One of my favorite people in this blogging world is Eli of Coach Daddy. There are many great things you could say about Eli (he is kind, he is a teamplayer, he cares passionately about his kids, he is funny, his dedication to featuring Star Wars pics in his posts…the list goes on), but what I love the most is his originality. Each one of his thoughtful posts is unique and interesting, and it’s always a delight when I can share space with him in the blogosphere.
He has hung out here before as the one and only Dad of the Year as part of my longest running series, and he’s let me set up shop as a superhero over at his place.
And his monthly 6 Words posts are fantastic. Eli had the very fun idea to challenge bloggers to answer a particular question every month in six words are less. Sometimes the answers are silly, sometimes they pull on heart strings, but the posts are always a creative blend of blend sincerity. They always leave me smiling–and thankful to be friends with this cool guy who does such a great job of bringing people together while celebrating the realness of our lives.
I’m thrilled Eli is here today, sharing this savviness with us. Below he discusses some very smart ideas about an important an issue–how to make schools a better place for our kids. Please join me in welcoming Eli, readers!
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Photo caption
My kids think they’re too cool for school.
Or learning. I blame Disney Channel kids and pesticides on their baby carrots. But part of it is also a boredom they’ve developed at school. An aversion, to anything school-related. They liken school lunch to prison fare. Recess? Please. They spend more time to sharpening pencils than playing outside.
School’s not broken. It just needs a Jenny Jones makeover. And I’m here to help.
My girls – now 10, 14 and 17 – have had incredible, influential teachers, especially in elementary school. Over time, though, it all changes. Lockers and letter grades come with the territory. No more naptime, and those cute math worksheets with cartoon animals and few problems turn grey with equations.
I know. School isn’t always fun. I drop them at school and add my own yeoman’s encouragement.
Dad: “Tell me tonight what you learned today!”
Kid 1: “It’ll be a short conversation, dad.”
Dad: “Make a new friend today!”
Kid 2: “Yeah, right dad.”
Dad: “Be a good girl today.”
Kid 3: *sly smile* “No promises, dad!” as she slams the door.
Maybe your kids are just … hooligans, you might say. They have that element. But even the hoodiest hoodlum can be swayed with a little love from an engaged teacher. A great teacher adds class to class. She can put the cool in school. (OK, chool, if you want to be technical about it.)
So here’s what I propose.
1. Reform School Lunch Reform
Even if I wasn’t a right-leaning Libertarian, I’d wrinkle my nose at the Michelle Obama school lunch reform. You can lead a kid to an apple and whole grain pizza sticks, but you can’t force her to eat them. All these mandated extra fruits and veggies turn the trash cans into produce bins.
A Harvard study estimates 60% of fresh veggies and 40% of fresh fruit winds up in the trash. That’s one unsalvageable salad. A heckuva foregone fruit cup.
The fix
What fourth grader wants to eat like he’s recovering from an ulcer? Steal a page from Jessica Seinfeld’s cookbook (oops) and sneak the greens into food the kids love. Let’s compromise on the whole grains edict. How about foods with half flour, half whole grain? I bet the kids won’t even notice.
Bonus: Double the recess time. Or triple it. It ought to last as long as at least 12 Vine videos. That’s language the kids can understand.
2. Rewrite Summer Reading
The girls come home with reading lists they’re about excited about as oven-baked fish nuggets. There’s no Geoffrey Chaucer, F. Scott Fitzgerald or Ernest Hemingway to be found. Not even any George Orwell, John Steinbeck or even Mark Twain. Instead, obscure, contemporary titles crowd the curriculum.
For a generation of 140-character communication, a love for books is an epic battle. Our generation has taken up arms in this battle with picnic cutlery.
The fix
Have kids read two books every summer. Let a parent pick one – we can choose a book we enjoyed at their age. And let the kid pick the other one. Anything she wants. Ask her to turn in a one-page diary entry on what she learned from one or either book.
Let’s not force-feed an agenda that eats up an already-shrunken summer. We need to give kids a taste of what’s to love about reading.
3. Ignite our teachers so they can ignite our kids
I can’t believe teachers must pay for most of their own school supplies. Fairly sure Minnesota Vikings football players don’t take their jerseys home to launder. Or airline pilots gas up the jumbo jet on their dime. We need to let teachers focus on lessons and inspiration, not supply and demand.
We love teachers. But there are few stories coming home about what a teacher says and how they’ve influenced their thought or perception. There are more about complacency and discontent. Where have you gone, John Keating? Where is the Dead Poet Society?
Fix
Encourage teachers to exchange lesson plans and other learning tools. The website Teachers Pay Teachers is a marketplace for tried and true lesson plans. Ask for corporate sponsorship of classrooms, where employees donate supplies to a classroom. Enlist college coaches and pro athletes.
Even better: What if local businesses donated spa days or dinner/date vouchers or a free day on the golf links every month for a stellar teacher?
What good is knowledge, structure and moral focus, if the teachers aren’t feeling it too?
Think about a teacher who made an impact on you.
I’m thinking of mine. And those my girls have had.
I’d even eat a whole grain pizza stick to have my girls in her class.
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When he isn’t answering his kids’ questions about Spider-man sneezes or trying to determine which drummer’s beat to listen to, Eli Pacheco writes a the blog Coach Daddy. Follow him on Google Plus, Pinterest and Twitter.
First image credit: depositphotos.com, image ID:36051083, copyright:hskoken
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Janine Huldie says
How I loved this post from start to finish, especially that you mentioned Teachers Pay Teachers, as when I was teaching (my first ever teaching job – 1st year teacher) this type of teaching was totally discouraged. This is when I knew I was in the wrong district for teaching altogether and thank god I got out of there as quickly as possible, because I truly do believe that teachers should be able to collaborate and share in order to help the kids learn. I mean that is the goal to get the kids to learn and want to learn, which also is the point about letting kids pick their own books and parents pick, too in the summer (Eli I think you are truly onto something here and pray to god someone is listening).
Eli@coachdaddy says
Thanks Janine! I wish teachers could be able to do all this good stuff, regardless of which district they’re in. We’re all trying for the same thing – and I count myself as kind of a teacher, as a soccer coach. I know that what I teach goes beyond the sport. At least I hope it does!
I want my kids to be excited about school, because that will help them be excited about life.
Meredith says
Janine, I love that you speak from experience and think Eli’s hands-on idea with this is so important. Take real steps to help!
Kathy at kissing the frog says
Well look at this: two of my favorite bloggers in the same place. And talking about one of my favorite topics, too. I love your ideas, Eli. They make sense. I’ve long thought that we try to make the changes in education too big and too sweeping. Simplify it, and get back to the real task at hand: making learning memorable and worthwhile. But, I guess no one asked us, right?
Eli@coachdaddy says
We did it just for you, Kathy. And we decided to go with education, too. Glad you like what I came up with! I think they could make a big difference. I’d really love to implore the girls’ school to give kids recess before lunch, so they’ll work up an appetite and eat more of their lunches, and we’ll have lest food waste.
As for the learning … if they don’t find school interesting now, they won’t find much in life interesting later, either.
Meredith says
So well said, Kathy, “making learning memorable and worthwhile”. That is the goal, and yes, Eli, if we don’t make it stick now, so much harder down the road…
Lisa @ The Meaning of Me says
I’m with you on the summer reading – or any reading, for that matter. Call me old school, but I say the classics are classics for a reason. There are themes in that stuff that just don’t go out of style. I’m not saying all the contemporary stuff is bad. It’s not. But there’s a balance. I spent most of my master’s degree writing about this very thing. There is a balance to be struck between the old and the new and the two do meet somewhere in very nice co-existent harmony. It breaks my heart to hear kids or adults say they hate to read, never read anything good, or simply don’t read at all.
As for the teacher part, well, I think I’m too newly sprung from the system to fairly comment so I’ll keep my mouth shut. Let’s leave it at I’m a recovering English teacher for good reason.
Meredith says
This breaks my heart too! I think not reading is such a loss. And there are so many gems to be found–in the new and the old.
Kim says
Oh, the joys of the school system. These sound like some good fixes to me, even if I don’t know much about the whole teaching/school set up. I’ll know soon… 😛
Eli@coachdaddy says
It won’t be long until you’re in the middle of it! I wish my girls would come home happy more often about something they’re learning about.
Meredith says
It is crazy how fast we get thrown into this world as parents…and how fast it becomes one of the very most important things.
beth kennedy says
fantastic, eli! as a teacher i am all for these reforms! great post –
Eli@coachdaddy says
glad you’re on board … we should do this.
Meredith says
Eli, you are a rockstar for spelling out such clear, real plans for change!
Debbie @ Deb Runs says
I like the way you think, Eli. You’ve got three good points WITH three good solutions. Dare I say, “Eli for president?” 😉
BTW, I especially love your thoughts on summer reading.
Eli@coachdaddy says
Thanks Deb. Points without solutions aren’t much more than complaints, right? I don’t even go to PTI meetings, so president is out – but I do volunteer during lunch, and get to see a bit of what goes on. Plus, I know all about the girls’ disdain for reading. I hate that.
I just think if we let the kids read things interesting to them, at least in the summer, they’ll love it the way we did.
Meredith says
Eh, get yourself to those meetings, Eli! Eli for President sounds perfect to me!
Tamara Gerber says
Great prompt!
It bugs me so much that governments save money at the wrong place.
Teachers should be compensated properly for their responsibility and engagement.
Curriculum should include stuff the kids are going to be able to actually use in real life. Languages, social skills, creativity, resourcefulness, problem solving, folding fitted sheets. Bahahaha!
However I may be with Michelle on the food. C’mon, in a society where lots of people, kids even, suffer from health issues caused by unhealthy food, schools should lead by example and go for the celery sticks 😉
Eli@coachdaddy says
You’re so right Tamara, and even my girls feel like they want school to teach them about how to find a job or budget money or even cook.
I don’t oppose healthy eating, but there should be a balance. You should see some of the stuff they get to eat, too – healthy or not, that’s just not very palatable lunch in many cases. Marie has taken to calling it “prison food.”
Meredith says
I think it’s such a loss that the curriculum isn’t more holistic. I know we as parents have so much to teach our children at home, but there is so much more the schools could do to help prepare our children for life…excellent point, Tamara and Eli!
kisma says
LOVE this. Eli is brilliant in this post!
Meredith says
Agreed! I love the way he outlines practical points that really will make a difference!
Eli@coachdaddy says
Thanks Tiffany! Thanks for coming over.