The five teachers opened the parent conference for our 13-year old son with the words, "We are all meeting here today to celebrate your son." I welled up with tears hearing the word Celebrate. No one mentioned deficiencies or how he needed to improve, or be better, think of his future, or in some way, not be quite good enough yet. There was no mention of grades, tests, college or rules broken. Then again, this school doesn't use grades to measure people. They use relationship, creativity, respect, personal connection and engagement.
For
ten minutes, with out son present, we heard what was right about him.
It was not so much the content of what they said; it was more their calm
and soft tone of voice, and their way of seeing children and the
world - people wanting to do right, to be connected, inclusive, kind and creative.
I wondered what life would have been like for me had all my teachers seen what was right about me? Whay joy that
would have been. So, I can do it now myself for others. After the
teachers finished, I was asked if I had any questions. "There is
nothing to add," I replied. "For our son to be around you folks all day
long is all I could ever want."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment