Extra-Curricular Activities since Irma; Why They Are Needed

Extra-Curricular Activities since Irma; Why They Are Needed

As a community our territory has been through a tremendous ordeal. Two category five hurricanes have made life as we knew it impossible to return to as almost everything has changed. With change comes the good and the bad as we all know; the good part is that we get to rebuild. It is a chance for change, to learn from our countless mistakes, to push forward, and a time for atonement. The bad part is the restoration phase and the inconveniences that we all have to suffer in order to make our futures brighter. One such inconvenience is the lack of extra curricula activities and adequate after school enrichment programs to sustain the new half day of school that we have adopted to ensure the needs of all are met.

 These half days of school are very strenuous on families and make it hard for parents, as well as students to actively participate in various ways. Yes, parents are allotted two hours a month to check in with their child’s teachers and schools, but many parents have more than one child and two hours may not be enough. Transportation and number of children should be taken into account as well as the needs of the child or children in question. Parents of students with delays or disabilities need to actively participate to learn routines and techniques to attribute to their child’s development. This too is true of students who exhibit challenging behavior due to emotional trauma/stress, parents need to be involved to ensure resilience is built upon with a support system; in this case the home and school community.

Every child on this island or in the territory at the times of hurricanes Irma and Maria have suffered a traumatic experience that WILL stay with them throughout their lives. When you really think of the ordeal we have faced as a community it must have been extra hard on the children. They did not have prior knowledge and experience that came with past hurricanes to mentally prepare for the storm (I got my experience with Marilyn and those after and still was in shock and dismay).

Every outlet for recreation that still exists has been ‘modified’ somehow leaving nothing much to help the youths cope. This is the time when we need those “Big Brother” enrichment programs to detour youths and adolescents from participating and engaging in self destructive behavior which can become the beginning of the path to becoming the next degenerate on the street corner.

The views expressed within this blog are solely those of Ms. Child Advocate and does not reflect on any of her affiliations. For more on the youths of the U. S Virgin Islands visit https://www.usviearlychildhoodlearning.blogspot.com . For more on the U.S Virgin Islands youths read Curriculum Choices, Learning Environment & Strategies, My Beliefs on Language Acquisition,  Respect Goes Both Ways: Teacher and Student, V. I Character, and Curricula Standards & Benchmarks

PTA, Parent Committee, & Volunteering: Get Involved

PTA, Parent Committee, & Volunteering: Get Involved 

 

As we all settle back into our school routines and many of us create new ones, we begin to look ahead at what the school year will have to offer and wonder. Rather than wondering parents and guardians should get involved through various programs many schools have to offer. Regardless of the age of the child parents should take this opportunity to collaborate with teachers and other parents, role modeling the interest they would like their children to take with school activities as well as setting a culture of learning and collaborating with others. The purpose of these positions themselves are to increase parent involvement and assist administrators in the generating of activities that are relevant to the developmental needs and culture of our students.  

Volunteering is an easy way to get involved in school activities without making too much commitment to future activities or taking away from other personal and professional endeavors. Leading the monthly playground garbage clean up is a great way to collaborate with other parents and teachers with regards to current and future school activities as well as academic concerns; as a matter of fact it may actually be the ideal situation for addressing an academic concern where there are more administrators and key personnel present to address and answer any inquiries. Presenting ideas and concerns in such manner can prove to lighten the situational mood and may serve as an avenue for a parent to receive more support on an idea or concern from other parents (it can also go completely left and have the majority reject your idea/opinion).The overall purpose of the Parent Teacher Association, or PTA is to make every child’s potential a reality by engaging and empowering families and communities to advocate for all children. While not all PTA's require participants to become members in an official capacity, all opinions rendered and concerns/ inquiries made are addressed the same. PTAs and Parent Committee's work directly with administrative and school personnel, as well as other parents to ensure the needs of all children are met through appropriate developmental practices that will best suit the development of the each individual child wholly. There are usually four positions available in any PTA or parent committee; president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer. The National PTA's website has a listing of resources for PTA's including descriptions of positions available as well as sample of recording technique and documents.   

We do live in a modern world today that leaves many of us very busy, running around trying to fit 12 hours into 8, but our children are important, their education is important and how can we really expect them to love learning if we don't? How can we expect them to celebrate their success as well as get up when they fall to try again if we don't set that example? We can't. We can't teach our children to become productive members of society by sitting idling by, get involved; show your children that you are interested and they will show their interest too!