First Day of Class at PS101 |
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Miss Teach-to-the-Middle: Good morning children. Isn't it beautiful outside? Its a perfect, sun-shiny morning for the first day of class. Oh, I noticed some of you were fidgeting and mumbling during the pledge to the flag. We'll be starting each school day with the Pledge of Allegiance, so I expect each of you to have those words memorized by the end of the week. You can go over it with your parents at home. We're going to have a wonderful year, I can tell! I have so many lessons planned -- I'm not sure how we'll cram it all in, but we're gonna do our best! Now as I look around the room I can see we have so many diverse cultures and I want to be open and direct, and speak to you people specifically. All children are the same to me. I don't care if you're White or Black, rich or poor, Christian or Jew -- you're all the same. When I look at the room I don't see Black faces and White faces and yellow faces. I see a rainbow of colors that all go together. I see Bobby and Suzy and... Shaney... Is it...Shaney-ca? Sheneequa! Good. You're all the same and I will never treat any of you differently, and if you think I am treating you differently, please, you let me know. I want to be sensitive to the minorities. ...Did you have a question, Sheney-qua? ...Oh. Okay, I thought you said something. Well anyway, enough of that. Let us get on to the real work. I'm glad we've had this discussion. Please be seated. Miss Teach-to-Each: Good morning. Thank you for being so respectful of each other during the silent moment of meditation. I noticed some of you looking around and squirming a bit. Sometimes its uncomfortable to sit still, but I'd like to remind you that the silent meditation is your own personal time to do with as you please. It is your moment for you to collect your thoughts. You may use the time thinking on whatever subject you want -- or just sit and daydream. The only thing I ask is that you are respectful to others by being quiet and still, because there may be students deep in thought. Which brings us to our first lesson: the lesson of you, and who you are. Even though this is the first day of school, we're going to get right to the important work. Each of you is unique. Each one of you is special, and no two of you are alike. Some of you like to read and some of you like to draw. Some of you are great at math while others might be good at music. The point is -- we're all different. The only thing we really have in common is each other, so we must always remember to have and show respect for each other. We have to have and show respect for each other's differences: different races, different religions, different cultures -- different styles. Weve so much to do this year, I just don't know how we'll get through all of our lessons, but our first lesson has already begun and it'll take our whole lives to learn, and that is the lesson of you. We are all different, and by respecting, acknowledging and celebrating our differences we learn how very special we really are. ...Did you have a question, Sheneequa? Yes, honey you can go to the bathroom -- here, take this hall pass.
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