Photo by Tyler Nelson
Principal Michael Pointer Mace greets visitors during Woodlands School's teacher appreciation parade.
In support of Teacher Appreciation Week, the administrators of Woodlands School hosted a parade for their two schools (Bluemound and State Street) on the playground of the Bluemound campus (5510 W. Bluemound Rd.).
Teachers and parents of students lined up in their cars to say hello and collect party favors from Principal Michael Pointer Mace, Manager of Operations Rosalie Gazzana and Executive Director Vickie Brown-Gurley.
“The part that everybody misses is the social/emotional part,” says Pointer Mace as he greets a teacher who pulls up to the greeting table. “Now we’re trying to figure out graduation.”
Graduation was to take place on June 2, but obviously that has changed. There will be a mini ceremony on the playground where the music teacher will be playing Pomp and Circumstance on the piano while students retain social distancing and collect their diploma and a gift basket from the administrators. Students will have 15-minute windows to show up and get their picture taken on May 18 and 19 in front of the school. The graduation ceremony will be held as a Facebook Watch Party on June 2, where students will be able to watch a video of the photos collected.
A lot of the students graduating from eighth grade have been at Woodlands School since they were four years old. Pointer Mace knows how invested the kids and families are in the school, so he feels obligated to do something to mark the transition for them.
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Photo by Tyler Nelson
“Seventh and eighth graders have been keeping quarantine journals,” says Pointer Mace. “Talking to them about that, what they write right now, will be historical articles. This is the most significant thing that’s happened to these kids. I was born in 1970 and this is the most significant thing that’s happened in my life.”
It’s been over six weeks since the school was forced to close because of COVID-19, but Pointer Mace thinks this will be a learning opportunity for educators. Students were given Google Chromebooks so they could all participate in the new digital-education format given by the teachers. Pointer Mace thinks this will show there needs to be equality in student access to learning devices in the future.
This also serves as a learning opportunity for all of us. Teachers and students form a bond over time, similar to that of a family. Think about it. People see their coworkers and interact more than they do with their extended families. Married couples interact with their coworkers just as much, if not more than they do with their significant others.
Take some time and reach out to your coworkers if you’re stuck at home during this time. Check in with those that you used to interact with on a daily basis. See how your work family is getting through this. What’s the worst that can happen? Zoom meetings can’t replace face-to-face interaction and can seem silly, but at least it’s something.
As Samuel Clemens said: “It’s never too late to do the right thing.” Take a lesson from the students at Woodlands School and reach out to your second family and show them you care. Sorry to get sappy on you. This was actually just meant to be a cute story about a parade on a playground.
