Speech to Oregon School Board

Below is the text of a speech Deborah gave to the Oregon School Boards Association (OSBA) on November 17, 2001.

Carry the Torch:  Make the Difference For Kids!

I'd like to begin this morning by thanking all of you for the many hours you volunteer on behalf of the schools and children of Oregon.  Your hard work is appreciated.  Your job is a most important one, for which you so willingly volunteer.  Thank you so much.

You know, the qualities that brought you to this conference are the same qualities, which we teachers also need.  We must always be learning.

The schools of Oregon are facing an incredible challenge as we strive to ensure that all our students are able to read with fluency and comprehension, to use print to understand the world around them, to read books, newspapers, magazines and graphic information, to understand, make inferences and critically reason about what they've read.  It is a tough job.

As a Title I teacher, I have the privilege of working with each 1st, 2^nd and 3^rd grader in my school in the fall to see just how they are coming along in their literacy development.  I find enormous differences among children: first graders who do not yet recognize their name in print and first graders who have read and understood charlotte's web.  Young children who have only seen books in school and children who have books overflowing their shelves at home.  Children who have not heard stories at home, and those that are read to every night.

We also have increasing numbers of drug and alcohol affected children and many children whose busy parents through no fault of their own have little time to support the schools.  The idea that each of these children can be taught in the exact same way is ludicrous.

So what can we do? It is clear that we cannot just do what we've always done.  Our students are not all the same.  

We must learn as much as we can about how children learn, what research tells us about effective practice.  We must learn many ways to teach.  There is no best way to teach.  There are many ways, each one perhaps the best way for a particular child.  It is my job to carefully observe each child and modify my instruction as necessary to meet each child's needs.  I have to know a lot of ways to approach my instruction and have the ability to select which approach best fits each child.

I have been very lucky since I've come to Oregon.  I have had many, many opportunities to learn.  I have been able to attend many workshops and conferences such as this one.  I have learned so much from my colleagues as I work with them in their classrooms and as I worked committees where we examine curriculum and assessment.  I have had many opportunities to meet with the parents of my students, who often have the best insight into their own child.  At Lyle Elementary in Dallas, we have a very supportive community, which has helped me a great deal as I try to make each child a successful learner.  We have in place a reading buddy program, where community members, parents, high school students and school board members come into the school to read with students.  Sometimes those reading buddies are able to light a spark with students that we teachers are unable to.

The bottom line is, we teachers have to keep learning, to try every avenue to make sure that each child is a success.  As teachers, we must build our own teaching expertise and we must provide our volunteers and parents with the best information, skills and support that we can so that they can help our children.  We teachers need the time and support to learn as much as we can and the ability to select and use the techniques, which will best help each child.

I brought along one of my favorite books, The Bee Tree by Patricia Polacco.  In this book, a grandfather takes his grandchild on an adventuresome chase through the Michigan countryside on a search for a bee tree, and some honey.  Friends and neighbors help.  Eventually, they are successful.  In the end, the grandfather takes the girl aside, and places some honey on a book and invites her to taste it.  She finds the honey sweet.  He then tells her, "There is such sweetness inside, too.  Such things, adventure, knowledge and wisdom.  But these things do not come easily.  You have to pursue them."

It is my goal that every child be able to savor the sweetness inside books.  The path to finding it can be long and hard, for the child and his teacher.  But with enough knowledge, and enough help, we will get there.

Thank you.  Have a great conference.  I hope you are able to learn a lot.