1/14/22 - Friday Forget-Me-Nots by Jim Silcott

Photo Caption: Hanging out in the rare January sun!

I have worked on every level of education as a teacher or principal from Kindergarten to graduate school. Teaching is a hard but rewarding endeavor. Educators usually know or find the particular grade or subject that seems to suit them best.

All of these levels have their own rewards and challenges. All are important in their own right, both for what they are expected to teach their students and for preparing them for what is to come. But, as someone who has worked at all of these levels I maintain that the most important teachers in our system are the ones who teach Kindergarten, first grade, second grade and third grade.

First of all, the ability to read is the absolutely most important academic skill that students need in order to succeed (sorry math teachers). Every subject at every level of education relies upon a student’s ability to decode letters and words and punctuation marks on a page or computer screen into words and sentences and paragraphs. Even math, with its heavy reliance on numbers and their relationship to one another, needs students who can read and understand the problems on a page. If a student can’t read a student can’t succeed.

Most educators agree that children who are not reading on or near level by the end of the third grade will struggle the rest of the way through. That is why Ohio, like many other states, have tests and programs in place to assess a student’s ability in reading during the third grade year.

Some Kindergarten students come to school being able to read already. Some are still trying to decode the connection between sounds and letters and words in first grade. These skills continue to be reinforced and refined in grades two and three. But by the end of third grade it is vitally important that these young minds are reading by that time.

And so, the primary teachers have an important task ahead of them each year. How do you teach a five year old, not too many years out of crawling and diapers to make sense of a book? How do you instill in them the patience to decode while they are at the same time figuring out how to tie their shoes and how to throw and catch a ball and learn all the social skills needed to get along in the world. There’s a whole lot to pack into a young student’s day, and the teachers who are with these boys and girls need to balance their time in seeing that it all gets done, especially reading.

It is very clear that the business of reading is enhanced and retained through continued reading at home with parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, siblings, and babysitters who will read to them and with them. Having books in the home readily available through purchase or from the library help to make this a routine. Students can’t possibly be successful readers if they are only doing it during the school day. It takes a village of readers to raise each child to be one of them.

But having good, no having excellent, teachers in these first four years of formal education is vital to our young students. Here at Our Lady of Peace we are beyond blessed to have Kathy Haninger, Corrie Sheshull, Katy Munhall and Dee Dansack wearing those shoes. As a principal my very most important job is in the hiring of good teachers. In my five years here I have had the sobering task of replacing some well regarded veterans such as Peggy Modecki and Barb Durban with their successors. Fortunately I have been able to strike gold with the ladies who are here now. I watch Kathy and Corrie and Katy and Dee patiently and effectively turn our students into not only successful readers but successful students.

I think I can humbly speak for them when they credit the wonderful tutors who assist this process. Our Columbus Public employees, Margarent McNaughten and Mary Souch, and our army of Learning Spectrum educators who are assigned to our students on the Jon Peterson and Autism scholarships make a big difference as well. And of course, our wonderfully gifted educators are supported by our parents who sacrifice to send their children to Our Lady of Peace and are invested on a daily basis with their education and success.

The last couple of years have been a struggle but I have been pleased, despite those challenges, with the gains our students have made despite it all. I am grateful and appreciative to all of the teachers here at Our Lady of Peace but my quartet of my super women in primary gets a special shout out today!

Jim Silcott