"My head hurts just thinking about being a high school student."
Another year, another back to school night. Yes, this week we once more joined the herd of dazed and confused parents navigating the three floors and winding hallways of C.’s high school. She did us the favor this time of providing room numbers for about half her classes so we weren’t quite as lost.
Observations:
- The school is still impossibly, impressively, shiny new… and kind of sterile.
- Gone: The banner in the main corridor declaring “Failure is not an option at (school name). Success is the only option.” This is a good thing.
- Six of her seven teachers are men. Unusual, no?
- Teacher presentations ranged from blustery and unprepared, to crew cut efficient, to personable and confidence inspiring.
- “I’ve been teaching for 12 years.” Mentioned more than once by a particularly boyish looking teacher. As if to underscore, “Really!”
- Two teachers offered personal details about themselves…where they grew up, went to school, where they live now, hobbies. One revealed that he is a serious–and I mean serious–juggler. Fun. Note to teachers: I really like it when you share some personal information about yourself.
- One teacher went so far as to ask the parents to write down on the contact card one piece of information about their child that the teacher might not know. Again, I think this is an excellent idea. Learning is enhanced by relationship, by forming a personal connection.
- Teachers are people too. They love positive feedback. When I told one teacher, as I was leaving the room, that his class was C.’s favorite, he beamed.
- There is no freaking way that I could do what C. is doing in high school. One or two courses would be challenging…but seven? Every day? On the way out, Husband Dear said, “She is so much smarter than I am. And waaaay more organized.” The workload, the detail, the level of organization needed. It’s kind of mind blowing. And she’s doing it all completely on her own, with no reminders or prompting from us.
Thanks! Im a high school teacher and Im getting ready for back to school night- Its nice to hear what parents are looking for
Thanks for reading kidsanddogs! Number One, Two and Three: Be prepared. Nothing turns me off faster than a teacher who rambles, is disorganized, disinterested. No excuse. This is their 10 minutes to shine.
Other nice touches… give parents a sample question or problem…put up a sample from a lesson or lecture (one teacher demonstrated how with the Promethean board he can project images, maps, etc. to expand on a lecture point.)
And I’ve said it before….what would make a teacher GOLDEN in my eyes forever would be for a teacher to shoot me a one or two line email even *once* in the school year telling me something about my kid: “Johnny was really prepared and made an excellent point in our discussion of the Reformation today.” or “Suzie really is good at collaborating with her lab partners and keeping everyone on track.”
Would take less than a minute in a day, but I guarantee it would be huge.
Overall, are you happy with the school? My daughter is friends with a boy in a Montgomery County high school magnet, he’s a math science kid, but does not attend Montgomery Blair. I suspect it’s too far for him.
These MC magnets are interesting, kind of like the FCPS GT Centers for 3-8. FCP does not have high school magnets. It’s either TJ or the base school for IB or AP. So unless you get into TJ, being clustered together with like minded intellectual and academic (yes, the two are not always the same) peers ends after 8th.
I just came across a new book called College without High School by Blake Boles–have you seen this?
I saw this blog by Maya Frost, but I haven’t had a chance to dive into it…or follow up to learn more about Boles’ book. But I will!
http://www.mayafrost.com/blog/2009/09/19/college-without-high-school-blake-boles/
This post loosely touches on comparison between the parent of a gifted child and the child themselves. It seems like your area of talent and C.’s area of talent are similar (language arts and history). As she takes on challenges that are closer and closer to adult challenges, how do you keep from being jealous?
The other thing that stands out in this post is C.’s high level of executive function. The combination of organization and determination that she has is rare. You have been posting about training in executive function in kindergarten and before by guided fantasy play.
What about M.’s level of executive function? What can you tell about it?
Maya Frost. You wrote about her recently, right? Her whole view of education resonated with this homeschooler (now former). And Frost then commented on this blog!
J.
[...] 3, 2009 by SwitchedOnMom My, what perceptive readers I have. Kirsten recently wrote: This post loosely touches on comparison between the parent of a gifted child and the child [...]
Thanks, S.O.M., for that link. I just wrote a review for our state homeschooling organization’s journal about Maya Frost’s book — and as I was writing it, this other book by Blake Boles popped into my sights. I felt like I should really be reviewing both, but there wasn’t time at that point, so I just mentioned it in passing.
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that they would notice one another as well. Harmonic convergence!
One teacher in particular seemed to be dragging herself through the parent talk at back to school night. She’s got young children at home at there was a definite vibe of her being stretched too thin—a few weeks later she announced she was pregnant. Fortunately my son doesn’t have her for core classes.