Partnership Educators,
The story last week about Ricky Ray had a great response. Apparently Ricky attended our partner school Shasta Elementary and currently is a parent at Manzanita with a third-grade daughter. Pam DeOliviera responded, " He truly is humble. His daughter attends Manzanita and is in third grade. I still remember the day he and his wife came in to enroll Chloe in Kindergarten. They walked into the office and I looked up and I saw Ricky Ray. I am a huge forty-niner fan ( for over 50 years). I recognized him immediately and blurted his name. He was so humble and kind. The entire family is wonderful." Jeff Rich mentioned, " Thanks for this one:) Just an FYI he also graduated from Old Shasta 8th grade and it was my pleasure to have him in my class for those three years of junior high:) Fun for us teachers to look at these success stories with pride. "
The pride we feel with our successes is amazing. I had a parent of a former student in my office this week. We were discussing possibly bringing back a program that we had some time ago. Anyway, we ended up talking about his son and other students of that time. It is always great to reminisce about past students. We rarely remember them the way they truly were. We mostly remember them the way we want to remember them. I have received contacts from several students over the years.
I was dining with friends at a restaurant and our waitress came to the table to ask me if my name was Mr. Adams. Once I confirmed her suspicion we proceeded to catch up and she shared her memories about the music I played each Friday afternoon on my guitar and how much she loved that. She told about the art that I taught them and how I was kind to her when she was hurt on the playground. She also remembered the times that we read funny books and how I used voices for the characters. It filled me with pride to know that her memories were of great times of kindness and joy. Another moment my wife and I were selling her father's freezer at our house and a former student, Johnny, came to buy it and pick it up. Johnny was an SDC student who was mainstreamed in my classroom for math, history, and science. He remembered me with great joy and told me stories about myself that I wouldn’t have come up with. Apparently, I used to make funny jokes in math, and he loved the history simulations and how I would talk like an announcer during those. He also remembered how I used to talk with him during the school day even when he wasn’t in my class.
I have many stories of meeting former students that I taught or was the principal of. Many are great uplifting interactions that filled me with a great sense of pride and some were moments of reflection and growth. This was my take away from listening to Ricky Ray last week. When we have those moments in our career where things aren’t going well, how do we respond? How do we respond when a former student comes back and reminds us of a moment of failure? The stories we tell others and ourselves matter. Even through our failures, our stories inform us and help us to help our students more.
I really do appreciate the continued efforts we give to our families. Thanks for the moments you are building each and every day.
Remember to communicate the importance of being at school each day. Yes, students can make up the work but they miss the direct instruction, the content interactions with their peers, and the opportunities to receive redirection if needed. See this video for guidance.
https://youtu.be/U209RfgWF8k
Have a great three days off,
Rob