Who's My Teacher

 

The letters finally came. After weeks of “are they here yet?” from my four children and trips to the mailbox, the #backtoschool letters have arrived. For my friends in other states, NY is the last to open with most districts doing so after the Labor Day weekend. While it is nice to have a longer summer, the #excitement to get back to school grows as our children in the Empire State see others on TV, from around the country, get on buses with their soon to be heavy backpacks.

As a parent and someone that is sadly a few decades removed from being a student, #welcomeback letters mean something very different. As most parents, my wife and I are interested in knowing which teachers our fearsome foursome will have for the new school year.  We hope that they get a teacher that will provide them with the learning they need, at just the right time, while also helping them #grow into #well-rounded and emotionally stable individuals. Parents place their faith in the local school system to make a difference in each child’s life despite the seemingly endless challenges facing educators and administrators. Add in the growing political discord and it can seem like an impossible task. Thankfully the vast majority of those working in every department of our schools, are willing to take on those challenges.

As for my children, they wanted to know who their teachers would be but each of them were more concerned with something else…who was going to be in their class.  As soon as letters hit mailboxes, the texts, Facebook posts and direct messages seemed to come in like a tidal wave that lasted most of the day.  Some parents made announcements in public social media posts while other reached out directly to the parents of their already established friends.

I guess I had forgotten how important it was to have friends already in class at the start of the school year but communication was a bit different back then. Instead of doing a group text or creating a Facebook post, we had to get on the rotary phone and call each friend’s home individually.  A few times we would get them on the first call, while other times it was a friend’s parent that we had to ask politely to speak with their child. And of course, there were tons of busy signals, especially if the family had multiple children all trying to use the one phone at the same time.

Within a couple hours, each of my elementary children knew that they would be with at least one friend to start the #firstday of new school year. It was time to rejoice! Then I overheard a couple of my children express worry about others that might be in the class.  Those that they may not get along with or even be bullied by. This all goes to show how important #connections are for our children.  Brain research shows us how the need to feel #safe must be met otherwise the stress and anxiety they experience will interfere with learning.  While many of the children might know each other, the most important thing we can do the #firstday and throughout the school year is to build #relationships. This must be done intentionally through #play, #collaboration and #learning activities. We can’t forget that learning is so much more than #content, it’s about getting to know and understand others.