UPDATED: 9:37 p.m.
Photo added and comments at end.
June 11, 2010 4:18 p.m.
Teachers, if you want to win the hearts of your students, don't try to be Mr./Ms. "easy fun" teacher, and don't be an "easy mark". Instead, love your students enough to push them to be work hard and reach their potential.
Chips had a composition to write this week for lesson 81 of fifth grade Calvert School. He was to write about somebody he admired. This is the result:
Miss Svetlana is my violin teacher. She is kind, amazing, strict, and is one of the best violin teachers I know. Miss Svetlana is seventy-two years old.
Miss Svetlana is very kind, but is really strict. I have noticed that she does not say, "Good, good!" all the time, or else the student will think he is perfect and stop working hard. My playing always has something wrong and Svetlana will find it! She has a good sense of humor, too.
Svetlana came from Russia at fifty-eight years old and learned to read, speak, and write in English! She teaches about forty-two students. My sister, C____, and I both get chocolates after the lesson.
I admire Svetlana because she came from Russia and learned English, and can play violin so well. I also admire her because she is so very dedicated to her students. Svetlana is the best lady I know besides my mother.
As a mom, I must add my own thoughts to Chips' composition. I recently wrote a letter to this lady to tell her my own thoughts and feelings about what she has done for us. From the first day we entered her home, nearly four years ago, she set a tone for the duration of the lesson that was all about the business of learning the instrument, very little small talk, and an atmosphere that fostered seriousness during lesson time. Until this time, our children had never set foot in an environment quite like hers. Chips was six at the time, and we did have our concerns about him. He didn't seem to take anything, or anybody, in life seriously. Not a bit. Now you might say "he was only six" and while that's true, we noted a marked irreverence and distractibility about Chips that didn't seem typical for his age. He also had very "busy" hands, needing to keep them engaged in unrelated and exploratory pursuits at all times while awake. He had already been through three years of violin lessons with another teacher, and it was a good thing that teacher was tolerant of very young kids' antics, because Chips had a million of them to display.
But from Day One of entering under Miss Svetlana's tutelage, all that changed. There was something about her that commanded Chips' respect immediately. She wasn't harsh, or mean, but she was quietly serious and focused and kept a subdued tone about her lessons. For a long time, she even refrained from small talk with me, considering every minute of the lesson as precious and not to be wasted. She was creating an atmosphere, and it worked. As Chips grew and matured over the months and years that followed, we were amazed at his level of focus while working with her. Nowadays, she can keep Chips engaged in highly-focused, intense lesson work that can last for up to, and over, a solid hour. I marvel when I see him working with her. She keeps him extremely busy every second. He hangs in there, listening, doing as she asks, and never even speaking, for the entire time. This is nothing short of a miracle, and it will definitely serve him well for all his life. It is this, alone, that is worth millions to us, never mind the violin playing. She has taught him to focus on a task for an extended period of time, to work hard, and to be truly excellent at something. For that, I am forever in her debt.
Sweet Girl is learning, too, although she is somewhat more wiggly than most of Svetlana's violin students, especially other girls. Miss Svetlana and I do have our laughs about her level of gross motor activity during lessons, as every little bitty break in the work results in Sweet Girl practically climbing over the furniture and camping out on the floor. Oh well, she is still growing.
Both children, Chips and Sweet Girl, adore Miss Svetlana. More and more each year. Enough said.
Photo added and comments at end.
June 11, 2010 4:18 p.m.
Teachers, if you want to win the hearts of your students, don't try to be Mr./Ms. "easy fun" teacher, and don't be an "easy mark". Instead, love your students enough to push them to be work hard and reach their potential.
Chips had a composition to write this week for lesson 81 of fifth grade Calvert School. He was to write about somebody he admired. This is the result:
An Amazing Person -- Miss Svetlana
Miss Svetlana is my violin teacher. She is kind, amazing, strict, and is one of the best violin teachers I know. Miss Svetlana is seventy-two years old.
Miss Svetlana is very kind, but is really strict. I have noticed that she does not say, "Good, good!" all the time, or else the student will think he is perfect and stop working hard. My playing always has something wrong and Svetlana will find it! She has a good sense of humor, too.
Svetlana came from Russia at fifty-eight years old and learned to read, speak, and write in English! She teaches about forty-two students. My sister, C____, and I both get chocolates after the lesson.
I admire Svetlana because she came from Russia and learned English, and can play violin so well. I also admire her because she is so very dedicated to her students. Svetlana is the best lady I know besides my mother.
As a mom, I must add my own thoughts to Chips' composition. I recently wrote a letter to this lady to tell her my own thoughts and feelings about what she has done for us. From the first day we entered her home, nearly four years ago, she set a tone for the duration of the lesson that was all about the business of learning the instrument, very little small talk, and an atmosphere that fostered seriousness during lesson time. Until this time, our children had never set foot in an environment quite like hers. Chips was six at the time, and we did have our concerns about him. He didn't seem to take anything, or anybody, in life seriously. Not a bit. Now you might say "he was only six" and while that's true, we noted a marked irreverence and distractibility about Chips that didn't seem typical for his age. He also had very "busy" hands, needing to keep them engaged in unrelated and exploratory pursuits at all times while awake. He had already been through three years of violin lessons with another teacher, and it was a good thing that teacher was tolerant of very young kids' antics, because Chips had a million of them to display.
But from Day One of entering under Miss Svetlana's tutelage, all that changed. There was something about her that commanded Chips' respect immediately. She wasn't harsh, or mean, but she was quietly serious and focused and kept a subdued tone about her lessons. For a long time, she even refrained from small talk with me, considering every minute of the lesson as precious and not to be wasted. She was creating an atmosphere, and it worked. As Chips grew and matured over the months and years that followed, we were amazed at his level of focus while working with her. Nowadays, she can keep Chips engaged in highly-focused, intense lesson work that can last for up to, and over, a solid hour. I marvel when I see him working with her. She keeps him extremely busy every second. He hangs in there, listening, doing as she asks, and never even speaking, for the entire time. This is nothing short of a miracle, and it will definitely serve him well for all his life. It is this, alone, that is worth millions to us, never mind the violin playing. She has taught him to focus on a task for an extended period of time, to work hard, and to be truly excellent at something. For that, I am forever in her debt.
Sweet Girl is learning, too, although she is somewhat more wiggly than most of Svetlana's violin students, especially other girls. Miss Svetlana and I do have our laughs about her level of gross motor activity during lessons, as every little bitty break in the work results in Sweet Girl practically climbing over the furniture and camping out on the floor. Oh well, she is still growing.
Both children, Chips and Sweet Girl, adore Miss Svetlana. More and more each year. Enough said.
2 comments:
It is wonderful that your son recognizes that the psychobabble that now passes for teaching - every child is good enough, and there are no winners, because everyone is equal, and we dcn't hand out criticism, no matter what - is horse apples. When we were kids, we all knew who was smarter than we were, and who wasn't. Then, we had a way to work toward improvement if we so desired. Now, the private school the kids next door go to doesn't even give out real grades until 8th grade, when the kids have to get ready for high school. Instead, everyone is "novice, journeyman, apprentice or master" at each subject - and no one can ever get "master". Just what does that even mean??? I am so glad for Calvert School, and ATS! And I'm so glad for you that you've got a wonderful violin teacher who's not afraid to push the children harder.
That is such a lovely composition! I found your blog from the link in your post at the Calvert Yahoo Group. I want to thank you so much for that post you did earlier today about Calvert and the fifth grade program. I have been preparing to homeschool my son and looking at Calvert for almost two years. He just completed the Placement test, with the exception of the composition which he will complete this weekend, (I admit that we’ve both procrastinated with it). I've had some concerns whether he will be able to handle all the writing that Calvert seems to require since this will be his first year with Calvert. I've been worried about what will be expected in the fifth grade program and how challenging it will be for a student that is just entering Calvert in fifth grade. It's not that I don’t want him challenged, of course, but since this is our first year homeschooling I certainly don't want him to feel overwhelmed and discouraged.
I have to say that your post in the Calvert Yahoo Group is the best explanation of the Calvert Scholastic program that I've seen. I so appreciate your taking the time and effort to post all of the tremendously helpful information! Also, thank you for sharing your son's composition here. Not only is it a beautiful piece, it's helping me to actually be able to read a fifth grade Calvert composition. Having never homeschooled before, I think I'm already being a little hard on my son as far as my expectations when I hear the word "composition". Lol, that's why I'll probably use the ATS service.
Thanks so much for sharing! Have for a great weekend with your beautiful family!