Back to school insight

In my last post I mentioned the dreaded "Back-to-school" night. It seems to me that I have always thought of it as just one more onerous task that was necessary but terrifying and, a bit demeaning. Sort of like, "Look, Ma, that trained seal is balancing a ball on his nose and eating a kippered herring ... AT THE SAME TIME!" Believe me, observing the teachers' performances at my own children's back-to-school nights (flushed face, tight jaws, strained smile, forehead glistening with flop sweat, babbling incoherently, eyes darting wildly from face to face searching for even the faintest sign of friendly understanding -even pity) did not fortify my image of own presentations. Perhaps I exaggerate, but, as I mentioned, there was always that opportunity for panic.

However, I realize now that I was kidding myself. I have enjoyed my interactions with parents, more than I have admitted to myself. In my self-centered way, I incorrectly imagined those meetings as a command performance, in which the central object was me, my class, and my ability to convince the parents of my effectiveness in teaching their children. That is not how it usually turned out. Of course, there is always a bit of parental judgment of me, personally. However, it has been my experience that many parents come back to school to find out two things - first, to find out the "nuts and bolts" of the course, and secondly, to find out my philosophy of teaching. They are not so interested in "What?" I am doing but rather, "Why?" I am doing it. They are looking for some common sense rationale that guides my teaching - stated in such a way that they have no trouble understanding it or, at least, understanding (if not agreeing with) my purpose.

So, instead of filling up the time with the "specifics" of the course I try to share visions of education and its purpose with parents. The number of parents who are looking for some positive outlook for their child - some teaching philosophy that challenges their child while at the same time taking into consideration that their child is vulnerable, has shortcomings, and may be afraid to take risks.

So, I guess what I'm saying is that BTS nights are as much about giving parents inspiration and hope that, maybe...just maybe, this year might be a that productive and enjoyable year that they wish will re-ignite their child's zeal to learn. Or, if their child already possesses that zeal and drive they hope that this year will be an continuation of years past. What they dread is another school year of uninspired, lackluster, pedantic teaching that dulls the mind and deadens the spirit .