There is another important event that happens before schools start. The curtains are raised on which teacher your child has been assigned to. This announcement, that almost nails down, how fruitful the child’s year is going to be..at least from parents perspective, isn’t it?!
As soon as that happened this year, suddenly, the email activity in my inbox shot up…there were strings of emails from all my friends…each of them with a familiar question to each of us..
“ My baby has been assigned to Ms. S’s class, Does anybody know her?”
There were email thread circulating with every parent trying to find a little more information on their kid’s teacher. Or, if any of our kids are going to be together this year.
These circulating opinions, collected from our wide connections, also called the Mommy network of our district where we don’t need to subscribe to any forums, but any question when posed..will surely get you the answer...either bring solace to the parent or puts them in misery..until the day they would meet the teacher and eventually find out..
“This teacher is not as bad as I thought!”
“Not any close to how somebody had described her/him as!!”
Every parent, depending on their situation has different opinions of a teacher they have known in the past. I’ve known of parents who had been so happy with a teacher and another parent who was equally sad with how their kid fared that year under the same teacher.
There was one year when K was under a very kind and understanding teacher. She somehow seemed to understand my situation, the kind of atmosphere my daughter would need to help her through the year. That year, I came to know later, she was trying to become a mommy! So, whatever I spoke to her from a Mommy’s perspective hit on the mark.
I was so happy with how K progressed that year and during the same time I had heard from another mom who told me that her child happened to be in the same teacher’s class during a previous year and what a nightmare that year had felt to them.
Then why would one even bother with this process.. You could call it “Curiosity”!! Or, the fact that some knowledge is better than none!! Not sure! We are just bound by our ways..can’t help, isn’t it?!
To me, my first glimpse into the teacher’s personality comes from her/his welcome letter. It surely reflects to me, what the teacher is going to be like. What is their field of interest..Does it matter to them to make the child comfortable? Are they very academic?
Just like the other years, this year too…I got 3 different welcome letters.. The first letter for P was from her teacher Ms.D. She surely was excited about a lot of academic stuff that was waiting for the kids in class and at the same time, the letter had a softer feel to it..when she introduced herself, her pets and listed all things they were going to do to understand each other in class..
N’s teacher Mr.V, was too the point. He mentioned a lot of science activities that was waiting for the kids when they get to class. There wasn’t much, in the letter in terms of knowing him as a person, except he loved sailing.
K’s teacher, Ms.W, seem the softest and funniest of the 3. She had taken a great deal of the letter introducing herself, her troop of pets, her 3 dogs and n number of cats and chinchillas and others..
What more could the kids ask for?? They were all sold on her. Immediately there was an uproar at home..P and N were running after K..
“That’s not fair!! That’s not fair!! Why didn’t I get her as my teacher? I want to be in that class too!!!”
K was gleaming with pride and happiness. Her teacher was the coolest of the lot.
So, here we parents were, trying to find which teacher is best for their child, which teacher will provide the most challenging environment for their child, which teacher will push their child’s learning to the brim, which teacher will go the step into making the child realize the beauty of learning…light up that curiosity lamp in the child..get them excited, motivated to learn…make it seem, COOL, you know.
The children had an agenda of their own!
That was not all..these kids were already collecting information from their senior friends on which teacher is the coolest to be with..
“Mama…N says..Mr.K lets the kids to chew bubble gum in class!!”
“Mama..my teacher is going to let us take the pet home for a week!!! When its going to be my turn, I’m going to bring the chinchilla home!”
These were the things that got the kids excited of being in a class. None of them even mentioned if its going to get more challenging in Mr.K’s class. That didn’t matter. They would deal with it, when they found themselves in the situation..What mattered now..is to get the insider’s scoop on which is the coolest teacher to have.
Now 2 weeks into the school, we parents as well as the kids have forgotten all that talk that we had engaged in..The kids have already gotten busy with their home works. I’m busy comparing why their home works are not on the same level. Why one of them has just one page of work to complete while another comes back with 3 pages of homework…I’m busy trying to balance this out by giving some work of my own so everybody knows the same. In Telugu there is a saying
“Peeta kastalu Peetave, Sita kastaalu Sitave!!”
So here we are dealing with our own problems or problems that we create instead of looking at a situation, like it is, Simple!
Time has become a sparse component in the whole equation. The parents have already gotten busy with checking their kids work..juggling their life between their work and the kid’s school. Life is back to normal!!
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