Hey Teach

Before you begin, if you do not have children this will probably be rather dull so you're excused from reading further. If you do have children, this will still probably be rather dull so you're excused too. Anyone still here, the following is my thinking out loud so to speak, it could get lengthy, mundane and repetitive, I apologise. I'm not sure if there is a real point to it all yet, but if you would like to scroll down and see if there is a question at the bottom... feel free to answer it without reading everything in between and if there is no question feel free to think I'm completely bonkers with or without reading everything in between. :-)

So....

Little Boy gave me a note from school last week telling me about a "Meet the Teacher Information Session". It's a chance to meet your child's teacher and learn what is expected of your child as well as the class routine. His school has done this each new year for at least as long as he has been there.

So today was the day. I met Drew at the gate after school and we both walked down to the hall and sat with all the other parents and children. This session was for parents of children from years 3 & 4 (Stage 2) and years 5 & 6 (Stage 3), a couple of hundred kids. There was maybe 50 parents there. It has amazed me to watch the numbers fall as each year comes. When Drew was in Kindergarten nearly every child was represented by at least one parent. Each year since, the numbers have dwindled away. I just don't understand why the interest is not still there as your child gets older. So we listen for 15-20min as a couple of teachers babble on with the general school rules and expectations, excursions coming up and other basic things to expect this year. Nothing we didn't already know, but all good stuff to have drilled into our memory.

Then it comes time to go off to the classroom and listen to your own child's teacher. First I should say I was quite happy when I found out Drew had a male teacher this year. There is less than a handful of male teachers in the school and I think it is good for young boys to have male teachers they can look up to. Besides me his teacher is going to spend the most time with him over the year. I didn't know who the teacher was, apart from a name, or what he was like, so had no expectations. I'm not all that involved in the school community, actually I'm not involved at all. Which is not to say that I'm not involved in Drew's schooling, there is a big difference. So anyway, we get to the classroom, the teacher introduces himself (he's younger than I expected, maybe I should have come down to meet him earlier) and he tells us he doesn't know what to tell us because he was only told 20min earlier that the info session was today. Now when I say "us" I'm talking about 6 parents. He teaches a class of 28 students and only 6 of their parents can even be bothered to show up to find out what is happening in their kids class. (That really bugs me big time.) Not a good start in my books, but he explained he'd been sick all last week and hadn't quite caught up on (been told) what was happening. He asked if we had any questions to start him off and he'd go from there.

About 45min later I'd learnt a fair bit about his teaching style and what it would be like for Drew in his class. The big one was that he's a teacher who vey much focuses on social skills. He's all about working as a class and not as individuals. His discipline methods differ from what I've been used to within the school. They've always had a "non-verbal" method in the classrooms and he has altered that and focuses on the children taking more responsibility. He has also talked with the children to come up with a reward system for the class as a whole. He's not overly concerned with homework getting done or not. Overall he seems very relaxed in his attitudes and methods.

The school has also made a few other changes, not surprising as they have a new principal. There is a very strong focus on sports and fitness to aid with discipline. The whole discipline policy is under review. This combined with the healthy food program already in place is a good thing in my view. They're also planning an overnight excusion for the Stage 2 kids later in the year, which is new and a risk they're willing to take since the interest has been high.

Basically I came out of the classroom feeling positive about how Drew's teacher and how his year would go. That was until I started speaking to one of the other mothers. Her take on our boys' teacher was completely different to mine. She had not a good word to say about him, telling me of the class last year that "ran wild". Saying that he was too busy trying to be a friend to the kids rather than teach them. That he shouldn't be focusing on the social skills but on proper teaching. This same mother also wasn't happy about the overnight excusion planned and told me her son would not be going. (of 97 kids 90 had returned positive interest, meaning her son would likely be 1 of 7) When I asked her why, her response was simply that her son was still "the baby" and that he's only 8 and there was "no way in hell" she was going to let him go.

Now all of this got me to thinking. The schools have changed a hell of a lot since I was there, this whole "Stages" thing has me baffled along with other things. There are plenty of things that I've questioned and had to learn the reasons for and I don't necessarily agree with the thinking on some but I'm at least getting used to them. It surprised me though, how I could come away with such a different view on the same person than this other mother. Is it because I believe Drew will benefit from the social side of things with this teacher, but I believe all the children could. Is it because I'm younger and I'm more open to the changes that have gradually been made (and continue to be made). Drew's past teachers have not worked in the same way as this teacher but I haven't had a problem with any of them either really, different things are beneficial to him at different times. (Or is it just because I'm a single gal and I secretly want to date the teacher.) Ultimately I still think that I hold the most influence over my son and regardless of his teacher I am still capable of educating him to some degree.

The class that "ran wild" last year under the supervision of Drew's new teacher.. They had made it to year 6 (for those of you not is Aus, year 6 is the last of the primary school years, next step is High school) , and his classroom, without knowing where Melbourne was.. (This was told to us by the teacher himself) This to me is totally unacceptable and I do not hold the teachers solely responsible. At some point we have stopped taking full responsibility for our own children. There is only so much our teachers can do for our kids. To me, the fact that so few parents showed up today is just another example of how people shrug off their responsibilities. I don't see why it is any more important to make it to days like today for a child in kindergarten than it is for a child in the older years. If we are not involved in our childrens lives and their schooling how can we expect them to meet their full potential. We are not meeting our full potential as parents by letting them down.

So to any of you that actually read this (or not), how much is reasonable to expect from our childrens teachers? How involved should a parent be in their childrens education? Are social skills just as important as the academics learnt at school?

Lots of other questions I could ask but I won't, any thoughts at all from anyone at all would be appreciated.