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| Letter sent to kindergarten parents |
An annual year-end kindergarten show has been canceled at a New York school because the kids have to keep working so they will be “college and career” ready. Really.
That’s what it says in a letter (see above) sent to parents by Ellen Best-Laimit, the interim principal of Harley Avenue Primary School in Elwood, N.Y., and four kindergarten teachers. The play was to be staged over two days, May 14 and 15, according to the school’s calendar.
One mother who received the letter, Ninette Gonzalez Solis, wrote on Facebook that parents learned recently the play was being canceled and started calling the principal, leading the school officials to send out the new missive. Solis wrote that she was very upset about the cancellation.
Gee no kidding, I would hope that ALL of the parents who received this letter are upset.
Here is a portion of the letter for those having trouble reading it:
"The reason for eliminating the kindergarten show is simple. We are responsible for preparing children for college and career with valuable lifelong skills and know that we can best do that by having them become strong readers, writer, coworkers, and problem solvers. Please do not fault us for making professional decisions that we know will never be able to please everyone. But know that we are making these decisions with the interests of all children in mind."
That is such BS.
Look I worked in a kindergarten room.
These children are struggling to learn to sit still during lessons, take turns during free time, and to zip up their coats and tie their own shoes.
The skills we focused on was teaching them to cut out shapes in order to improve their small motor skills, identify and read letters to improve their memorization skills, and to respect other children's property and feelings to improve their social skills.
One of the first tasks we struggle with is teaching children to stand in line. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get a bunch of five year olds to stand in line, without touching each other, wandering around aimlessly, or facing the wrong direction, for the first time?
A lot more challenging than one might imagine.
And what really helps with the teaching process is recognizing that this age group is barely out of the toddler stage, and they need to have lots of time to move, to play, and to distract themselves from the boring classroom work.
This school clearly does not understand what it takes to prepare children of this age for college or a career. One thing I can tell them for sure is that burning children out on school before they even reach the first grade is certainly NOT the way to put them on the path toward success.
And of course, this completely ignores the fact that many schools of higher learning require "well rounded" personalities so that things like participation in drama and the other arts are major factors in their considerations.
ReplyDeleteBesides, shows and plays teach cooperation and participation and caring and sharing and not "hogging the limelight", etc. etc.
AND, children LIKE to show off and that means it is FUN!
Making learning fun is a major factor at this age and has huge ramifications later in their educational lives!
This is why art, music and PE are the first to go with budget cuts, and administrators, teachers and parents with austerity hearts.
DeleteI wonder what the real reason was for the cancellation.
ReplyDeleteNo insider knowledge here, but I'm guessing that the children of a couple of assholes on the school board did not get the parts in the show their parents most coveted.
DeleteI'm wondering if this is one of those NY schools where you have to sign your child up pre-conception. It boggles the mind to think about recess.
ReplyDeleteCommunity theatre horror stories aside, participating in group performances can be invaluable. It lets the little stars shine, while at the same time, providing cover for the shyer ones. Cooperation is key, and nothing makes a parent prouder--or generates goodwill toward the school--like seeing their little darling on stage. Although most won't admit it, most parents are stage parents at heart.
Sounds to me like the teachers and principal thought is was too much of a hassle.
I am so angry about this I can't say anything cogent right now except that children's education should not be in the hands of people who know knowing about children, processes of learning, the sensorimotor component of cognition, the arts - actually, they don't seem to know anything about anything worth a damn.
ReplyDeleteI'd rather this principal and the teachers talk down to the parents about their responsibilities as experts making "professional decisions," to their children's betterment in this most "exceptional" nation, than them being taught abstinence and intelligent design.
ReplyDeleteI'm being snarky of course, this is highly insulting, but I'm also too kind of not.
I had my daughter in a rather dysfunctional Montessori school for a few years, and I have to tell you, I wish they had cancelled that school's productions, or at least seriously scaled them back to something simple and fun. The amount of time those kids spent preparing for these extravaganzas was really unbelievable. At least a month was lost twice a year, much of it spent with the entire school sitting in chairs watching as those with solo parts practiced over and over and OVER. The teachers were completely overwhelmed and desperate since the owners considered these things major show-off times essential to marketing, and that pressure was transferred to the kids. Pre-school and kindergarten, fine -- but that much time taken from first, second and third grade? (Turned out years later that the administrator who was the slavedriver of those teachers to impress the owners was prosecuted for embezzling millions from the school over a period of years! Bad school on soooo many levels!)
ReplyDeletenot surprisingly, you are wrong again, Gryphen.
ReplyDelete"These children are struggling to learn to sit still during lessons, take turns during free time, and to zip up their coats and tie their own shoes."
Gryphen, apparently you've never worked in a large accounting office. These are the PRECISE skills that you'll see possessed by the better accountants and the source of great frustration by those who lack them.
How many quarterly reports have been ruined by an accountant carrying a large stack of carefully collated pages only to trip on his own untied shoelaces, sending a blizzard of paper flying across the room? (that's not a rhetorical question. Seriously, do you know the answer? Anybody?)
So, let's make sure these kids really, really, really know how to tie their shoes before any frivolous holiday shows. And woe be unto you if you even THINK of mentioning velcro-strapped shoes. WOE BE UNTO YOU!
I am 60. My kindergarten teacher died recently, which led me to reminisce about our kindergarten play, in which I had a major singing and speaking role. I think I was a troll on 3 Billy Goats Gruff. These things are important. I'd pull my kids out of that school pronto.
ReplyDeleteSorry if this is such an unpopular slap upside the head but when you vote for amateurs that pass laws about education, don't complain when the professionals are doing everything they can to comply with those laws.
ReplyDeleteNo, kindergarteners are not tested. But eventually they will be. And if a school is already at risk for takeover under NCLB, then there are consequences for voting for those that put that law into place and keep it there.
It's like parents that vote down school bonds every time, then complain when the district cuts the music programs because they don't have the money to run them any more.
Now as to this program, I've been a music teacher and I've done programs with this age group. Do you know how long it takes to prepare for something like this? Depending on how long and elaborate, you're talking maybe an hour a day for 6-8 weeks. Then you've got the rehearsals before the performance. That's at least 1-2 weeks depending on how many classes are involved and if multiple classes are presenting together but rehearsed separately.
We're not talking two days here. We're talking a minimum of an hour of instructional time a day for 2 months.
Now I'm certainly not defending the school. I think they're wrong in that you can teach skills and do a presentation at the same time. I did. If they are not capable of doing that, then I'd say the principal and teachers need to be replaced. But before you do that, vote your politicians out of office and get rid of standardized testing and NCLB. Until you do that, nothing else you do will improve anything.
Clearly, Gryphen, you have not worked in a public school in NY State in the past 2 years because this story is, sadly, not at all surprising.
ReplyDeleteI have worked in a NY elementary school for the past 15 years and I have seen a significant change in the curriculum and expectations for kindergarten. When most of us were 5 years old, we were expected to learn our colors, letters, numbers, how to cut, color and paste, and all the school-related social skills by the end of kindergarten. These were all developmentally appropriate skills that were necessary for success in higher grades.
Now, children are expected to be reading and writing short paragraphs and doing simple math by the end of kindergarten. Gone are the play times and centers where they could explore the play kitchen or sand table. Gone are the opportunities to build with blocks or play dress-up. All activities must be structured and supportive of the Common Core curriculum, and teachers struggle to make the learning fun and not painful for these poor overwhelmed children.
Last year, we had two profoundly deaf students from Puerto Rico transfer to my school several days before a district-wide standardized test. They had no language of any kind - no sign language, Spanish or English. The little one, a kindergartener, had never used a computer before and had never even seen a mouse, no less know how to use one to navigate on a computer screen. Yet, I was expected to administer a 63 question reading and math test on the computer to this child. I had no way to accurately communicate what she was supposed to do so I gestured where possible and she randomly clicked on the mouse through most of it. Partway through the seemingly-endless test, she broke down crying. I took her on my lap and rocked her until she calmed down, holding back my own tears at what we were forcing this child to undergo.
The NYS teachers' union is currently fighting the state legislature regarding the use of the current statewide test scores. The legislators have recognized that the curriculum and the tests are written so poorly, and the students are being tested on Common Core curriculum that they were never taught in the primary grades, that the tests are not considered valid. They will NOT be used to evaluate either students or the schools. However, as of right now, these invalid test scores WILL be used to evaluate teachers!
We are creating an entire generation of children who will learn to hate school and a country of teachers who hate what they have to do to their students in order to protect their jobs.
Welcome to education reform developed by corporations and educational researchers who have no personal classroom experience and see our children merely as numbers on a graph and a means to make a profit.
Welcome to American education in the 21st century.
Exactly. People think they can continue to pile on mandates with no consequences.
DeleteI think the last rant I read was why cursive writing is no longer taught in the schools. Sorry, but we don't have time to spend hours a week on cursive writing. They'll learn enough to sign their names and that's it.
It's a trade-off.
You can't require science, technology, engineering, math, oh yeah and some English language basics without giving up something else.
Especially if you're not willing to pay.
Right now schools are surviving with less money (due to cost of living increases) so they can't lower class sizes or increase the school day or increase the school year. There is no money to pay the teachers they have for longer days or a longer school year, nor are is there money for more teachers. Certainly not specialized teachers like art and music. There isn't time in the day for art and music anyway.
It's a put up or shut up situation. If you're not willing to pay, don't complain when schools can't provide everything you want and more.
You don't get a Neiman-Marcus education on a Walmart budget.
Schools are doing the best they can to meet the mandates imposed on them by the laws passed by the amateurs the voters elected to office.
Don't like it? Get rid of the amateurs and get the laws changed. And it wouldn't hurt to pass some bonds, revise some tax laws and stop badmouthing teachers and public schools at every opportunity.
We've clearly got our priorities for our kid's education totally screwed up. We're defunding head start in our state. The objectives you spoke of in your post are needed now more than ever because, although technology is a good thing, learning basic interactions and socialization early on are the foundations for future learning.
ReplyDeleteLetters and decisions like the one in the letter are the main reason we're treating schools like businesses, overtesting, underfunding and not supporting good educators, while a cottage industry has cropped up with leaning centers, SAT prep test centers etc..
The first things to get slashed are the things that help round out our children's education and fuel their natural love of learning and curiosity.
What was more "pressing" than this play? Will it make the kids college ready when the time comes? I doubt it.
"we're treating schools like businesses"
DeleteOne of the worst justifications for the accountability/testing craze is that we need to do just that...treat schools like factories, churning out identical graduates who are all equipped with the same skills and knowledge. However, the people who promote this fallacy forget that a business buys supplies, materials or parts with the expectation of a certain level of uniformity and perfection. If a factory receives a shipment of bolts that are broken, bent or otherwise damaged, they return the parts and get replacements or a refund. Likewise, if a product they manufacture turns out to have significant faults, they must discard, destroy or repair that item.
Years ago, I toured the crystal factory in Waterford, Ireland. At the end of the long line of specialized machines and incredibly talented artists was a bin where the imperfect crystal items were thrown, later to be crushed and sent back to be melted and used again.
Children are not factory-produced machines that are discarded for falling below a specified level of perfection. They arrive in our schools with vastly different home situations, backgrounds, experiences, and abilities. There are so many factors that are outside of a school's or teacher's control that will have a tremendous impact on that child's ability to learn.
As an educator who experiences every day the damage we are doing to our nation's children, I sincerely hope that the pendulum will swing back and balance will be restored. Certainly there is much that can be done to improve our educational system, but the experienced people who are on the front lines every day are the ones who need to be respected and given the opportunity to make the necessary changes.
No one would tolerate a group of people with business degrees making procedural changes in surgical techniques. No one would tolerate a group of farmers assuming the responsibility for designing airplane safety systems. No one would tolerate a dance ensemble being hired to argue legal cases in the Supreme Court.
So WHY are we so anxious to hand over our educational system, and the future of our children, to politicians and executives who haven't been in a classroom since they were children themselves?