Beginnings

I've always loved the promise of a new school year.  When I was in school myself, a new lunchbox, boxes of pencils, a new backpack, and meeting my teacher were enough to propel me into a new school year with excitement and anticipation.  These days it's the Parker students who have me eager to get to work each day.  I'm filled with hope as I watch them get off of the bus or say good bye to parents as they walk down the hall, ready to greet their friends and start their day. We've been in school now for only 11 days (8 if you went to Camp Chingachgook!) and children of every age are learning to adjust to a new school year.  With that adjustment, our Parker kids are learning to be flexible, trust themselves, and take risks.

The first few weeks of school are filled with risks.  All of us, from the PreK student to the most experienced teacher, feel this. Our children have to navigate a new set of routines, manage new personality dynamics, make friends, keep friends, decipher the emotional tone of their new class, and figure out where they fit within this new community. Taking acceptable risks when steering through all of this can be daunting. Grown-ups can put it into words, “What if I fail?” Children usually aren’t able to put it so succinctly.

In the classroom and beyond, a child chooses whether or not these risks are worth it:

• Waiting for a teacher to call on them 
• Calling out the answers 
• Speaking up for their own rights (i.e. I don’t like this game. I want to play something different.) 
• Asking to go to the bathroom 
• Saying goodbye to a parent 
• Raising a hand during class 
• Drawing a picture 
• Joining a group or single friend in play 
• Reading aloud to a classmate 
• Crossing the monkey bars or rings on the playground

We want our children to be comfortable taking the risks that promote growth. It is for this reason that we create an environment that welcomes mistakes, experiments, discussion, and observation. All of the children at Parker are capable of great things. We want to make sure they are willing to build the attempts to get them there.

I'm hopeful for a fabulous year ahead.  Our school is filled with amazing children and teachers who are taking risks together, one day at a time.  

Creating Innovators

Interdisciplinary learning, collaboration, risk taking, intrinsic motivation - these are all buzz words to describe ways to cultivate innovation.  Why is innovation so important and how to do we instill and cultivate it in our students?  We recently explored this question at our panel discussion last week. Five highly innovative and successful individuals joined us for an evening of dialogue, questions, and discussion.

While listening to the speakers, I was reaffirmed that we are cultivating innovation right here at Parker. Our teachers create learning opportunities, rather than teach kids to be consumers of knowledge.  Intrinsic motivation is nurtured and celebrated as kids become excited about a topic. Teachers in all grades create environments of inquiry, playfulness, creativity, and discovery. Students are encouraged to ask questions and form relationships with their teachers, who in turn, help kids to discover their passions and get excited about learning.

Over the past two weeks students have been practicing and rehearsing for our school-wide Shakespeare performance. Kids are given a chance to put themselves out there, take a risk, and get on stage in front of the Parker community.  I can't think of a better way to infuse their learning with a sense of playfulness and creativity. They are working together towards a common goal and supporting one another throughout.  

Tony Wagner, Harvard Educational Specialist, advocates for the importance of creating innovators in today's schools.  He argues that content should no longer be at the center of school.  Instead, he says a teacher’s main job should be to help students develop key skills necessary for when they leave school. He contends there are seven essential things young people need to be successful lifelong learners:

Formulate good questions
Communicate in groups and lead by influence
Be agile and adaptable
Take initiative and be entrepreneurial
Effective written and oral communication skills
Know how to access and analyze information
Be creative and imaginative

It's not enough to be just learning content - our children today need to learn how to learn.  Asking good questions, working in groups, being flexible, using teachers as mentors, and thinking creatively are all qualities a Parker education focuses on.  Through projects, performances, public speaking, and community service (and much more!) Parker kids are learning 21st century skills that will prepare them for a bright future.

Working together to formulate questions and find answers!

Helping our children develop internal motivation

As parents we are constantly walking the fine line between hovering over our kids and taking a hands-off approach.  If we hover and monitor their every move, we take away their independence and don't allow them to grow from their mistakes.  Yet if we take a hands-off approach, we run the risk of them floundering without guidance or falling behind in school.  It's a dance I'm sure many of you can relate to.

I've always been a relatively hands-off parent.  I feel my kids make good choices, are responsible, and I trust that they'll do the right thing, get their work done, and succeed in school.  This is the case most of the time, until it isn't.......   I recently ventured into the territory of being just a bit too laissez-faire with one of my kids. I noticed my son's math work was becoming sloppier and sloppier. Neatness wasn't always his strong suit, and I felt there wasn't much I could control without nagging him or sounding like a broken record. I figured one day he would recognize that presentation was important.

Hmmm.....would he really?

Anyway, one night he forgot his math binder and his book containing his homework. (I forgot to mention that this is also a somewhat absent minded child.)  We were able to get the assignment from a friend and he completed it for the next day.  Then, the very next day, I receive a report from his teacher saying he left his classwork at home and wasn't prepared for class that day. This SAME day I discover he has forgotten to complete his science homework and quickly scribbled something in class, hoping it would be good enough. OK, do you see a pattern here??  I was now clearly in the territory of TOO hands-off.

That evening we had a serious family discussion about the quality of our work and effort reflecting our intellectual abilities.  This is a pretty smart kid handing in mediocre work at best (and that may be being generous ;).  He completed his science homework that evening with care, deliberation, and focus.  It took awhile, and he was so proud of the finished product.  I reminded him how good it felt to hand in high quality work - work that really showed his strengths and the effort he put into it.  He also worked carefully on his math. It was neater, more thoughtful, and hopefully easier for his teacher to read.

At Parker, we don't give grades and rarely have tests.  It's sometimes tricky for kids to assess their ability and measure it against a norm. Teachers are striving to develop a student's internal motivation and drive to succeed.  This is powerful stuff - the pride that a child feels after putting in his/her best effort clearly trumps a letter grade.  This feeling of accomplishment is far more meaningful than any grade or test score. The feeling of knowing that with effort and dedication one can produce high-quality work is something that sticks with a child far longer than an A on a math test.

Let's make a commitment to empower our children to succeed, not by micromanaging, nagging, or hovering, but by supporting them and encouraging them to be the best they can be.  Yes, there will be bumps in the road, and times when your child forgets his homework or rushes through her work.  With firm, yet loving guidance focused around school work, children will be able to see how their effort pays off and develop pride from their accomplishments.

Here is a wonderful article about helping your child overcome procrastination and develop internal motivation.  A worthwhile goal to aim for in 2017!

Please comment.  How do you help your child be successful in school?  Are you a hands-off parent, or do you get involved?