The first two weeks of school are so important. During this time
students have to learn about their new classmates, new teachers, new routines
and expectations. Teachers have to learn about their new students, new parents,
new colleagues, new technologies and new curriculum initiatives. A new
community has to be built, team spirit established and a sense of excitement
and anticipation for the year of learning ahead. If not carefully managed and
orchestrated it can be a stressful and overwhelming time for all involved. I
find myself today, at the end of my first two weeks of school, happy, hoarse, exhausted
and enthused about the year ahead.
My teaching partner, Rick Joseph, and I share 54 kids and together
we make the “Joberts56”. Having both 5th and 6th graders,
each year we lose half of our class as they move up a grade and gain 27 new
students. A priority for us at the start of each year is to help the class bond
and form their own unique identity. We launched this process by showing the students
Blindsight. This is a documentary detailing the journey of six blind Tibetan students
as they climb a mountain in the shadow of Everest. We encouraged the kids to
write down their thoughts as they watched the movie and during a follow up
debrief the Joberts56 of 2012-2013 was born! Our students were able to clearly articulate
what was important to them as a group and the mindset that will guide them
throughout the year. It didn’t take them long to graphically represent those
notions and by day 2 we had a class T-shirt design.
The big eye on the front of the shirt signifies my students’
determination to not just be observers in life but to really see the world
around them, think about what it means and wonder how they can make a positive
and significant impact on it. The logo “Climb Your Own Everest” on the back
reminds them that they need to take risks, overcome their fears and face
challenges head on in order to achieve their true potential. Pretty cool, huh?
On day 3 Rick and I shared our progress with parents during Welcome
Back Night and attempted to express our individual philosophies and aspirations
for the year. It was an opportunity for parents to put names to faces and be
assured that we will love and nurture their children as well as guide them
academically. A parent volunteered to get the class T-shirt organized and
printed and by some wonderful miracle she had all 56 shirts ready for our three
day camp during week 2 of school. Getting 216 students, sixty some volunteers
and eight teachers to camp on the seventh day of school has been a labor
of love for several months. Nancy B, school secretary, and Cindy B, Community
Service Officer, did a tremendous job of preparing this trip, getting all the
necessary transportation, medication and documentation together. They organized
parent volunteers, accommodation, travel groups and without their dedication it
simply could not have happened.
So on the seventh day of school I found myself 125 miles away from
home at Camp Michindoh, watching a group of my students try their hands at archery.
I wasn’t participating because I’d never done it before and didn’t want to look
incompetent in front of both new parents and students. One of my sixth graders
invited me to join in and when I declined she said, “We are the Joberts56 Mrs
R, we don’t just observe, we go beyond our comfort zone and get involved. Climb
your own Everest.” Astounded and inspired how could I not get my Catniss on and
step up? The next few days were spent canoeing, building shelters, making fires,
climbing rock walls and handling a variety of snakes, frogs , spiders and
cockroaches. The mantra “Climb Your Own Everest” was used repeatedly to encourage
and challenge all of us, students and teachers alike to achieve what we never thought
possible. It even began to impact our fabulous parent volunteers as they too
stretched themselves and found themselves beyond their comfort zones during
their three day marathon event as chaperones. Their commitment, leaving behind work
and families, was another major factor in making camp happen. It also provided
us with the opportunity to begin to get to know each other and form relationships
that will be crucial to the success of this school year. By day 10 of school, the Joberts56 community
was born!
Did the first two weeks go off without a hitch? No. The schedule
changed after distribution of over two hundred paper copies, our T-shirts were
not quite what we originally designed
and a student spent three days at camp with only the clothes he was standing up
in because his bag was left on the bus. Instead of whining and complaining everybody
demonstrated solidarity, flexibility and understanding which enabled us to sail
over these small bumps in the road. I’m secure in the knowledge that we will
overcome future obstacles on our journey together because of the people I
travel with: amazing students, supportive parents, dedicated office staff and
passionate educators.
During the next two weeks of school my students will face a battery
of district mandated assessments. I know these will provide me with a snapshot
of their academic abilities but the knowledge gleaned from these tests cannot
possibly compare to what we have learned about ourselves and each other during
the first two weeks of school.
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