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Health & Fitness

The Good News Is...

School is your child's job right now. This time is essential for them, and I want to let you in on a secret. Your Child's Teacher Loves Them!

As a mother of a child with ADHD who has had some challenging behaviors in her classrooms over the last few years, I know how important it is for a parent to have their child in a nurturing, caring environment. My brilliant yet impulsive child started this journey as a 2 year old in a day care environment, ripping shiny stickers off classmate’s snowmen collages. It continued in pre-school, with every-single-day negative reports coming from her teachers about how she scribbled in the cubbies and wouldn’t stay on her cot after she prematurely woke from her nap. Fast forward to Kindergarten where she was emotionally destroyed by a negative reinforcement scale and finally diagnosed, and first grade, when a big move, father’s job loss and new baby threw her into a tailspin. Throughout this journey, her teachers have helped me through the emotional rollercoaster that is being a mother.

 

Your child is in school for 7 hours a day, 35 hours a week. This is your child’s job right now, where they are learning the basics of reading and writing, college and career readiness, and most importantly, how to be little people. They are learning social behavior, how to stand up for themselves and others, how to maneuver in the world, and how to deal with the pressure of tests, tests, tests. This time is essential for them, but I want to let you in on a secret.

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Your child’s teacher loves them.

Find out what's happening in Port Chesterwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

 

They are in school hours early, prepping Common Core aligned lesson plans, chock full of multiple-entry points to scaffold and push your child to understanding and explaining problems in ways they’ve never been pushed before. They are meeting with teachers on their grade to write modules and units that are consistent and rigorous and challenging. They are going to the principal, assistant principals, literacy and math coaches, coming up with exciting strategies, new ways of implementing curriculum and questions for how to better serve your child. Is your child having behavior problems? They are running to guidance counselors, school psychologists and social workers on preps, begging the school behavior experts and special education teachers for strategies to make your child successful in the classroom. They spend lunches going over homework and assessments, collecting data to see what your child has mastered and what they still need to work on so they can prepare meaningful lessons for the next day. They are rearranging their classrooms after school to assure the most peaceful learning for maximum learning. They are taking graduate school classes and professional development in their spare time. They are working on the weekends at Saturday Academy to give your child that extra boost they need. When they are home, in between researching Teachers Pay Teachers and Pintrest for inspiration, they are texting each other for support, suggestions, bouncing ideas back and forth. They are on Facebook, updating their statuses to tell their friends about the memorable thing your child said to them today. They are spending their own money for supplies, books, copies and paper. At night, they can't sleep because they are thinking about more effective ways to engage your child. They wake up to alarms, and your child is the first thought on their minds. Your children become their children, and they take that seriously.

 

This year has been a difficult one for teachers, as well as for your children. The implementation of the Common Core Learning Standards, Teacher Effectiveness Program and Response to Intervention has required your child’s teachers to be open and flexible to an entire new curriculum, a whole new world of expectations and a big change in how they teach. Despite budget cuts, they are putting in more time and emotional energy to assure your child has the school experience that they deserve.

 

As the end of the year looms on the horizon, and news channels and radios broadcast disheartening headlines about more school closings, higher expectations for tenure, standardized tests expecting a huge regression in scores and how most teachers in NY should be fired, please remember this.

 

Your child’s teacher loves them. And it doesn’t get better than that. 

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