This week alone (and it's only Tuesday) I've done some things that I'm beginning to realize are extraordinary in this town.
For example, I just got home from the 1st Orchestra concert of the year. I have 3 students in orchestra, 2 in Law and 1 in Coop. The three of them represent a variety of learning styles and aptitudes. That's the beautiful thing about music. At any rate, I went to the concert tonight. What I was expecting was a packed auditorium, just like it was when I was in high school or at Sandburg & Hinsdale Central. But here, there was a sprinkling of parents. I didn't see a single person I recognized, including teachers. My heart fell when I entered that room.
What Urbana is lacking in a major way is support of its students. There are probably 60-80 students in orchestra. There were probably 25 pairs of people there. Really? Even parents don't display support of their children. I understand that many of them may be at work, as this is a working class town, but I have the feeling that many of them just needed a break or had other children to be with. What of the rest of the community?
This is where my marketing brain fires up. Did they put posters around the community? Was there even a way for the folks detached from the high school to know this was going on? The orchestra teacher is very talented. She definitely showed compassion for her students. I think she talked to them as though they were still in the classroom though. She told them to be quiet. She told them to clean up the stage. She told them how to get on and off the stage "as we practiced." If teachers are the role models and this was a big event, the students need to see us outside of the room we sit in every day and how to role model behavior that demonstrates that in public, in a different forum, things proceed differently. She treated them like they were in the classroom so I think some of them acted like they were in the classroom. After all, many of their parents were not there so who else would keep them in check?
The other thing I did was yesterday. I have 3 students still looking for jobs. I walked the entire mall last night (1.5 hours) and got every job application I could get and inquired to see who was hiring and who had completed the search for holiday workers. (I did skip the maternity stores and jewelry stores). I told both classes of my findings. It was up to them to peek at the applications, tell me which ones they may want to copy and turn in (to the store) or to come see me in my office to get a copy. One of the 3 took up the offer. Another didn't budge. The third was absent for the 5th day in a row. I've also arranged a large number of volunteer hours so that students can get volunteer extra credit (It is work after all). They of course don't see the fact that I'm going to spending HOURS at these locations doing gift wrap or that they are only signing up for an hour or two. Even the ones who desperately need hours aren't signing up (except my one student who took an application). I'm going to have to make it mandatory for the other 2.
I think one of my goals is going to have to push for greater parent and community involvement in what I do. Or what my students do. It is just so sad to walk into a building where artists, athletes and other talent is being displayed to a little, tiny audience. Time shall have to tell....
For now, I've taken the night 'off' and have just 6 more items to complete before Thanksgiving Break. Then it's DVD time. More on that at a later date.
Stay dry folks! I'm heading to sleep....
KB
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