Classroom Tech

We all know technology is just one pitch we can lob at students in hopes they connect with learning.  But as cool and enticing as laptops, the Internet and cell phones may be, they will have little effect in the classroom if students do not feel like they are a part of the school.

So I’d like to tell you this week about a simple magical formula that gives students instant gratification and connection to school.

My son Stephen (that’s him to the left) started kindergarten this year at St. Anne’s Catholic School in Bethlehem. My son has always had confidence, but on his first day of kindergarten, I could see sense his nervousness as he searched the crowd for a familiar face from preschool. Mostly, I think, he saw kneecaps and bellies because the older children towered over him as they all waited for the doors to open.

At 8:10 a.m., three eighth-grade students, two boys and one girl, opened the doors and the surge of little bodies began. I stood on the sidewalk, worrying Stephen would either be trampled or suffer the worse fate of being swept away to become just another nameless body in the flotsam of education, whether private or public.

Then I notice the magic. One of the door holders reached through the crowd to give my son and other little tikes like him a Hi-5. In the days that followed, I realized they just were not holding the door; they were greeting students by names. Somehow, they had memorized each student’s name.  It is amazing.

I chuckle every morning because if the greeters fail to look down, my son holds up traffic by standing in the doorway until they cheer “Ste—phen” and give him his morning Hi-5. Then Stephen bounces into school more confident than ever.

In Stephen’s mind, they are his friends even if they are much older than him.  In the greeters’ eyes, they are probably just doing the same old morning routine to appease the teachers. But they are performing the magical power bestowed upon mentors. 

I hear and read so often that children need mentors because so many of them are growing up without the support of a traditional mother-father household. Then the next thing I hear is it is too hard for teachers to try to mentor all students; the school day is not long enough and it will be too costly because teacher overtime must be factored. Both statements are true. But what is the solution? The costs to society are too high not to try.

One solution, according to my eyes, appears to be student-on-student mentoring. It is a simple free concept that can be adapted any where.

In public school, fifth-graders greet younger students and learn their names. In middle school, eighth-graders greet sixth-graders. In high school, seniors greet freshmen. When it comes to athletics and other extra-curricular activities, coaches and teachers need to instill this concept of peer mentoring into the game plan or curriculum to build teamwork and leadership skills. It scaffolds itself. As students age, they turn into the mentors. It’s all so natural.

Children mentoring children makes everyone feel trusted, worthy and loved. That is not a bad combination at the start of any day.