A Day in the Life of Grandma: Anti-Racist Baby

Sadie was observant, interested, and as always, curious, during my first reading of Anti-Racist Baby by Ibram X. Kendi. This is a book that hopefully, with each read and as Sadie matures will spark more questions and observations. We looked together at the beautiful picture of a bunch of neighbors of different ages, races and ethnicities. I pointed out the different skin colors, hair color and textures as well as how unique everyone’s eyes were. We reinforced 1 Open your eyes to all skin colors. On another page there are five babies of different races and ethnicities, most likely around 8-10 months old, sitting and interacting on a blanket. Before COVID Sadie and I would go to the library once or twice a week. This is exactly what it was like! A lot of different people, caregivers of all races and ages (Hats off to the Grandmas!) together with a mix of wonderful babies and toddlers all there with a shared purpose, to expose our little ones to early literacy skills and age appropriate social experiences. “Remember when we used to go to the library Sadie? It was just like this.” “Yes, Grandma”, Sadie agreed. The library is a wonderful way to reinforce step number 5 Celebrate all our differences. About to finish the book, we landed on 8 Grow to be an antiracist where a group of young adult friends were all sitting on a couch together. Before I read the page Sadie blurts out, “Look, they all have different eyes.” Now that was a successful first reading of Antiracist Baby to my 2 1⁄2-year-old Granddaughter!

 

Differences Build a Stronger Community

Let me take you on a true Wakefield Lower School multi-cultural journey. At the doorway of the third grade classroom, we see that it has been transformed into a traditional Ghanaian hut, and we are greeted with a hearty “Akwaaba!” - their word for welcome. Here, our third graders were immersed in the culture, folklore, geography and music of Ghana. As we move down the hall we pick up our second graders, and venture into First Grade where we hear a first-hand account of life in Kurdistan. Who are the Kurds, and what are their beliefs and traditions? We enjoy a traditional meal together of Dolma and baklava as we learn about them, listen to Kurdish music and celebrate their New Year together.

Venturing further down the hall, we encounter two Upper School girls in sparkling, bright dresses performing an Irish dance. My role in each of these occasions was that of quiet observer. What did I saw was lots of curious, engaged students, asking questions, trying new foods, smiling and laughing as they embraced working hard together.  

Now we wander upstairs to the library, where we engage with a group of Lower School parents who are sharing stimulating conversation about how Differences Build a Stronger Community. We start with our core similarity - how, as humans in this community, we care about one another and we have values that keep us centered. We dig a bit deeper to discover the different lenses in which we see the world. Which lens do we use to focus our perspective as we interact within and outside of our community?  Many observations were made that morning. A few said they rely on their spiritual lens - and different religious backgrounds were represented in our group. Some spoke of their position as an immigrant, and how our society has a vision of what an immigrant “looks like.” Others interact through their languages, traditions and the multiple experiences of life in the United States and throughout the world.

We walked away that morning with a clear understanding that the more information we have about the backgrounds of our students and families, the more successful we as adults will be interacting with our children and students. We acknowledged how important it is for all of our students to experience differences in a respectful, caring environment in order to be prepared for the world we live in. These conversations can be difficult; the most important thing is to get the dialog started, and we were all very happy that we did.  We look forward to future conversations with all of you!  Please check out Mrs. Hurst’s Character Counts bulletin board showing the flowers that bloomed as a result of our conversations.

Creating Rules, Developing Character and Reaching our Expectations

Character education defines our Wakefield education, and we work hard to interweave it into everything we do. This week’s Lower School assembly gave us the perfect opportunity to solidify a foundation of justice, prudence, fortitude and temperance. These are big words for our Lower Schoolers, but they are learning the definitions well. As adults we model them, guide our students, and “catch” them living these values.

In order for students to live these values, we need to have high expectations of them. When students are involved in the process of creating those expectations, they take more ownership of them, and work harder to live up to them. This is why we involve our students in the process of identifying the expectations of the classroom - their classroom rules. At the start of the year, students and adults identify and articulate their classroom hopes and dreams - what they want to learn, work on and excel in throughout the year. With those complete, the classroom teacher asks: What does our classroom need to look like, sound like and feel like for all of us to accomplish our hopes and dreams? Through brainstorming and discussion, each classroom creates and commits to their classroom rules. Here is a Responsive Classroom article about rule creation.

On Wednesday at assembly, representatives from each classroom “handed over” their rules to Mrs. Hurst and me. As a Lower School community, we reflected and committed to our rules for the year. Then, fourth graders shared each of the 17 Wakefield courtesies with us in language that our youngest Owls could understand. Throughout the assembly our students showed their understanding very well!  They displayed exceptional manners, sat properly, listened attentively, and actively participated. We were very proud of them.  It was a wonderful way to end this month’s emphasis on courtesy and encourage them to practice it the rest of the year.

Summer Reading: How Children Succeed

Very timely read. Two of our end of year meetings revolved around increasing the “visibility” of our character education program as well as ensuring it is woven into the culture and climate of our Lower School. Our second meeting focused on our 2016-2017 school year initiative titled Slow Start Leads to Success. Two of the goals under this initiative include: getting to know our students and families in order to increase opportunities to support and encourage them; and instilling the act of student reflection in our practice to include “thinking about thinking.” This fits nicely into the mold revealed through the research presented in Paul Tough’s book How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity and the Hidden Power of Character.

Interestingly enough, the main point is that character education must be tangible and visible. We must articulate, define and explain our characteristics and virtues, model them, and strategically integrate them into the culture and climate of our schools. I emphasize tangible, visible and strategic. Our school has always put character education front and center. It is simply time for us to dust off the character education shelf, and display some new frames that acknowledge it, name it, and showcase it. In essence be able to demonstrate how and why it is working in our community. We agree it is powerful and that it gives power to our students in order for them to be successful, so we don’t want it to be “hidden.” Let’s see what the year holds for us!

The characteristics from which I refer to above, virtues and values, for example, respect, responsibility, compassion enable us to both understand and interact with others. Tough, referring to a study by Seligan and Peterson puts the above mentioned values into character education that focuses“moral values.” And then considers other values as “performance values.” These are, for example, zest, optimism, social intelligence, curiosity, and grit.  From my point of view the “moral values” help us understand others, while the “performance values” help to move us forward to succeed as individuals. As educators we need to understand these “performance values” in order to plan and infuse them into our lessons.  Strategic activities and language should build upon these values that help strengthen performance. Our two Slow Start goals will help us to a). Identity the strengths and interests of our students, which will help us to look for pathways to strengthen the “performance values” and b). Help students reflect upon, understand and articulate their strengths, challenges and interests as they “think about their thinking.” When educators  intertwine these  moral and performance values students have a strong rope to hold onto helping pull them toward academic and personal success.

Tough also emphasizes the necessary influence of parents and caregivers in helping to form and support children specifically to build up these characteristics. Focusing on identity and character is a difference maker for academic advancement. A student who is confident and has a strong moral character will make a bigger difference than a strong student with a high GPA, multiple AP courses and high SATs (my bias). I have experienced this first hand, and it is long lasting. Mid way through my primary schooling, it was clear that I struggled. I went through a full battery of psycho-educational tests. Nothing “precise” surfaced. That was over 40 years ago, and not all learning differences were yet known. I could easily speculate at this point, what was going on in my brain. Nevertheless, I had parents who believed in me; acknowledged every positive step I made no matter how small; encouraged me; provided opportunities to follow my passions and interests; put me in environments that supported my success; and were always satisfied with my personal best. This all created an inner drive that pushed me to succeed in academics and beyond. I used to call it persistence;  Duckworth and Tough call it grit. I encourage you to take the Grit Test.

(On another note, my experience as a child, student, teacher and administrator has been in privileged environments. I fully respect and acknowledge the challenges that surface in more challenging circumstances and applaud the research/push to facilitate this work in ALL environments.)

In summary, character matters, performance skills matter, adult and caregiver support all matter - each serve as a knot upon the intertwined rope that students pull on to gain success. It is a hard tug of war at times, but worth the pull - as a student and educator - it has supported my success. Paul Tough’s book How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity and the Hidden Power of Character, will help us win the tug of war within our schools.  

Moving Beyond the Limitations of My Language.....

❝The limits of my language are the limits of my world.❞

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

I feel fortunate and honored to volunteer and work with my adult ESOL students through the Loudoun Literacy Council. I must say I have come full circle; I started my career as an adult ESOL instructor in Quito, Ecuador 27 years ago. Since then I have taught all ages, both ESOL, Spanish and Core subjects. But for the past 20 years I have been working with elementary age children. I finally found the time to reconnect with teaching English to adults and it has been invigorating. 

If there is one thing I have taken away from my experience this past year; it is that these students have lofty goals, determination, persistence and a will to succeed. They truly amaze me. It is my job to communicate my high expectations of them, and to support and encourage them to reach their goals. 

At the start of each class I ask them to answer two questions: What are your learning goals for this class, and what are your professional or personal goals?

These students have high expectations of themselves; they want to do grand things in our county and country, but they do indeed feel limited by their language abilities, and they are working hard to move beyond these limitations. Let me share with you a few of their goals.

To become a confident writer.

To pass the NOVA ESL entrance Exam

To go to College and get an MBA.

To communicate better in order to have better relationships with people.

To own my own charity in order to help people as there is nothing more important than helping people to have a better society.

My students talk a lot about confidence; they want to be confident communicators; employees, citizens. “You can do it! Go for it!” is what I consistently say to them.

Now let me share a story about my first Loudoun Literacy student.

I have had the pleasure of working with Hodan, for just over a year. Hodan will not settle for anything less than her best nor will she accept an easy assignment. I will give her an essay topic and her response will often be, no that is too familiar; I need to write about something to push me out of my comfort zone. Let me share with you an excerpt from Hodan’s very first essay.

                          Hodan Farah Story

My Name is Hodan Farah. I am married and have two beautiful children. I am originally from Somalia and I have lived in Europe for over 10 years. When I left Somalia I was 14 years old so it was due to the civil war. Lucky, we left Somalia save and arrived to Europe where I continue my studies. At that time, my parents were leaving in America and they had duplicate citizenship. They applied for me so that we can be reunited with the family. I came to the USA in 1994 and was very fortunate to have a supportive family. At that time, due to the different cultural life was not easy to for me so I had to adopt whether if it is a job or overall.  Now, I feel like I am Americanized, but, still I need to increase my English language I hope I learn and reach out my goal this year. Thank you for reading my story.

Following is an excerpt from an essay she wrote for our 8^th lesson. Please pay attention to the nuances, idioms, details and sense of humor.

My search for the perfect dress

      It is a week away from my best friend’s wedding and I still don’t have anything to wear. Now lying down in my bed, watching a movie I saw a dress that inspired me, a red dress. Concerned about the fact that the wedding is just a week away, I went to Dulles Town center in search of my perfect dress. Moreover, when I got to the mall I did not see a lot of choices to choose from and I was very particular about finding a red dress. I only had a $100 dollars to spend. Come to find out evening gowns are very costly L. I went to Lord and Taylor, a friend of mine said they have a big selection of evening gowns. I tried several dresses on but nothing was appealing. With my designated budget, I headed on to Nordstrom hoping I might find a bargain from the sale racks. The attendee at the dress salon was very helpful, and I liked the dresses they had; however, my budget would not allow me to purchase my dress there. Next, I had to catch my breath after trying to shop; I stopped by the smoothie stand to order my favorite drink, a mango and pineapple smoothie. I chugged it down so fast I got brain freeze. After cooling myself down with my drink, my search for the perfect dress continued on to J C Penney’s where I hoped to find the dress.

      After a long search, and back and forth trips to the fitting room, I finally found the perfect, red, wrap, dress that I was searching for. Now that I found the dress, I am looking forward to going to my friend’s wedding. I cannot wait to have fun and put on my red dress with my lovely silver shoes.

Hodan has wonderful stories, although sometimes they are heart wrenching. I have learned about her country, her religion, her family, her beliefs, values and traditions. I have worked with her to write a resume and a cover letter. She knows I am here to support and help her, but never to judge her. She has opened up my world to new perspectives and I believe I have done the same for her.

I would frequently tell her how wonderful her stories were. I first encouraged her to start her own blog. “No, I am not ready for that.” OK I said and then the next week, I showed up and said, “Can I write about you and publish it on my blog.” Ok, she said. “But maybe you should change my name.” I can do that, I said. So when I showed up the next week with my published blog entry. She said, “Why did you change my name? No I don’t want you to change my name anymore.” OK, I said and entered Hodan. When I spoke to Hodan two weeks ago She said, “ Oh, and I want you to know, I am ready to write a book about My Story.” My response was, Well, I hope I can be your editor!”  Now, that is a sign of confidence.

Thank you Loudoun Literacy Council for all that you do in providing English language learning opportunities that open up a world of possibilities for our county residents and thank you for allowing me to be part of it.   

Remember:

❝The limits of my language are the limits of my world.❞

- Ludwig Wittgenstein