Tuesday, June 11, 2013, is the last day of school for Andrew and Davis. Andrew will next year move to a new school as a 3rd grader and Davis will have survived his first year of proper schooling with a teacher that I would love to nominate for the worst communicator, the most disorganized teacher ever. Tuesday, June 11, 2013, can't come soon enough.
Today there was an awards ceremony held at the school. We were made aware of the awards ceremony via the usual contact - phone and e-mail - and then told that should our child be receiving an award, we would be notified by a staff member at the school. When a note came home in Davis's folder the next day informing us of the awards ceremony, I was excited, and certain he'd be getting an award for his "outstanding attendance" (a stretch, anyway, but he received several certificates throughout the course of the year and I figured, sure, just an overall award at the end of the year marking his good attendance award). We tried to keep this a secret from Davis - but because he can read above his grade level (an attribute I'm going to selfishly claim he earned from his bright parents, not necessarily something his teacher taught him), he saw the notice on the back door (what we use as our bulletin board). We worked hard on surprising him.
So we take the time off from work, we get to the school in the pouring rain, and we wait for the awards ceremony to start. Davis strolls in and sees us and smiles from ear to ear, happy to see us there. He then sits and behaves through the entire ceremony (while his awesome teacher pays attention to her phone the entire time).
Certificate after certificate was handed out and nothing for Davis. There we sat ... until finally, ... it was time for the outstanding attendance award. And finally ... no award for Davis. There was one award left ... was this the one that Davis was going to receive???!
Nope. Perfect attendance. Certainly not Davis!
And so this is my beef (overlooking the complete disorganization, again, of his teacher) -
I do not want to take away from the children who received these awards. They earned it, indeed. The children who received the award for taking their library book in each week deserve that award (their parents do, really, but whatevs). The children who received the award for overall character throughout the year deserve that award. I'm sure their teacher thought that the child displayed the character needed to earn that award. The smiles on their faces and the pride on the faces of the parents always brings a smile to my face whenever I see it. It's great to see these kids feel the recognition and excitement of receiving an award.
But my issue is the fact that the teacher determines the character of these children that deserves rewarding. And I'll admit I'm biased as shit, but Davis has a lot of character. A. LOT. He has integrity. He has responsibility. He has trustworthiness (he was the classroom helper each week in that damn class!). But maybe it wasn't brought out so much at school because of the teacher. Maybe she didn't encourage that behavior in Davis. Maybe she didn't bring out the responsible trait in Davis because he didn't want her to see it. Maybe she didn't bring out the fairness trait in Davis because he didn't think she behaved fairly and so he wasn't going to behave fairly. Maybe, had Davis been encouraged by his teacher to display these characteristics, he would have displayed them more like he does to us, and then he could have been standing up and holding a piece of paper with sloppy signatures on it and big smile on his face that I could have captured with my camera.
Each child has the ability to have any one of those pillars of character that the school strives to encourage in those children, and if they're encouraged by the right people, maybe they'll show it.
So - we showed up to watch our child receive an award. I had my camera ready. I had my big lens on to get the perfect shot. And these are the pictures I got ...
June 11, 2013, is the end of the 2012-2013 school year. I cannot wait for that day to arrive.
I'm so very proud of all Davis has accomplished this year. I've said numerous times that Davis has a BIG personality. He does. But he's one awesome little boy. And each day I spend with him is each day I learn more and more just how awesome he is. I'm so lucky to know him. And I'm so lucky that I get to see his smile every day.
Congrats on your first year of school, buddy. You've made me very proud. And you've shown me that in any kind of environment, you can succeed. That is character. And that deserves a certificate with a sloppy signature.
Today there was an awards ceremony held at the school. We were made aware of the awards ceremony via the usual contact - phone and e-mail - and then told that should our child be receiving an award, we would be notified by a staff member at the school. When a note came home in Davis's folder the next day informing us of the awards ceremony, I was excited, and certain he'd be getting an award for his "outstanding attendance" (a stretch, anyway, but he received several certificates throughout the course of the year and I figured, sure, just an overall award at the end of the year marking his good attendance award). We tried to keep this a secret from Davis - but because he can read above his grade level (an attribute I'm going to selfishly claim he earned from his bright parents, not necessarily something his teacher taught him), he saw the notice on the back door (what we use as our bulletin board). We worked hard on surprising him.
So we take the time off from work, we get to the school in the pouring rain, and we wait for the awards ceremony to start. Davis strolls in and sees us and smiles from ear to ear, happy to see us there. He then sits and behaves through the entire ceremony (while his awesome teacher pays attention to her phone the entire time).
Certificate after certificate was handed out and nothing for Davis. There we sat ... until finally, ... it was time for the outstanding attendance award. And finally ... no award for Davis. There was one award left ... was this the one that Davis was going to receive???!
Nope. Perfect attendance. Certainly not Davis!
And so this is my beef (overlooking the complete disorganization, again, of his teacher) -
I do not want to take away from the children who received these awards. They earned it, indeed. The children who received the award for taking their library book in each week deserve that award (their parents do, really, but whatevs). The children who received the award for overall character throughout the year deserve that award. I'm sure their teacher thought that the child displayed the character needed to earn that award. The smiles on their faces and the pride on the faces of the parents always brings a smile to my face whenever I see it. It's great to see these kids feel the recognition and excitement of receiving an award.
But my issue is the fact that the teacher determines the character of these children that deserves rewarding. And I'll admit I'm biased as shit, but Davis has a lot of character. A. LOT. He has integrity. He has responsibility. He has trustworthiness (he was the classroom helper each week in that damn class!). But maybe it wasn't brought out so much at school because of the teacher. Maybe she didn't encourage that behavior in Davis. Maybe she didn't bring out the responsible trait in Davis because he didn't want her to see it. Maybe she didn't bring out the fairness trait in Davis because he didn't think she behaved fairly and so he wasn't going to behave fairly. Maybe, had Davis been encouraged by his teacher to display these characteristics, he would have displayed them more like he does to us, and then he could have been standing up and holding a piece of paper with sloppy signatures on it and big smile on his face that I could have captured with my camera.
Each child has the ability to have any one of those pillars of character that the school strives to encourage in those children, and if they're encouraged by the right people, maybe they'll show it.
So - we showed up to watch our child receive an award. I had my camera ready. I had my big lens on to get the perfect shot. And these are the pictures I got ...June 11, 2013, is the end of the 2012-2013 school year. I cannot wait for that day to arrive.
I'm so very proud of all Davis has accomplished this year. I've said numerous times that Davis has a BIG personality. He does. But he's one awesome little boy. And each day I spend with him is each day I learn more and more just how awesome he is. I'm so lucky to know him. And I'm so lucky that I get to see his smile every day.
Congrats on your first year of school, buddy. You've made me very proud. And you've shown me that in any kind of environment, you can succeed. That is character. And that deserves a certificate with a sloppy signature.