The first day of school started promptly at 8:00. The children were READY with new backpacks in hand. We were off and running. My cohort, the children, and I did not stop to even breathe until 2:30. One child declared, "It can't be time to leave." Yes, it was time to leave.
Parents send their very best, their children, to us each day. We are with them for probably more waking hours than they will be with their parents throughout the year. As educators, we must rise to the job of not only educating, but guaranteeing the parents we will treat their children with respect and kindness. That in no way, decreases the amount of rigor expected in a classroom. When mutual respect permeates a classroom, the rigor comes naturally. Through the years, I haven't always made the right decisions with both word and deed, but the more I teach the more I understand just how important we are in the life of a child. Good or bad, the students and parents must put up with us for at least a year. Hopefully, at the end of the day, everyone will be able to say it was more good than bad. I look forward to a wonderful year with a wonderful bunch of students at a wonderful little school in a wonderful little part of the world.
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