Dear Novi Students: Meet my Uncle Gordon

Dear Novi Students,

You probably have never heard of, never been to, and don't know much about Vinita, Oklahoma.

Guy Fieri, celebrity chef, once visited Vinita to see Clanton's Cafe for his "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives" TV show. So there's that!

I've been to Vinita many times. It was home to my Uncle Gordon and Aunt Lenora.

Uncle Gordon owned a gas station in Vinita. Full service! Whenever my family would visit, which was almost every summer when I was young, he would let me spend an afternoon pumping gas and washing the car windows of customers.

Uncle Gordon loved politics. I think he was a Democrat, although I never really knew one way or the other. He could get pretty worked up about either party. He'd bust out a "dad gum" or a "my oh my" or a "heck fire" whenever politics was the topic of conversation. I can still see him pacing back and forth as he talked with my Dad and my uncles about this or that thing the Democrats of the Republicans were doing.

Uncle Gordon cared deeply about how people governed and how taxes were spent. He cared deeply about how politicians treated people and how well government worked for people. And, as you know, sometimes politicians don't govern very well and waste tax dollars. Sometimes, politicians seem callous toward the needs of people and government doesn't work very well. At other times, our elected representatives do a wonderful job and make significant contributions that improve the life of the people that they govern.

Regardless of his perspective - good or bad, I never heard Uncle Gordon call someone that he disagreed with a "loser." He never called politicians names. He never made fun of his governor or his state senator or the President.

Uncle Gordon grew up in a state that has had a bit of a complicated history with race and diversity. Yet Uncle Gordon never argued that our government should isolate or watch or ostracize certain groups of citizens. 

Uncle Gordon had strong convictions. At times he believed he knew what was best. But if his Governor or his state senator or his US Congressman made a decision that he did not agree with, Uncle Gordon did not advocate rioting or violence.

Here in the Novi Schools, we (your principals, your teachers, the adults who work for the school district) work hard to help you learn lessons that will prepare you for life. We think a lot about how we teach and spend significant amounts of each day helping you learn math and history and how to write and how to read. It is critically important that you learn those lessons.

But, in our district, of approximately 6,500 students with over 55 languages spoken in the homes of our community, with a wide variety of ethnic and religious groups, with houses that range from modest to well appointed, and with over 1,000 students who are classified as English Language Learners, it is also important that we spend time talking about and providing examples of how to work with and talk with and be with each other.

If you have paid attention to this presidential election season, you might have seen examples of behavior and heard comments that I would view as unacceptable. Yelling and name-calling are common. The candidates appear more interested in speaking than listening. Insults have been hurled at each other and at groups of people.

This is not how I want us to act in our school district!

We can have disagreements. We can have different perspectives. We can take different sides on any variety of issues.

But in order for our democracy to work we need to learn to work with and for each other.

I am proud of you - the students in Novi. You have shown me through your actions that you have learned and are learning how to respect one another, how to work with people who do not look or sound like you, and how to listen and talk with each other.

Are we perfect? No!

Do we sometimes make mistakes? Yes!

But together we - students and adults - are trying to build the skills that we need to create a society that we can be proud of and live in.

You would have liked Uncle Gordon. He helped me learn how to listen and when to speak. He helped me learn to think about problems and how to solve them. My hope is that in addition to reading, math, history, and science, we can help you continue to learn those lessons as well.

Dr. Matthews

Don't sit still!

I have had a hard time sitting still my whole life. As an adult it's not too bad. For the most part I can move when I want to move.

So I do.

I stand. I walk. I spin in my chair.

But when I was a student I was often told to sit still. I frequently found trouble because I did not have the ability, nor really the desire, to sit still at my desk.

Thankfully, times have changed.

We now have a more enlightened view of learning. Learning no longer is confined to sitting still in a chair at a desk.

Learning is active. We now understand that movement enhances learning. Providing students with the ability to make choices on where they will learn allows students to exercise control over their environment and their learning.

Allowing movement and choice comes with a price. Teachers give up some control. Classroom noise may increase.  Classrooms are no longer neat, orderly boxes.

 

But the trade-off is worth it. No longer do students have to pen up all of their energy and enthusiasm. No longer will students have to use their intellectual capital to focus on not moving or learning only in one place. 

 

Learning increases when students do not have to sit still!

To my Novi students

Dear Novi students,

It's 9:00 AM on Wednesday morning. And it is snowing!

If you are willing, there is a life lesson to be learned today:

You can't count the snowflakes until they begin to fall.

I know that you are excited right now. You are hoping, praying, believing that tomorrow will be a snow day. A wonderful, glorious, exciting snow day!

But we don't know that yet. We won't know that for several hours. There is a chance that it will keep snowing. There is also a chance that it will stop.

We can't get to tomorrow until we know what is happening today.

Life is full of twists and turns. You will have many in your life. I have had many in my life. I would encourage you to look to the future but remember to be present for today.

You can plan, you can prepare, you can anticipate all you want. But you have to live today to get to tomorrow.

Many of my high school senior students can't wait to be done with high school. You already have next year planned out. You know where you will go to college. You know who your roommates will be. You know what your college major will be. You see the plan!

But plans can change. Unless you are present for today and tomorrow and the day after that you may miss great things in your final four months of high school. Heck, you might even get so caught up in tomorrow you forget to study and then you don't get that grade you needed and then you don't get into that college that you wanted to get into and then you don't get to room with your best friend and then . . . . 

I hope you get my point!

Today is a metaphor for the rest of your life. You can always look toward the future but you have to live for today!

You can't count the snowflakes until they begin to fall.

But for today  . . .

Here's hoping for snowy weather!

Dr. Matthews

Custodial care is a shaky justification for schools

When I think about why children should come to school, I need a good answer. John Merrow, a talented, passionate education journalist, recently pointed out the dilemma that haunts, frustrates, and seemingly bedevils those of us who care about public education. 

"Parents used to send kids to school because that's where the knowledge was.

They were also interested in socialization and custodial care.

That's all changed.

And it's not clear schools have responded as briskly as they should have.

Today knowledge is everywhere with the internet.

We have apps for socialization.

And custodial care is a shaky justification for schools. 

Educators need to find their way in this new world."

If it was ever true, schools can no longer can say that we have access to knowledge that students do not have.

If was ever true, schools can no longer say that the only place to socialize with other children is at school.

So why then should parents willingly send their children to our public schools? Why should children willingly and eagerly attend our public schools?

These are questions that those of us who believe in and care for public schools must answer - and answer well.

Here's are two answers.

We send children to our public schools because we believe what James Comer, the Maurice Falk Professor of Child Psychiatry at Yale University, said:

No significant learning can occur without a significant relationship.

Public schools, the schools in our community with the students from our neighborhoods, create bonds that allow learning to take place. The time spent in classrooms allows students and teachers to build a community of trust and acceptance. Working side-by-side for days and weeks allows students to build friendships, learn to ask questions, take time to share wrong answers, fail, try again, and discover right answers.

Shawn Achor, a gifted writer on happiness, argues that our brains are designed to understand and connect to others. The real measure of students' knowledge is not what they know as individuals but what they can build with others in a classroom. The deeper our social connections the more our brains will function at a higher capacity.

So why should we believe in public schools? Because the power of the community that is built within the walls of the school can and will improve the ability of students to learn. The relationships that we build with and between students and teachers allows students to think more clearly, understand more deeply, and apply learning more concretely. 

School is also a place where I found adults - other than my family - who cared deeply for me. I knew my mother and father, my grandparents, my aunts and uncles cared deeply for me. But, outside of my family, did I matter?

I found that answer in school. Through the care and comfort and courage and challenge of Miss Harriger in 2nd grade, Miss Hixenbaugh in 4th grade, Mr. Robbins in 6th grade, Ms. Zellner in 7th grade, Coach Braig in high school, Ms. Ely in 10th grade, and many others, I found myself. A child who was not at home in school, who felt left out because of physical handicaps, who was painfully shy, found adults in school who not only taught me the curriculum but made me feel like it was important that I learn. In school I found adults who championed me. 

These adults did not forget me or humiliate me. These adults cared for who I was and helped me see whom I could become. 

So why should we believe in public schools? Because kind, generous, positive adults enable all children - the shy, forgotten, lonely children and the engaging, outgoing, confident children and all those children in between - to begin to believe that a bright future is possible. 

Mr. Merrow is right - custodial care is a shaky justification for schools.

My justification for schools is that the power of the school community of learners improves and deepens learning.

My justification for schools is that adults help students learn not only about the curriculum but about themselves and their potential.

Tempting fate!

The students in Novi are restless. This picture says it all.

That's the view out of my office. It's February. It's winter. It's Michigan. And there is no snow!

Every classroom that I visit, every student that I see asks me when we will have a snow day. They seem to think I have magical power!

I don't.

But my students NEED a snow day!

I tend to believe that they just WANT a snow day but maybe I a not seeing things from their perspective.

I am.

Snow days are magical because they are unexpected. Snow days interrupt the normal flow of life and present us with a wonderful surprise.

Who doesn't like surprises?

So in an effort to show my students that I care I am writing about the lack of snow. Surely this will cause those who control the weather to look down upon Novi and say, "Those students NEED a snow day!"

But it probably won't. As I said, I don't have magical powers!

You have to believe it to see it

It's the middle of winter. Skies are grey. Snow comes and goes. Walking outside is always an adventure. It's easy to get caught up and find one's self slogging through each day. The goal - get home, curl up, and wait for the next day to come.

I read a book recently that changed my perspective. Circus Mirandus is not a book on greatness or vision. It's definitely not a self-help book. It's not a book on leadership or motivation.

Technically, Circus Mirandus is a book written for students in grades 4-6. It's a book about Micah Tuttle and his grandfather Ephraim and a magical but real circus - Circus Mirandus.

The only way to see Circus Mirandus is to believe in it. The only way to find this wonderfully entertaining and magical place is to believe. Those that don't believe - well, it just isn't there.

As I read this book it made me think about what I believe in and, correspondingly, what I see. It also made me think of how I let what I see influence what I believe.

With one set of eyes I can see the world as difficult, challenging, hard. I can see that people will disappoint and annoy and bother me. When I let myself see with those eyes I begin to believe that the world is always like that and there is nothing that I can do to make it better.

But Circus Mirandus helped me remember that "you have to believe it to see it." When I start with what I believe then that is what I begin to see.

I believe that people are good. I believe that there is joy and happiness in the world. I believe that people can figure out solutions to problems. I believe that we can find ways to work together. I believe that people can and will improve. I believe that there is always a reason to smile.

When I remember what I believe, then I begin to see it.

That's not to say that I don't believe that there will be problems and challenges and heartache. I know that is part of the world that I live in.

But I believe that there are answers to questions and solutions to problems and ways to overcome our challenges. I believe heartache can be healed - it may take time and it may be hard but it can be done.

And because I believe that I can see it.

I would encourage you to find a copy of Circus Mirandus and read it.

Remember - you have to believe it to see it!

Slow Down, Trust Others

One month ago I had my hip replaced. I was thrilled!

It was, once again, an interesting experience. I've done it before - three other times in fact. 

I've heard it said that sometimes we go through the same experience until we learn the lesson that we need to learn. This is the 4th time I've had my hip replaced. Hopefully I've finally learned my lesson.

What's the lesson: 

Slow down, trust others. 

My professional life revolves around meeting expectations, managing chaos, ensuring success. Students. Parents. Staff. The Board of Education. Our community.  

Everyday there is something to worry about. 

Some profound:

• Will our students be engaged at school?
• Are we communicating effectively with parents?
• Are we preparing students with the skills they need to be successful?
• Are we helping staff find professional success?

Some more mundane but still important:

• Will the buses be on time?
• Do we serve food that students want to eat?
• Are classrooms clean?

Everyday there is something to worry about.

Until you can't or at least you shouldn't.

After my hip was replaced I could continue to worry about all that I typically worry about or I could worry about other important things. Like lifting my leg. Like figuring out how to walk with a walker. Like making sure I didn't bend over or cross my legs.

I couldn't put on my own socks. I couldn't tie my shoes. 

Instead of being the one who did things I had to adjust to letting others do for me. I could try and manage from a distance or I could rely on my team. I could worry and fret or I could have confidence in others. 

Slow down, trust others.

Some learn more slowly than others. I clearly fit into that category. My recovery has taught me that I am not responsible for the world, even my small world. I have a part to play. I need to play it well. But in the end I need to understand that to go fast I need to go slow. My recovery has taught me to slow down, trust others.