The video starts with a young boy who explains what it feels like when an adult ignores him or loses patience with him.
When he begins his day, he is happy and upbeat, giving a bus driver an enthusiastic hello that’s met with little more than a dismissive wave of a hand. Throughout the day, his interactions with teachers and other adults leave him deflated. It’s hard to watch.
The Atlanta Speech School, a comprehensive school for language and literacy, has released this compelling new video titled “Every Opportunity,” which switches gears halfway through the piece to illustrate how teachers, school bus drivers and other school staff — through small every day changes showing kindness inside and outside the classroom can enhance a child’s ability to thrive and learn. Ultimately the video shows examples of how teachers, school bus drivers, and school staff can make the most of every interaction with students.
"Everyone a child meets throughout the day can make a difference – all the difference," said Comer Yates, Executive Director of the Atlanta Speech School in a press release. "Every time a child is ignored, or yelled at or silenced, a teacher takes away what is possible. As the video exemplifies, each of these moments can be missed opportunities to empower a child and develop their vocabulary."
About the Atlanta Speech School:
The Atlanta Speech School serves children with speech, hearing, language, or learning disabilities. Composed of four schools, five clinics, summer programs and a professional development center, each division shares one common mission: to work within each program and collaborate across all programs to help each person develop his or her full potential through language and literacy. As a core part of its mission, the School has never denied access to a child in need of its services as a result of a family's socioeconomic circumstances. For more about the school, go to www.atlantaspeechschool.org
To learn more: www.readrightfromthestart.org is a free online continuing education program for Georgia teachers with strategies to develop language skills in preschool and pre-k children.
The Ultimate Atlanta School Guide lets you find inside information on every school in metro Atlanta and the rest of Georgia. Check it out here.
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