass your spam filter. We are Green Monkey Foods, the local and organic school food program people, I would love to talk soon.
Best Jason Weedon
Owner/Director