End of Year Celebrations
by Molly Thacker on Jun 05 2009 Posted in Class notes
The Olney High softball team had a day of fun at the Phillies stadium.
It’s getting to be the end of the school year and that means two things for me: reflection and celebration.
Reflecting on the past year, I am struck by the theme of change: with the election of Barack Obama, the word "change" seemed to be on the lips of everyone around me. Students change so much over the course of a year too.
In just nine short months, they not only grow physically and emotionally, but academically as well. It is truly an honor to bear witness to their growth and maturity and to be a part of their changing beliefs and identities in these very formative years.
I love the celebrations that come with the end of the school year as well. From prom to graduation, one of the best parts of my job is to attend events that honor students and celebrate them. While we can always dissect and debate the problems that plague our schools, I think it’s equally, if not more important to recognize our triumphs. So, although this is totally biased on my part and shameless bragging about my own students, here are some highlights from my own 2008-2009 school year:
While it’s true that we have a hefty budget deficit to take care of and many schools still lack the resources they need, we also have amazing resources in our students themselves. For example, this year alone, the National Honor Society at Olney High School raised over $1,000 in pennies, nickels, and quarters for the March of Dimes and donated over 1,200 canned food items to Philadbundance. These students – our future leaders – are caring, creative, and some of the greatest resources our schools have.
Of course, there will always be the conversations about how some schools have not made AYP – now known as Empowerment schools – but we could also talk about moments of great empowerment that occur in the classroom, such as when my students created digital storytelling projects that told about their lives, neighborhoods, and routes to this country. When given the opportunity to be creative and utilize technology, students shine. Their digital stories were thoughtful, compelling and frankly, they blew me away with their depth and creativity.
Yes, it is a grim reality that the School District of Philadelphia has a nearly 50% dropout rate, but at the same time, there are students in Philadelphia who do beat the odds. My theater students recently participated in “Philly Reality” for the second year in a row at Philadelphia Theater Company.
They wrote, designed, directed, and performed their own monologues based on the issues that affect them most. Using their own voices and words, they were able to create something positive and hopeful out of the statistics that stalk them and threaten their success. Seeing students overcome fears of shyness or failure and perform on a stage is exhilarating. It is exactly this type of real-world experience that keeps students engaged in school.
Finally, we could debate the extent to which competition really works in education, go round after round discussing EMOs and charter schools. Or we could simply celebrate the sportsmanship that high school athletes demonstrate in their own competitions. Our very own softball team recently celebrated their successful season with a clinic taught by professional softball players, a Phillies game, and participated in a parade on the field!
It’s not that we should ignore the difficult issues. Of course, we still have a lot of work to do, and we should continue to strive for the best, because our students deserve only the very best. But perhaps we could take some time once in a while to celebrate what we do have, and the end of the school year is a perfect time for to do just that.
Comments (4)
Submitted by Liz (not verified) on Fri, 06/05/2009 - 17:21.
This is great, Molly. Seriously...it's so easy to point out the short-comings of schools and students, but how often do we recognize the wonderful attributes they bring to the table and their real desire to be successful and express themselves in a positive way. You and other key members of the Olney staff have done a great job in providing an outlet for these students to do so. Great job.
Submitted by Samuel (not verified) on Fri, 06/05/2009 - 20:03.
Molly! I am proud to be your blog mate. Way to celebrate student work. I am inspired. The effect of engaging students in authentic work is so powerful. It definitely speaks more volumes than test scores. I am working my next blog that will cover my students participation in writing a one-act musical through the education program at the Prince Music Theater. I think we need to find more ways to celebrate our students efforts, not just at the end of the year, but all year around.
Submitted by Paul Socolar on Sat, 06/06/2009 - 00:16.
Molly - Definitely some great examples of things to celebrate. It would be great to hear more about some of these efforts in future posts. I'm interested in your comment about digital storytelling - sounds like the opportunity to utilize technology played a role in motivating students to tell their stories.
Hearing about your students' successes at storytelling reminded me that it would also be great for us to figure out ways to incorporate students and their work into the Notebook's blog The Notebook is honoring student journalists at our annual June celebration this coming week, and while the number of school newspapers has grown recently, there are still far too few outlets for student work to be published.
Submitted by Samuel Reed III on Mon, 06/08/2009 - 18:33.
Paul - I am encouraging my students to read and respond to my blog. They are enjoying that their work is being highlighted and celebrated. They also keep me grounded and make sure I am fairlrly representing what is going on in our class projects. This forum is really a fertile ground for both teachers students collaboration.
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