I Dream of a School

A new school year waits on the horizon. It offers the promise of new opportunities to make a lasting and profound difference in the lives of students, teachers, and the community. As I reflect on past successes and visualize future accomplishments, I recognize that my dreams have been influenced by the teachers who made a difference in my life.

Dr. Lester Laminack was my professor in several courses at Western Carolina University as I completed my Bachelors Degree in Elementary Education. He was the Department Head and supervised my Student-Teaching. He has had an incredible influence on my professional and scholarly life. His example of caring for and dedication to young people serves as a beacon calling us away from all of the stuff that gets in the way of teaching and learning. I am blessed to say that he is my teacher and my friend.

This, then, is his dream of a school I would very much like to be a part of. 

TOWARD A NEW VISION FOR OUR CHILDREN AND THEIR SCHOOLS: I HAVE A DREAM...
[Delivered first in May 2008]

I dream of schools where children’s art hangs in gallery spaces filling the hallways
and children gather in clusters in the mornings before class to hear books and poems flowing on the voices of teachers. 

I dream of schools that host conversations about books in the corridors and in alcoves throughout the building
Of schools that post poems and quotes in public spaces where children wait for lunch, queue up in line for water and restrooms, to enter the library or wait for buses.

I dream of schools that feature teachers’ favorite books face out throughout the hallways and in the office
Where children don’t know what AYP means, and don’t know where their class ranked on any test, and are greeted at the front door each morning like family returning from a long trip.

Where children are treated with the same respect afforded the CEO of a Fortune 500 company.
Where mistakes are seen as evidences of valiant attempts.
Where kindness is spoken with sincerity
Where collaboration and cooperation trump competition
Where all people are deemed worthy simply because they inhale and exhale
Where everyone is assured of both physical and emotional safety
Where your last name, country of origin, skin tone, sexual orientation, gender identity, language facility, economic status, politic views, religious traditions have no bearing on the attention you receive from teachers and others in the school

I dream of schools where days are not scripted by those who could not find the Post Office in your town
Where time spent engaged in inquiry, reading, making art, writing, interviewing, dancing, problem solving, dramatizing is more highly prized than time spent filling in bubbles, choosing the right answer to someone else’s questions or logging on to prove you read.
Where libraries will be as important as stadiums and auditoriums rival gymnasiums
Where children are eager to arrive and reluctant to leave
Where devotion to time for reading and writing can rival attention to the lunch schedule
Where teachers read aloud with the zeal of a street performer and the frequency of a birdsong
Where principals lead by example, know children by their successes, place books over bus schedules, teachers over test scores, students over stanines, communication over control

I dream of schools where teaching is judged by the character of the students leaving, their treatment of others, their concern for humanity, and their ability to think and reason with clarity and compassion
Where a teacher’s knowledge is the map used to chart the course of learning and his/​her heart is the navigator directing the journey
Where learning “how” is more important than learning “what” and knowing “when” and “why” are as important as getting the right answer
Where trying is more important than triumph and successive approximations are valued as much as success itself
Where children sit in small clusters for lunch gathered around a book discussion, a quote of the day, an issue to resolve in the classroom community while dining in a civil setting
Where children learn to engage in open dialog, respecting the ideas of others, entering and exiting a conversation in civil ways without raising a hand to be given permission to share their thinking in a free, civil, democratic society

I dream of schools where teachers do not feel forced to turn the pages and do what comes next in a program they do not believe in
Where teachers are treated with respect and professional courtesy, where their voices are listened to and trusted
Where hallways are read, viewed, puzzled over, seen as bearers of clues to riddles and brain teasers found throughout the building
Where walking in straight lines, and raising hands are less important than caring for classmates
Where writing is evaluated more on what is said, how it moves a reader, stirs an emotion, evokes a response, causes one to pause to think or change than on how many sentences were in a paragraph or how many paragraphs are in an essay

I dream of schools where readers are asked what they make of a text rather than asked to log on to give the correct answer to someone else’s questions
Where children are found discussing the actions and motives of a character instead of recording the details of that character’s home or clothing
Where children are more familiar with poets than NFL players, more familiar with authors than actors, more familiar with illustrators and artists than with athletes, more familiar with inventors and social activists than the names of video games, more familiar with mathematicians and scientists than sit-coms and March Madness

I dream of schools where children know they are cherished and trusted, where they feel safe to risk being wrong in order to learn lessons more important than arriving at the right answer

Will you join me?
Will you stand up for the children of this nation?
Will you take a stand on the issues that matter most to the preservation of their one, precious childhood.

Lester L. Laminack
Asheville, NC

Lester L. Laminack is Professor Emeritus from department of Birth-Kindergarten, Elementary and Middle Grades Education, at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina where he received two awards for excellence in teaching [the Botner Superior Teaching Award and the Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award]. Lester is now a full-time writer and consultant working with schools throughout the United States. His academic publications include several books including Learning with Zachary (Scholastic), Spelling in Use (NCTE), Volunteers Working with Young Readers (NCTE), and his contributions to The Writing Workshop: Working Through the Hard Parts (NCTE), Learning Under the Influence of Language and Literature (Heinemann) Reading Aloud Across the Curriculum (Heinemann, Cracking Open the Author’s Craft (Scholastic) and Unwrapping the Read Aloud (Scholastic). In addition he has several articles published in journals such as The Reading Teacher, Early Years, Science and Children, Language Arts, Teaching pre-K/​8, Primary Voices, and Young Children. Lester is also the author of six children’s books: The Sunsets of Miss Olivia Wiggins, Trevor’s Wiggly-Wobbly Tooth, Saturdays and Tea Cakes, Jake’s 100th Day of School, Snow Day! and most recently, Three Hens and a Peacock all from Peachtree Publishers.

TOWARD A NEW VISION FOR OUR CHILDREN AND THEIR SCHOOLS: I HAVE A DREAM... by Lester L. Laminack appears on the author's website, www.lesterlaminack.com

Photo Credits:

[Children Reading] by YanLev

[Dr. Lester Laminack] from http://www.lesterlaminack.com/index.htm