Editor’s Note: Community Comment is a periodic column in The Mount Airy News featuring commentary from community leaders in Mount Airy and Surry County.
Mount Airy City Schools understand that student-centered learning requires us to step up and make sure students have the skills needed for life. We see our students five days a week which results in more than 1,000 hours every year. Life lessons go hand in hand with academic lessons. This year especially affords us opportunities to teach important life lessons. They need to have hope, build resilience, and seek truth more than ever.
The great divide in America is completely man-made. It is all about how we have and continue to treat each other. We must build strategies within our schools to show students how to interact with each other, listen to each other’s opinions, and value each other. Our goal is to help students avoid terms such as “Us” vs. “Them.” The diversity in our society is something to be celebrated as recently shown on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. We all have something to contribute. Martin Luther King Jr. said that, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” We are all working to make this dream a reality and our world a better place. Lessons in Mount Airy City Schools’ elementary grades provide hope for students through our Leader in Me program.
The Leader in Me program helps every student realize they have potential and they learn to set goals for themselves. This program allows students to plan programs and service projects together. They plan, discuss, promote, and encourage their school to participate in service to others. They also share with their parents through student conferences their own goals and whether they are reaching those or not. They share strategies they have put into place to show their leadership development. The hope our schools have lives in the hearts of students who know they have a future and can make a better world for themselves and others.
Students must learn to have civil discourse through more than our social studies and history classes. It is eye opening to realize that everyone is unique and different and may have different opinions. We must emphasize in our curriculum that we have more in common than that which divides us. When we drill down to basic concepts we often realize that we all need to be valued and heard. We can work together on projects, have in depth discussions on topics, and write using our own voice to solve problems together.
Resilience helps students learn from failure, adapt to changing conditions, and be able to cope with loss. Resilience lives in our classrooms focusing on project-based and problem-based learning. Students must take real world problems and struggle with them, just as we do in the adult world. They can help solve community hunger, plant a garden, solve a complex mathematical problem in construction, or try to figure out how to effectively design and fly a drone. Our students are placed in work-based learning, internships, and entrepreneurship classes to learn about the real world while working in the real world. Many of our students work hard to learn to play an instrument, improve their singing voice, get better athletically, and hone their artistic skills. Our resilience is important in all of these arenas and allows us to safely practice with mentors and role models nearby, before entering adulthood. Resilience will be one of the best strategies for being successful after graduation.
The pandemic is an opportunity to help students understand that to be resilient and overcome the challenges of this time they must “reframe” their thinking. Every problem can be turned into an opportunity. Instead of having the attitude of “I have to” do something we need to help them learn to think “I get to do something.” For example, a class field trip may have been cancelled this year to travel to a local museum or art exhibit. But, instead they are able virtually to connect with museums around the world and “zoom” with a nationally renowned artist. How do we help our students “reframe” their thinking and turn challenges into opportunities? How do we also “reframe” reality to look for the opportunities and not always the challenges.
The truth will set you free is vital for our school students to understand. They must do their own research and not listen to people, press, or parents as their only source of information. Parents are vital to help students mature and grow but students often want to experience information through their own lenses. We want them to make mature choices once they are out on their own. Mount Airy City Schools staff works hard to help students go to primary sources, find detailed information on topics from reliable sources, and form their own opinions based on the facts. We can see all around us how this is a skill that many people will not take the time to use. Social media and sound bites have often become the most influential information but we know this is problematic. Our younger generation needs to be truth seekers so they will have the data and details to make informed decisions. We work hard every day that instead of giving students our opinions as theirs we help them form their own.
My heart is full every day as I see students on our campus learning, building relationships, and growing. The students struggle with academics, arts, and athletics that are challenging so they can stretch and grow. We must daily help students be full of hope for their bright future, understand in every career they must have resilience, and seek truth to guide their decisions. In doing this, Mount Airy City Schools makes sure that every child will Graduate All Students to Lead, Innovate, and Serve.
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com
Be First to Comment