Caring...

Today was an interesting day. Let me backtrack to last week. Last Wednesday, my grade level had our curriculum night. This is where parents can show their interest in the school, the classroom, and what their child will be learning. I had been talking about this night with students for the past few days and how important it is for their parents to come. Out of 28 students, I had only 4 kids' parents come. I was shocked! I couldn't believe that so little parents showed up. Don't they care about their child's education and success?? I understand things come up, but really?! Isn't part of being a parent to take an interest in and support your child's schooling? One would think... To me, it just comes across as these parents just didn't care enough to come.

I decided that while the parents should have come in at night, I arranged two afterschool parent meetings. Today's was ok... I had 4 more parents attend. That's a grand total of 8/28 parents I've touched base with. Fingers crossed for more tomorrow.

Then there's this one student that has had a very tough time adjusting to classroom rules and expectations. At times, he flat out refuses to follow directions, won't listen when people are talking, and becomes argumentative when his behavior is corrected. At the end of the day, I asked him to step out into the hallway to talk with me. I feel as though I've always been good at building relationships with my students. They realize I am there to help them no matter what, as long as they care and want help in order to improve. We were talking a bit and at one point I asked him if he cares about school and learning. He couldn't answer, other than "I guess". Then, he said he didn't think that I cared (because he got in trouble for not listening). That stung... I've never ever been told it doesn't seem like I care! Nothing could be farther from the truth! I explained to him that if I didn't care, I wouldn't bother with talking with him. I would let him do whatever he wanted and not try to problem-solve. That's what it would look like if I didn't care. At the end of the day, we both agreed to come tomorrow ready to start over and work together.

So, today's thoughts revolved around caring and how do we show that we care. I'm sitting here tonight replaying the past two weeks of school. I want to be sure that I'm showing my students I care about each and every one of them. I also want to be sure I'm a caring parent and giving my girls the time and attention they need and deserve.