Saturday, September 21, 2013

Union Celebrations, Sibling Stories, and Honoring Non-tested Brilliance

Today I spent the day at the Big Island Labor Alliance Celebration of Labor held in Kona this year. It was a wonderful event organized by the labor unions for their families affiliated with the AFL-CIO, to which HSTA just became an affiliate.  The entertainment, Da Bradahs and some local bands, was awesome - kept you smiling and laughing and in a good mood all day. We all supported the Westside Eagles, a pop warner football team, for which a few of my students and former students play. The team sold plate lunches (Ono-licious pork and peas and smoked meat and cabbage) for a fund raiser and the unions bought plate lunches for their members who came. It was great to see several of my students and former students and their parents in such a relaxing environment. 


One of the activities run by Da Bradahs was for the kids to do a Simon Says game, which had a twist - if they laughed they were out. Difficult to not laugh at these funny comedians. There was a boy winner and a girl winner. A student that I have now ( a very good student by the way)  got to second place for the girls. A student that I had a couple of years ago, her brother, and a football player, (and not great academically) got to first place for the boys. That was a victory in itself. They were so focused and would not be tricked! Now that takes smarts and control. But on top of that,  there was a dance off, the DJ played all kinds of songs, from all different ethnicities and styles- Korean gangham, hula, Samoan, the Filipino duck dance, hip hop. The kids had to react quickly and dance to that style. This boy, was so good. I must say, he was brilliant. I love when I see kids who don't test well, who don't get good grades, who don't much like traditional schooling, but they shine in other ways. I love it, I love it. It only makes me more committed to be part of the recognition and facilitation of ALL kinds of brilliance. That's the kind of teacher I want to be. 



1 comment:

  1. The beauty of your experience is that you got to see students who are "academically challenged" demonstrate skills in areas they are masters of, something that may not be evident in the classroom or is "tested." If we do not engage with our students outside of the classroom, we will never know these things.

    ReplyDelete