Every teacher knows the feeling.
When that email pops up from a parent…….no
subject line…….no reason in your mind for the contact!!!!!!
You check the calendar. Nothing coming up soon to warrant
communication. No payments due. No picture day in the horizon.
Check the gradebook. Grades are good…..up-to-date…..
No bad behavior.
No negativity floating around like a bad aura.
THEN WHY ARE THEY EMAILING
ME????????? What is wrong?
What have I done?
What have I NOT done?
What have I said?
Every teacher KNOWS this
feeling!! There is NO WAY there is
anything good coming from opening that email!!!!
You put it off for that Loooonnnnngggg 22 seconds, but that’s as long as you can
wait………..
And then you open it. You read it once……twice…..three
times.
Your smile begins at the corners of your mouth
-------you know the smile------the one that only Jim Carrey makes------no teeth
but the mouth muscles are performing acrobatics like Mary Lou Retton.
You are beaming.
You are blushing. You are
preparing your speech and making a mental note to thank the Academy…….
You…………(ME!!!!) have
received an email to compliment you!!!!
Thanking you for getting their child to READ so much!!!
But wait……….the day gets
better.
THE SAME DAY!!!!
It’s the end of the day.
The very, very end. A student
comes up and hands you a well-worn, folded piece of notebook paper. It’s been through a lot.
They hand it to you and inform you that you CANNOT read it till
they leave. Pleading eyes. Please don’t read it in front of me.
Ok, teachers, back to the opening of this particular blog…….
“Every teacher knows the feeling.”
You are holding one of the following:
1. Well-worded hate mail
complete with advanced vocabulary and superlative adjectives.
2. Confessional meant for
their clergy teacher.
3. The beginning of tomorrow’s
conversation with the student about the confusion of the opposite sex and how
they just don’t understand them!!!
4. Other. (Read the word “other” with a negative tone.)
So…….here I go. Unfold it. Realize it is TWO
PAGES!!!! which means SEVERE ALERT!!!.
It’s even STAPLED for goodness sakes!!!!
We shall repeat the above steps.
And then you open it. You read it once……twice…..three
times.
Your smile begins at the corners of your mouth
-------you know the smile------the one that only Jim Carrey makes------no teeth
but the mouth muscles are performing acrobatics like Mary Lou Retton.
You are beaming.
You are blushing. You are
preparing your speech and making a mental note to thank the Academy…….
Ladies and gentleman……..I received a two-page letter from a student CITING EVIDENCE of
how happy they are that I’m getting them to READ.
On the same day as the email
from a parent saying basically the same thing.
So,
here’s the most important part. When we
are reading a brand spankin’ new informational text and learning all new stuff
about this text, I always throw in a question from their notebook from THE
FIRST WEEK OR TWO OF SCHOOL. I’m not
going to review it. I’m not going to
reteach it - I did that already, geez!!!!
Nope. I’m telling them to turn to
that Table of Contents, find it, relearn it, reread it, grasp it again, and
give it back to me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
