Back to Work

Yesterday was my first official day back at school. We started with a long staff meeting from 8:30 - 11:30. We have a new principal and vice principal. Both made a good impression on me yesterday so that is good news.

After the meeting I was busy running around like crazy trying to do some last minutes touches on my room. I invited the families of my students to come by for a Meet and Greet session. I ended up with five out of my 20 families. I think that was good for the first time. The kids were great! At first they were a little shy but then they warmed up and had a blast. Their favorite thing to do was read! They found the books in the library and went over to the rub and sat down and read to each other. I wish I had brought my camera with me so that I could have captured that.

I did have some interesting encounters with 2 parents yesterday. One told me, in front of her son, that her son is very hyper and that he doesn't listen and follow directions. She also told me to move him up to the front of the room because he can't see well. As the boy was wearing no glasses I suggested that she take him to an optometrist for an exam. She then told me that he has glasses and needs to use them but he won't listen to her and therefore doesn't use them! Hmm... I watched him with her in the room. She told him to do a few things and he just pretended like she wasn't even there. I finally couldn't take it anymore and I walked over to him and I said "_____ your mom is talking to you." He then tried to pretend like he didn't hear me and he started walking away. I got in front of him to stop him from going anywhere and again told him to follow his mom's directions. The look he gave me was priceless. I think he was dumbfounded that I was going to try and make him do what he was told. He was so shocked that he turned around and asked his mom what he needed to do. Mom was so surprised that she was at first speechless and then she told him what she wanted him to do. As their little boy left I reminded him to wear his glasses on Monday. We will see what happens.

The other interesting encounter was with a parent who wanted to tell me how devoutly religious his family is. That was ok but I started getting nervous when he told me that the problem with school today is that prayer isn't in school anymore. He also told me that when his son comes home from school feeling sad he just tells him to remember that he has G-d in his life and the rest of the kids dont' and that maybe he is there to put G-d in their hearts. Hmm... this went on for a while and I was thinking about how this might play out throughout the year. They then thanked me for having the room open and said that they had to go because they were going to see a movie. I asked which one and they said "The Dark Knight." Somehow this didn't seem to fit with the values he was telling me about and it really doesn't seem like a movie for 7 year olds but who am I to judge!