Home Alone

As many of you know, one of the Christmas traditions on my wife’s side of the family is to have a trivia contest based on a “Christmas” movie during the family party where I am the originator of the questions and sole judge on responses.  Forget the presents, tinsel, and eggnog, this is a yearly battle and the competitive side emerges.  This year, the movie is Home Alone 2.  This 1992 gem is a sequel to the original Home Alone starring Macaulay Culkin.  If you haven’t seen this, well, you would do poorly in the trivia contest.  The story is about a young boy who gets separated from his family at the airport, gets on the wrong airplane and ends up in New York City while his family is headed to Florida.  Kevin (Culkin) manages to find food and lodging using his Dad’s credit card.  Once again, he meets up with the “Wet Bandits” in the Big Apple.  The rest of the movie has Kevin outrunning and “outpranking” the bandits using ingenuity and pure kid power.  Our three kids laughed their little “pahanchas” off watching this when they were 9, 7, and 3 (now 33, 31, and 27).  I wish I had that time back. 

How many of our kids are “home alone” on any given day?  The answer is simple – more than you think.  The days of the nuclear family, Ozzie and Harriet, The Brady Brunch and 7^th Heaven may not be over, but are on life support.  This means that most families are two wage-earning families and prevents parents from being home with the kids as often as they would like. Also, check out the percentage of single family homes or “split” homes…you may be shocked.  “Latch key” kids are much more common today than in the 60’s when all of the Dads on my block worked shift work and the Moms took care of all of our needs.  None of this is my point.  My point is that kids, at least many of them, are naturally inquisitive.  Often, we stifle that trait because we box them in with restrictions and never allow them to go off the reservation.  Think about it – when was the last time you gave a “Tiered Assignment” with many possibilities or allowed them to develop their own projects?.  When was the last time that you simply gave the rubric and let them explore…outside of the frame work?  Maybe even coloring outside the lines while stepping out of the box?  While it is important to teach the critical content, there is also a place for exploration.  

13 Clocks

In June of 1776, the delegates from the 13 colonies had a HUGE decision to make.  They could break free of England’s rule by declaring their independence or they could remain under British taxation.  The former would result in war and the loss of lives.  The latter would leave them in a state of “Taxation without Representation”.  This was a difficult decision and was not taken lightly.  People like John Adams and Samuel Chase were pushing for a declaration of independence and in fact, Thomas Jefferson had already written it.  Other delegates were on the fence.  Adams wrote, “Some people must have time to look around them, before, behind, on the right hand, and on the left, and then to think, and after all this to resolve.  Others see at one intuitive glance into the past and future, and judge with precision at once.  But remember you can’t make thirteen clocks strike precisely alike at the same second.”  Eventually, the delegates agreed on publicly declaring their independence from Great Britain with a “non-consensus” vote that forever changed the country for the good of its citizens  This was on July 2, 1776.   This is why we have an Independence Day to celebrate.

Over the years, schools make changes in the form of initiatives.  In my 37 years in education, I have been through many school initiatives – too many to list.  I recall moving from a traditional schedule to a Block 8 schedule in 1993 and the issues associated with it as there were strong opinions on either side.  Our school has not been immune from initiatives including such things as RtI Period, PBIS, SSR, FIERCE Fridays, AR, Enrichment Periods, Advisory, Double Blocks, and the Menu of Opportunities.  I fully understand that not everything that is done is birthed from a “consensus” vote.   In history throughout the world that there have been few “consensus decisions” on world events.  In schools, the important factor in making decisions should be based on this question first – “Will this be good for kids?”   When you make instructional decisions and planning decisions, the same measuring stick should be used. If not, it shouldn’t be done.  That is my belief.  Hopefully, everything that we do is with the best interests of our students in mind.  If it is good for kids, then we should probably be doing it. If not, that’s what the scrap heap is for.  That should be the common factor.  It was that way in 1776 for an entire nation.

Second Chances

Here are some terms that you do not want to hear in athletics:  Swing and a miss, air ball, false start, worm burner, dropped TD pass, double dribble, it’s in the bunker, the crossbar fell, fault, missed the green, icing ……All of these terms indicate failure at some level.  The batter in baseball who swings and misses has a strike against him…but he gets two more chances before being called out.  The golfer who hits a “worm burner” gets another shot to reach the green. The high jumper who knocks the crossbar off gets two more chances at that height and the hockey player who gets called for icing gets to keep skating.  All have negative connotations.  HOWEVER, the commonality is that in each of these situations, the athlete gets a second chance.  Aren’t you glad that, for the most part, we are afforded second chances in life?  Maybe third, fourth, and 99^th chances.

Do students deserve a second chance?  Does anyone deserve a second chance?  Kids assigned homework for the first time should be assessed on their work, but NOT graded.  This is a practice session and is not worthy of a grade that cannot be erased.  What if they have a minor discipline infraction?  Discipline consequences should be progressive unless the violation is so egregious that Peter Francis Geraci needs to be called in.  Trust me, I grew up in a generation where trips to the woodshed were common.  Heck, the neighbors had full reign to whip your behind if necessary.  “Time outs”?...Yeah, right.   The onion didn’t get peeled back then.  Kids mess up.  Adults mess up.  I am in no way suggesting that kids should not be accountable.  EVERYONE needs to be accountable!  What I am saying is that often, we need to teach them how to be accountable. If you haven’t noticed the prevalence of “It wasn’t me” attitude, pay closer attention. So, we need to teach the kids how to be accountable. We do that through clearly stated expectations and through a great example for them to follow.  There needs to be consequences (both positive and negative) for their actions and “non-actions”.  Things will never change if not.   Back to academics – the practice of “test corrections” is debatable.  If these corrections are nothing more that “correcting “ mistakes, then it is a worthless activity.  Come on, if they didn’t get it the first time, they won’t be magically getting it now.  This “corrective” period needs serious feedback and some interventions from the teacher.  2^nd chances…yep.  Maybe even 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th  chances as most of us have been afforded.