The priorities of our schools should be as follows: #1. Equip
students with the skills they will use in life. #2. See number 1. Many of the
greatest experiences that our students have in preparing them for their future
take place outside of the walls of the classroom. In addition to the academic
skills needed, students need opportunities to work as part of a team, to adapt
to situations on the fly, to problem solve, to resolve conflict, to struggle,
fail and figure things out on their own.
We had two outstanding opportunities for some of our
students prior to Thanksgiving Break that put them in situations to stretch
themselves and get them out of their comfort zones.
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| What a performance! |
Annie, Jr.
We had over 100 students involved as part of the cast and
crew in three amazing performances of the musical Annie Jr. which is based on the popular comic strip and adapted
from the Tony Award-winning Best Musical. What you see as an audience member at
ShowTime is middle school students running and performing a musical with great
confidence like seasoned veterans. The singing, acting, timing, scene changes
and organization feels more like an off-Broadway production than that of a
musical put on by adolescents. It was astonishing!
What you don’t see as an audience member at Showtime is the
amount of work that went into this on the part of our students. It’s practice,
practice, and more practice. It is at times a series of rehearsals that can
look like a clunky mess of poor timing, self-doubt, and bits & pieces that surely
will never be connected into anything meaningful. Yet, students continue to
work. Students continue to grind, to practice, to persevere. And in time,
self-doubt fades into great confidence, and what once seemed impossible to pull
off becomes this amazing experience that we see as members of the audience. All
of the skills that our young people need to be successful in their future were
taking place behind the scenes at each of those rehearsals and on stage in
front of our very eyes as the curtain went up. We should all be impressed with
their performance, but we should be even more impressed by what took place to
get to that point.
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| Students listening to the Mayor outside of City Hall |
Enterprise America
Our entire 7th
grade class had the opportunity to spend a day at WCNY’s Enterprise America. Enterprise
America is a hands-on co-curricular program for middle-school students. The
first of its kind in New York State, the program involves classroom instruction
aligned to state and 21st century learning standards followed by the
Enterprise America experience, with students spending a day in WCNY’s
Enterprise America city, which they were responsible for operating.
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| Accountants busy managing the books |
All of our
students became business entrepreneurs and employees, consumers and citizens
in this city for the day and were put in challenging and uncomfortable
situations as they learned to manage money and time, and work with others to
run a successful business. Students were
absolutely uncomfortable and somewhat stressed as they worked through the day,
but they rose to the occasion. In fact, on the second day, our 7th
graders had the most businesses pay off their business loan and become
profitable than any other school to date at Enterprise America. Pretty
impressive! Perhaps some of them could take their financial management skills
to Albany and Washington.
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| Hard at work in the Cafe |
We were very fortunate to have adult volunteers in each business to
assist, support and guide students as needed. Teachers, teaching assistants,
administrators, members of the Camillus-Solvay-Geddes Rotary Club and WESTAR
Federal Credit Union employees were on site both days to support this
experience. The hardest part as an adult volunteer was to step back and allow
students to struggle and figure things out for themselves. This is true as a
teacher in the classroom or as a parent at home. The greatest gift we can give
our kids is the freedom to struggle, make mistakes, and empower them to
persevere through adversity. We need to be there to help pick them up and/or
offer advice along the way, but we can’t do things for them – the best lessons
learned in life don’t come via a lecture or conversation, they come through
real experiences. Step back and let them struggle.
Both Annie Jr. and
Enterprise America were invaluable experiences that helped to teach some of those
important life lessons and allow our students to develop and foster those
essential skills that they will need for their future. In the end, that is our number one priority as
a school and it is something that I am so grateful for and proud that as a
District we can provide those opportunities for our kids.
Continued
Success,
Steve Dunham
Twitter:
@Sdunhamwgms
