I have been a teacher for just over 15 years now and in all of that time I have only ever been on the teacher side of the desk. This fall, however, I will start a new journey with my oldest child as she enters kindergarten. I will have to learn how to walk that delicate line between being the teacher of 120 students a day and the parent of one very small student!
How do you walk that line? How do you go from being the one who is entrusted with the education, the safety and well being of someone's child(ren) to being the one who entrusts your child to someone else? School hasn't even started yet and I am already worried. I worry that the teacher won't understand my daughter's unique personality, that the teacher won't foster her love of learning, that the other students will be mean to her. I worry that my little girl, who has been reading since she was four, who loves using her imagination to entertain herself and her little brother and who LOVES to learn will be crushed by the new CCSS and hate school.
I went to the new parent orientation and found out that she is expected to be able to write a paragraph by the end of October and that recess is now combined with the 30 minutes they get for lunch. So in the course of a 7.5 hour day of school she gets less than 30 minutes to play. I know, trust me I know, that school is not playtime but at 5? At 5 they still learn best through play and investigation, now sitting at a table...
But, I also know that if I expect others to trust me with their children, that I too, must trust that others will teach my children and protect them and give them what they need when they are out of my hands. It will definitely be a fine balancing act but hopefully one that I will be able to use to enrich my own abilities as a teacher.
In the meantime, I have started going through different stores on TeachersPayTeachers to find resources that we can use to "play school" this summer. Three of my favorite stores so far are:
1) Christina Winter
2) 1st Grade Salt Life
3) KB3Teach
How do you walk that line? How do you go from being the one who is entrusted with the education, the safety and well being of someone's child(ren) to being the one who entrusts your child to someone else? School hasn't even started yet and I am already worried. I worry that the teacher won't understand my daughter's unique personality, that the teacher won't foster her love of learning, that the other students will be mean to her. I worry that my little girl, who has been reading since she was four, who loves using her imagination to entertain herself and her little brother and who LOVES to learn will be crushed by the new CCSS and hate school.
I went to the new parent orientation and found out that she is expected to be able to write a paragraph by the end of October and that recess is now combined with the 30 minutes they get for lunch. So in the course of a 7.5 hour day of school she gets less than 30 minutes to play. I know, trust me I know, that school is not playtime but at 5? At 5 they still learn best through play and investigation, now sitting at a table...
But, I also know that if I expect others to trust me with their children, that I too, must trust that others will teach my children and protect them and give them what they need when they are out of my hands. It will definitely be a fine balancing act but hopefully one that I will be able to use to enrich my own abilities as a teacher.
In the meantime, I have started going through different stores on TeachersPayTeachers to find resources that we can use to "play school" this summer. Three of my favorite stores so far are:
1) Christina Winter
2) 1st Grade Salt Life
3) KB3Teach
Mel,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the shout out! Best wishes to you as a supportive parent and your child as she starts her formal school years...i enjoyed your post....i have a daughter who is also starting K this year. Strange to think of being a mommy after all these years as a teacher :)
Thank you! I enjoy your resources and wanted to give them the recognition they deserve! Best wishes to you and your new kindergartener as well!
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