Creative thinking, kindness encouraged in D303
With more and more school districts receiving the “failing” label under No Child Left Behind laws, St. Charles Unit District 303 teachers and staff listened to a message Friday they may not have heard for a decade — be worried when your test scores go up.
The district just celebrated an uptick in its ACT scores. But Yong Zhao, an associate dean for global education at the University of Oregon, said every time scores go up, teachers should pause to consider anything they sacrificed to meet that goal. Zhao, a native of China, said the frequent headlines about students scoring better in math, science and reading are all true.
“The gaps are very true,” Zhao said during his address at Christ Community Church. “The gaps are there in how many hours our kids spend on school matters. But is there any bad? If we spend less time in school, is that a bad thing?”
What gets lost in the headlines of the international test scores is the fact that the U.S. economy is still, by far, the largest in the world.
“Despite all these problems we are still doing pretty good,” Zhao said. “But who is doing it? It has to be these bad test-takers.”
What American students have that Asian students lack is confidence and the freedom to think and express themselves in creative ways, Zhao said. And that’s why education officials in Asian countries are coming to America more and more to figure out how to make their students more creative. District 303 had such a visit from education officials from Singapore. Zhao said that means District 303, like most American schools, are doing something right.
That creative thinking was on display at the District 303 kickoff. Wild Rose Elementary School student Aria Novak presented an idea to stop bullying in the district that debut at her school last year. The idea is called “Time For Kind Day.”
Inspired by the life of Rosa Parks, Novak developed the idea after she found herself the victim of bullying on the school bus. Her parents encouraged her to confront the bully, who lived down the street. She did.
“I told her, ‘When you tease me it really hurts my feelings,’ Novak recalled. “She was so surprised. She said she was just joking.”
The teasing stopped. Novak decided the healing potential of converting bullying to kindness was something all her classmates could benefit from. She suggested the idea of a special day to apologize to others you may have hurt and confront those that have hurt you to staff at her school. It was a hit. Many new friendships were born during Novak’s experimental, and creative, day.
“Teach us it is OK to tell someone how we feel,” Novak told teachers at the kickoff. “Teach us how to apologize and how to accept it. Tell kids they don’t have a choice, that kindness is the only thing you will allow. If you take away the option to be mean, maybe it will go away.”
Novak invited all the district schools to join Wild Rose for the Second Annual Time For Kind Day April 13.