curriculum night

Thursday night was Curriculum Night, aka Back to School Night, aka Firing Squad. I spent 14 hours at school all told, which was really the hardest part. Basically I just had to stand in front of my classroom full of parents and justify what I am teaching to their children. Twice. Because there were two sessions. A lot of other teachers prepared Powerpoints and slideshows, but I kept it mellow. I wrote my agenda on the board behind me and just talked them through their child’s day, I explained the developmental theory behind everything I teach, and they ways I meet the national benchmarks and standards for first grade. I also made sure to tell them how much I love their children, and how I am working to get to know them all as people, not just students. I also talked through my plans for homework and class parties. Fun times!
I wasn’t as nervous as maybe I should have been? All week people at school were wishing me and each other luck for Curriculum Night. It’s a pretty big deal, I guess. But my parents have been real nice and supportive this year, and I just sort of intuited that it would be cool. And it was. There were a couple of tough questions, but overall they seemed satisfied, and a lot of them told me how much their kids like coming to school. One mom, who had earlier told me that her daughter hated kindergarten, told me that at during grace the night before her daughter said, “Dear Lord, please don’t let there be weekends anymore so that I can go to school every day.” !!!!! I am doing a good job.
Of course on Friday I was completely fried. A few kids were absent, so the class was really small-seeming and mellow. I just laid it out for them. I was like, “Look, I was at school longer than you were awake yesterday and now I am a very tired, sort of cranky teacher. I need to ask you to be super responsible and on-task today because I am not feeling very patient.” And they totally did it! They were hard, quiet workers, and they were totally sweet and polite all day long. I read out loud to them a lot, and yesterday I let them lie down and turn off the harsh fluorescent lights and just listen. I think we were all happy to have a little down time.
Teaching is hard, but it feels manageable now. I have more energy in the evenings and on the weekends, and I don’t have the constant feeling that I am forgetting something major (like how I forgot to teach handwriting for the first 3 weeks. Oops!) In other words I feel like a human being again, and not just a weird boring teacher who can only talk and think about teaching. “Dear lord, please let me be a person and not a teach-machine, and please let the weekends last a long time.”
Amen.