绒毛玩具Every Kid Needs a Champion

2021年1月22日发(作者：jones)

Every Kid Needs a Champion
I have spent my entire life either at the schoolhouse on the way to
the
schoolhouse,
or
talking
about
what
happens
in
the
schoolhouse.
Both
my
parents
were
educators,
my
maternal
grandparents
were
educators, and for the past 40 years I
’
ve done the same thing.
And so, needless to say over those years I
’
ve had a chance to look at
education reform from a lot of perspectives. Some of those reforms have
been
good.
Some
of
them
have
been
not
so
good.
And
we
know
why
kids
drop
out.
We
know
why
kids
don
’
t
learn.
It
’
s
either
poverty,
low
attendance,
negative
peer
influences.
We
know
why.
But
one
of
the
things
that
we
never
discuss
or
we
rarely
discuss
is
the
value
and
importance of human connection, relationships.
James Comer says that no significant learning can occur without a
significant
relationship.
George
Washington
Carver
says
all
learning
is
understanding relationships. Everyone in this room has been affected by
a teacher or an adult.

For
years,
I
have
watched
people
teach.
I
have
looked
at
the
best
and
I
’
ve
look
at
some
of
the
worst.
A
colleague
said
to
me
one
time
“
They don
’
t pay me to like the kids. They pay me to teach a lesson. The
kids should learn it. I should teach it. They should learn it. Case closed
”

Well, I said to her,
“
You know, kids don
’
t learn from people they don
’
t
like.
”
She said,
“
That
’
s just a bunch of hooey.
”
And I said to her,
“
Well,
your year is going to be long and arduous, dear.
”
Needless to say it was.
Some
people
think
that
you
can
either
have
it
in
you
to
build
a
relationship or you don
’
t. I think Stephen Covey had the right idea. He
said you ought to just throw in a few simple things like seeking first to
understand
as
opposed
to
being
understood,
simple
things
like
apologizing. You ever thought about that? Tell a kid you
’
re sorry, they
’
re
in shock. I taught a lesson once on ratios. I
’
m not real good with math,
but I was working on it. And I got back and looked at that teacher edition.
I
’
d taught the whole lesson wrong. So I came back to class the next day,
and
I
said
“
Look,
guys,
I
need
to
apologize.
I
taught
the
whole
lesson
wrong. I
’
m so sorry.
”
They said,
“
That
’
s okay, Ms. Pierson, You were so
excited, we just let you go.
”

I have had classes that were so low, so academically deficient that I
cried. I wondered, how am I going to take this group in nine months from
where
they
are
to
where
they
need
to
be?
And
it
was
difficult.
It
was
awfully hard. How do I raise the self-esteem of a child and his academic
achievement at the same time? One year I came up with a bright idea. I
told all my students
“
You were chosen to be in my class because I am the
best teacher and you are the best students, they put us all together so
we could show everybody else how to do it.
”
One of the students said,
“
Really?
”
I said ,
“
Really. We have to show the other classes how to do it.,
so when we walk down the hall, people will notice us, so you can
’
t make