Even though it’s been a tragic and tumultuous week for our country, I want to thank all of you for such a phenomenal beginning of the second half of the school year! Every email I received from parents was effusive in praise of how impressively you all engaged their children--not an easy task in a virtual environment! Parents clearly recognize the care, thoughtfulness, creativity, and energy you all put into this week. Thank you!
My emotions are still so raw from what we witnessed in DC this week, I haven’t been able to process and organize my thoughts, so forgive the incoherent blathering of the rest of this paragraph. As I watched the hate-filled, brazen vandalism of the Capitol, I recalled how many times I had stood with groups of students in the Capitol’s Statuary Hall describing the basic tenets of democracy and the complementary workings of three branches of our federal government. While our country isn’t perfect, I enjoyed teaching my students about our country’s core values and virtues, including our freedoms and our individual and collective responsibilities of being a contributing citizen in a democratic republic. To see such wanton and lawless destruction of our country’s democratic pillars--checks and balances, trust of the voting process, peaceful transition of power, putting aside personal wants for the good of the whole--was one of the lowest points in my life as an American. Much like the bombing of Pearl Harbor, this week’s events will go down in infamy in the history of our country. As an eternal optimist, though, I am hopeful that good can come from bad and those who believe in and live by fairness and empathy will guide and lead us. Here’s to a better 2021, even though it’s off to a rocky start.
Anyway, the very short article summary is a number of quotes from elementary school children who were asked to describe the year 2020 in only six words. As always, kids are more insightful (and funny and poignant) than we give them credit for:
- Daytime pajamas make great school attire
- Never take seeing friends for granted
- The world is a fragile place
- Great parents aren’t always great teachers
- Life can be easy…and hard
- If I learned one thing: masks
- I love and hate my family
- Be catlike: nap, eat, avoid humans
- Real friends actually stick with you
- Lifesavers: doctors, cousins, teachers, elections, Minecraft
Enjoy the weekend! Stay happy and healthy!
Joe
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