Skip to main content

Morning Announcements


 

Welcome back, everyone! Here are this week’s announcements:

1.It’s the first day of school in Howard County and even though it seems silly to take First Day of School pictures when students won’t be leaving the house, the attention paid to the ritual is probably worth the effort. We weren’t awfully good at taking such photos through the years but in many families they mark the beginning of each year’s learning and growth. We need to reassure our kids right now that we have confidence that this year, as difficult and different as it is, will bring new learning and growth for them. If taking a picture is a part of your family’s tradition, don’t skip it. 

2. Parents: you are doing amazing things to support your kids and keep your family life afloat during the pandemic. It is scary and frustrating and exhausting. Hang in there. It’s easy to want to blame someone but may I suggest that you not take it out on teachers? Remember that the common enemy is coronavirus, not the humans who are trying their best to make distance learning work and meet the educational and emotional needs of their students. 

3. Teachers: you, too, are doing amazing things. I happen to have a teacher at my house so I have a pretty clear view of the experience. It’s scary and frustrating and exhausting for you, too. I know that many teachers feel frustrated in situations where students don’t turn cameras on. For teachers that lack of connection is overwhelming. Hang in there. There are many different reasons the students can’t appear (or don’t feel comfortable appearing) on video and deserve empathy and respect. 

4. Students: be yourself. Believe in yourself. These are truly difficult times. Your teachers will be reaching out to you, trying to make connections. Try to meet them half way. Find topics you care about and want to pursue. Be curious. Ask for help when you need it. No matter what grade you are in, this is an important time in your life. No matter what you may hear to the contrary, this is real school. Your teachers care about you. 

5. Community members: anything we can do to support the youngest in our community is valuable. The outpouring of donations for food, school supplies, even providing desks for students have shown a beautiful and caring side of Howard County. It would be easy to fall back after the big push to get school going. Now the work truly begins. Even if you don’t have children in school there will be ways you can help, even if it’s as simple as listening to a stressed-out teacher or parent, or offering kind words on social media. Look for opportunities to pitch in.

This concludes this week’s announcements. Make sure you eat a healthy breakfast, drink plenty of fluids, and get outside/move your body as much as you are able. It might be good to take a dance break along with this inspirational back-to-school video from Music Teacher Joshua Konick of Oakland Mills Middle School. 

Take the time to watch and listen. It’ll definitely give you that excited, first day feeling.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Teacher Gifts

Today is the last day of school before the Winter Break. It’s a good time to remember the far-reaching nature of our public school system. You may not have children. You may have sent your children to independent schools. It matters not. You will be impacted one way or another. Yesterday I read a long thread on Facebook about several waves of illness in the schools right now. There’s influenza A and norovirus, I believe. And of course there’s COVID. Apparently in some individual schools the rate of illness is high enough for school admin to notify parents.  When I was little the acceptable holiday gift for a teacher was one of those lovely floral handkerchief squares. (I don’t know what it was for male teachers. They were rare in my elementary years.) These days the range of teacher gifts is wider and I have fond memories of Target gift cards which I have written about before. I think it’s safe to say that giving one’s teacher Influenza, norovirus, or COVID is not the ideal holiday...
1 comment
Read more

F ³: We Are Not Entitled

  A college student went missing. His family and friends were distraught. The community was encouraged to be on the lookout and spread the word.  Days passed.  They must have been agonizing days for those who cared about the missing student. Thoughts that foul play had been involved cannot have been far from their thoughts.  Then, at last, the student was found. Alive. The news was shared with the public.  So. Much. Relief. A family had been reunited with their child. Even though we know that life is complicated, I think it is okay to accept this as a happy ending and leave it at that.  But the world of social media says no. For every expression of joy at the news came questions and even judgement. It became clear to me that some folks felt entitled to an explanation. They wanted the backstory. It’s as though they felt that, by enlisting the help of the public on social media, the authorities now owed them all the details. Television dramas often weave curr...
2 comments
Read more

Separate and Unequal

  Remember “Separate but equal”? Remember how that really meant that Black schools languished in  broken-down buildings without adequate heat or toilet facilities, with cast-off, ragged learning materials, underfunded and largely ignored? The Supreme Court struck that down in 1954. The evidence was clear that separate was not equal. Plessy v Ferguson had led to - - no, endorsed - - deeply unequal schooling and opportunities. We tend to think of Brown v Board as being purely about racial integration. It was not.  It was about the logical consequences of segregation. And they were not, not, not equal. The ruling in 1954 didn’t transform public education for non-whites into a land of milk and honey by any means. But it articulated some essential truths in a way that made including everyone a legal precedent which could be relied upon and built upon. It was better than what came before it but it rested upon unsteady ground. It did not necessarily change the hearts or minds ...
1 comment
Read more