An Open Letter to my Son's Future Teachers
Post by Madame SONny Side @ http://lifeonthesonnyside.blogspot.com/
As the fall season once again greeted us with cooler temps and a colorful windfall of complaints from my bevy of teacher friends, (my husband included), about the tragic return of yet another school year, I couldn’t help but think about Leo's academic future, which will be upon us sooner than I’m ready, I’m sure. I wonder endlessly about the kind of person that he’ll become. Will he love school like I did when I was a girl? Or, will he be apathetic about it like his dad was until he reached college? He’s still a relatively clean slate, so I thought, what better time than now to reach out to the potential future educators of my student-in-the-making…
Dear Mr. or Ms. Teacher-Pants,
Because my offspring is not totally verbal yet, I’m not sure whether I should be starting this message with an “I’m sorry” or a “You’re welcome”. So, please just accept whichever greeting seems most appropriate based on Leo’s current classroom etiquette. I’ll just assume it’s “you’re welcome” for now and move on. Thank you for making the brave choice to teach. I know that it’s typically low-pay, low respect sort of work. Please know that your dedication to the welfare and well-being of future generations is very much appreciated.
Whether you’ve been in the biz for longer than you’d like to admit, or are fresh from your student-teaching experience, I hope that you’re excited for the beginning of another school year (on the inside at least), even if you’re openly mourning the end of a summer vacation. My little learner gets excited about things when I get excited about them. Now, because I can gracefully accept the limits of my math/science/social studies knowledge (you’re welcome, Leo); and I opted against home-schooling, the expectation is for me to leave him in your care much of the day, for most of the week. Not an easy thing for a control freak and a very attached mother like me to do. That being said, I’ll sorta need for you to pick up where I left off in the ‘learning is exciting’-department. While I certainly don’t expect you to sing songs or use the terribly high-pitched voice that I use when celebrating his learning successes, I’m gonna need you to bring some oomph to his eager little ears and imagination. Please be the kind of teacher that I’m going to be completely sick of hearing stories about at the dinner table. Please teach to his eyes, his ears, and his hands. If you spend too much time teaching to the back of his head, don't hesitate to let me know. I agree that his face his much cuter.
Please cut him a little slack in first hour for his quiet ways…sadly, he responds to mornings more like me, (think 'Night of the Living Dead',) than his father, (think Flanders from The Simpsons). I promise to wake him up early enough to feed him a nutritious breakfast, make sure his teeth are brushed, and get him to school on time. I apologize for making my faulty genetics in that department your problem.
I have big plans to teach him respect for others. Please remember that he’s my single most prized possession, and that even though he may sass you in a weak, and hopefully uncharacteristic moment, as he does me, he needs respect from you too. It only works if it goes both ways, right?
Thank you for understanding that he is being raised by both a former mostly straight-A student and by another teacher…I know that probably smells like a disaster, but I promise that we’ll do our best to be reasonable and understanding, and we will keep our expectations of both you and Leo in a very healthy place. Although, I’ll probably need to do more apologizing for my husband in this department again in the future. I will definitely do my best to keep him at bay during parent/teacher nights J And as bright as we both are in some areas, we’re devastatingly terrible at math. Seriously, we’re going to be of absolutely no help to him at all when it comes to anything that follows counting and adding single-digit numbers. But, we will do our best to get him the help that he needs. Is there any way that we can the skip story problems unit? No? I didn’t think so. Doesn’t hurt to ask.
Also, I'm sure you've already noticed, but Leo is pretty funny. Don’t be afraid to laugh at his jokes if they’re clean and shared at appropriate times. A sense of humor is one of life’s most important survival skills in my opinion. Please do your best to tolerate or even celebrate that silliness in him. It may help him through darker days somewhere in the future, especially those often difficult teen years. If humor can keep him from wearing "guy-liner" and listening to too much Morrissey when he's sixteen, I'll take it!
Please also understand that he is being raised in a house that looks like it’s officially sponsored by Apple. Because of my husband’s work and passion for technology, Leo is lucky that he doesn’t have to eat his dinners at a Genius Bar in our kitchen. It’s hard for me to believe, but he’ll never really know what it was like before cars told him which way to turn and Siri recommended dinner options in his area. No, we're not going to Dave & Busters again, son. Keeping this in mind, he’s pretty partial to learning with screens and buttons. I hope you’re cool enough to integrate technology into your lesson planning. This kid will really flourish if you do. If you don’t…get with the times, man…or lady…it’s not going anywhere, anytime soon.
Lastly, if he’s different, or too smart, or not smart enough, or unpopular, or chatty, please be patient with him. Please protect him from children whose guardians don’t take parenting as seriously as I do. Please, please, please tell me if there’s something that I can do to help his situation, or yours. He’s the absolute best part of my day. I hope that he’s one of the better parts of yours. I know that he’s only a fraction of the places that your attention will be divided at work, but please remember that you’re just about as important to the way that he’ll turn out one day as I am. That is undoubtedly a monumental responsibility. I’m happy to share it with you if we can agree on this. If we can’t…you’ll probably be hearing a lot more from me (and of course my husband), in the future J
Whether you’ve been in the biz for longer than you’d like to admit, or are fresh from your student-teaching experience, I hope that you’re excited for the beginning of another school year (on the inside at least), even if you’re openly mourning the end of a summer vacation. My little learner gets excited about things when I get excited about them. Now, because I can gracefully accept the limits of my math/science/social studies knowledge (you’re welcome, Leo); and I opted against home-schooling, the expectation is for me to leave him in your care much of the day, for most of the week. Not an easy thing for a control freak and a very attached mother like me to do. That being said, I’ll sorta need for you to pick up where I left off in the ‘learning is exciting’-department. While I certainly don’t expect you to sing songs or use the terribly high-pitched voice that I use when celebrating his learning successes, I’m gonna need you to bring some oomph to his eager little ears and imagination. Please be the kind of teacher that I’m going to be completely sick of hearing stories about at the dinner table. Please teach to his eyes, his ears, and his hands. If you spend too much time teaching to the back of his head, don't hesitate to let me know. I agree that his face his much cuter.
Please cut him a little slack in first hour for his quiet ways…sadly, he responds to mornings more like me, (think 'Night of the Living Dead',) than his father, (think Flanders from The Simpsons). I promise to wake him up early enough to feed him a nutritious breakfast, make sure his teeth are brushed, and get him to school on time. I apologize for making my faulty genetics in that department your problem.
I have big plans to teach him respect for others. Please remember that he’s my single most prized possession, and that even though he may sass you in a weak, and hopefully uncharacteristic moment, as he does me, he needs respect from you too. It only works if it goes both ways, right?
Thank you for understanding that he is being raised by both a former mostly straight-A student and by another teacher…I know that probably smells like a disaster, but I promise that we’ll do our best to be reasonable and understanding, and we will keep our expectations of both you and Leo in a very healthy place. Although, I’ll probably need to do more apologizing for my husband in this department again in the future. I will definitely do my best to keep him at bay during parent/teacher nights J And as bright as we both are in some areas, we’re devastatingly terrible at math. Seriously, we’re going to be of absolutely no help to him at all when it comes to anything that follows counting and adding single-digit numbers. But, we will do our best to get him the help that he needs. Is there any way that we can the skip story problems unit? No? I didn’t think so. Doesn’t hurt to ask.
Also, I'm sure you've already noticed, but Leo is pretty funny. Don’t be afraid to laugh at his jokes if they’re clean and shared at appropriate times. A sense of humor is one of life’s most important survival skills in my opinion. Please do your best to tolerate or even celebrate that silliness in him. It may help him through darker days somewhere in the future, especially those often difficult teen years. If humor can keep him from wearing "guy-liner" and listening to too much Morrissey when he's sixteen, I'll take it!
Please also understand that he is being raised in a house that looks like it’s officially sponsored by Apple. Because of my husband’s work and passion for technology, Leo is lucky that he doesn’t have to eat his dinners at a Genius Bar in our kitchen. It’s hard for me to believe, but he’ll never really know what it was like before cars told him which way to turn and Siri recommended dinner options in his area. No, we're not going to Dave & Busters again, son. Keeping this in mind, he’s pretty partial to learning with screens and buttons. I hope you’re cool enough to integrate technology into your lesson planning. This kid will really flourish if you do. If you don’t…get with the times, man…or lady…it’s not going anywhere, anytime soon.
Lastly, if he’s different, or too smart, or not smart enough, or unpopular, or chatty, please be patient with him. Please protect him from children whose guardians don’t take parenting as seriously as I do. Please, please, please tell me if there’s something that I can do to help his situation, or yours. He’s the absolute best part of my day. I hope that he’s one of the better parts of yours. I know that he’s only a fraction of the places that your attention will be divided at work, but please remember that you’re just about as important to the way that he’ll turn out one day as I am. That is undoubtedly a monumental responsibility. I’m happy to share it with you if we can agree on this. If we can’t…you’ll probably be hearing a lot more from me (and of course my husband), in the future J
Sincerely,
Leo’s Mom
P.S. Don't forget to check his pockets for frogs after recess!
P.S. Don't forget to check his pockets for frogs after recess!
You can also follow her randomness on Twitter @Jenniferpro
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