Summertime Linda
My Seattle friend Linda wrote this on her FaceBook page the other day: best fact from our big Shoreline teachers meeting yesterday: number of languages spoken in Shoreline Schools students’ homes: 79.
Now that is an amazing fact! Never mind that the Shoreline School District includes 13 elementary, 6 middle, and 5 high schools. Seventy-nine languages within one school district, no matter how many schools and classrooms, seems absolutely mind-boggling to me. In fact, I can’t even imagine what all those languages could be.
And it doesn’t take any imagination at all to know that there aren’t interpreters that tag along with the kids who don’t yet speak English. I’m pretty sure there is no slack given to the teachers, either, in terms of kids meeting all those benchmarks and standards that the state expects.
Sydney, Back in the Day (1985ish)
When I read Linda’s FaceBook entry, it took less than a nanosecond for me to smile and to suppress the desire to jump up and down for joy (selfishly to be sure) that I am now entering my fourteenth year of blessed retirement. Yes! I’ve spent thirteen full years reflecting on ‘the good old days’ of teaching when we truly could close our classroom doors and teach without too much regard for test scores except as guides to what each kid needed.
And when we had kids who had special needs – maybe in the area of learning English, for instance – we could make allowances. Perhaps give them ‘the gift of time,’ – time to catch on and catch up without worrying about those rules and regulations from on high.
Well… I probably have it all wrong. Maybe from some perspectives our public education system has improved in the last thirteen years. I haven’t paid much attention, actually. I’m much too busy smiling and getting used to this retirement gig.
Tee Hee Me! Before I saw the date under your photo I thought to myself, my, my, Sydney is looking better every day….and those hoop earrings look perfect in the chin area…Again, Tee Hee Me! Many years ago a teacher at our old high school in San Rafael gave me similar numbers about the languages spoken there. Ah, the feeling of freedom that accompanies retirement!