With the recent school safety issues happening all over country, including the tragedy in Florida, I have spent quite a bit of time thinking about what has happened and what could happen. I have been fielding questions and suggestions from parents through email. I have been talking with principal friends of mine through social media. I have been talking with fellow moms and friends about the unfortunate reality that is the world I am raising my child in right now.
The thought that kept popping in my head was how do I look into her eyes, my daughter's eyes and tell her that everything is going to be ok? How do I look into the eyes of our students and promise that I will keep them safe? How do I look into parents' eyes and tell them to trust me? How do I look into my teachers' eyes and tell them that I will keep them informed if something goes wrong in the building? How do I look into my husband's eyes and tell him that I'm not scared of what could happen?
I think about the safety of my child and all of the children at our school. And then I think about a great song by a great singer from long ago, Patsy Cline. Here she is singing "If I Could See The World (Through the Eyes of a Child)" :
If you listen to the line in the song above, you hear her sing that "there would be no trouble and no strife" if we could just see the world through the eyes of our children. Interesting that as I was looking up information about this song and about Patsy Cline I learned that today is actually the anniversary of her death. Her plane crashed on March 5, 1963. Thankfully, her music lives on.
I try to picture what my daughter sees, what does the world look like through her eyes? I am grateful, that at this point, she does not see the violence and the tragedies happening across the country. But I know the days are numbered for her innocence. I am already mourning the loss of her being this little baby that I can wrap up in my arms and protect from the rest of the world. We choose to not watch the news in our home so I don't really worry about her catching a glimpse of something by mistake. She has seen me cry as a reaction to students who I don't even know losing their lives. And when she asks me "why are you sad mommy?," I just wipe my tears away and tell her I'm ok.
I try to picture what our students see, what does our world look like through their eyes. It's certainly not the same world I saw as a child. Unfortunately, I know that they have seen and heard about so much awfulness. They have seen sadness and violence on the news. They have seen and heard adults, parents, friends argue and debate about what should be done while awful things happen in schools just like the one they attend in the meantime. There are too many "should be's" and not enough "already done's."
I look into my daughter's eyes and into the eyes of our students and I see a future full of opportunity, wonder, hope. Looking into her eyes and seeing the future reminds me that we all need to work together on the problems of the present.
What can we do to make sure we continue to see a future full of love and hope in their eyes, a future that looks better than the present?
Please take 2 minutes to listen to this great teacher, Trevor Muir:
Currently reading:
I started reading another professional development book called The Wild Card. It's written by a husband and wife who teach together at The Ron Clark Academy. And it's all about finding your creative breakthrough and being that wild card teacher for your students...the one who is willing to take risks and do whatever it takes to create amazing learning experiences for students.
We also got some new books at our house which have been enjoyed at bedtime, and I plan to bring in for some read alouds. One fun one which has tons of animals and lots of rhyming is called Pandemonia.
Some of you may have heard me read aloud Nibbles, the Book Monster. Well Nibbles is back at, chomping his way through the book called Nibbles, the Dinosaur Guide. Such a fun read aloud. Kids will want to try to catch Nibbles before he eats his way through all of the pages!
Monday - Student Council collecting breakfast items for Loaves and Fishes this week
Tuesday - School Council Meeting @ 8:00, Wachusett Regional School District visits FloRo from 9:00-11:00
Wednesday - Dr. Chesson visits FloRo in the am, Grade 1 chorus at 2:20, Staff Meeting @ 3:30 in the cafeteria
Thursday - Community Reader Day!
Friday - Melissa presenting at MassCUE, Liz at SLT in the am
Great things I noticed last week:
- In preparation for our literacy month in March...check out Ms. Kinneen's amazing bulletin board! Love it!
- Mrs. Wallace and Mrs. Garden had fun delivering SPARK incentives to one lucky winner in each classroom. This K student jumped for joy when she heard her name called!
- Loved seeing all of the Seuss-inspired attire for National Read Across America Day and Dr. Seuss's birthday!
- Mrs. Taylor's class was having fun playing around with some new programs for their interactive board during calendar time.
- I caught Mrs. Kavanagh's class having way too much fun making slime!
Check it out:
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