Oh, Humanity!

Hello, Fruitful Educators! Today, I am not just addressing our teachers, but our parents as well. Parents, this one is dedicated to you. We invite you to join our table as we discuss our children. This blog will be one of my most embarrassing thus far. You should consider yourselves privileged to be included in this specific memory.

I will start by sharing that if you are an educator, you know that it can be hard to earn the respect of your students. Middle school students in particular are ready to pounce on any opportunity of weakness shown. One former middle school coworker once stated that he would never admit to his students that he was wrong. He explained that he would always keep the standard that he was the most knowledgeable in the class and would not allow this image to be compromised in any way. Some hold closely to this philosophy while others have a different approach. In any case, how our students view us impacts how they learn from us.

Our story starts in my 2^nd year of teaching. I was still learning the ropes and getting my own special groove. On my planning, I went to the bathroom and stopped by another teacher’s room in the next hallway to discuss the rotation of the mobile lab. There was a parent at that time in the hall, volunteering for an upcoming event. I greeted her, and she greeted me. 

We chatted for a moment about her son, who was in my class, and his progress in Reading. While we talked, she stopped in mid-sentence. “Oh, you have something stuck to you. Oh no! One of the kids must have got you,” She stated. As I looked behind me there was a trail of toilet paper stuck on my shoe. I had walked from the bathroom, across the main entry, and down the hall all while sporting a trail of toilet paper behind me! I was horrified.

My first thought was, how in the world did this get here?

My second thought was how many people saw this atrocity? I couldn’t believe this had happened. Embarrassed didn’t begin to describe my condition. It took a moment to gather my composure which I tried my hardest to do.

Apparently, a piece of toilet paper had stuck to my shoe and followed me through the halls all the way from the bathroom. While no students were involved in the making of this fiasco, this could have easily been my downfall as a teacher. Imagine the uproar of a room full of 7^th graders when I walk in with a tail behind me! Oh, the humanity!  As we all know this would not be easy to move on from. No, this would be a permanent mark, one which I couldn’t recover from.

If I had gone back to class in this state, I never would have been able to live this down for the rest of my teaching career. I may never have gained the respect of my kids again. This parent had just spared me a world of hurt. I thanked her profusely. Never had I been so embarrassed in my life, at least in my teaching career.

Why would I share such a personal humiliation with you? I’m so glad you asked. For me, I needed this parent in this moment. This parent was not a teacher, an administrator, or aid, but yet she had my back. With the exception of her son, she wasn’t responsible for these kids in any way. She was not obligated to help me. Yet she did.

It struck me how important the role of the relationship between the teacher and the parent plays in the learning process. I needed this parent to have my back. The partnership between the teacher and parent is vital to the success of our student’s learning. We just may find ourselves in need of a parent to back us up sooner than we think. Support of our educational goals is not always easy to find but it is necessary.

Bridging the gap between the classroom and the home is worth the time and energy friends. Though we would love to say, we will never be caught with our slip showing, we need our parents to cover our backs sometimes.

Parents, your support of the educational goals in the classroom directly influences your child’s learning. Yes, we need you, dear parents. We need your support and backing in the classroom to fully succeed. This is more than just idealistic rhetoric. Our success depends on you dear parents. We not only need your backing, but you may need our backing as well sometime soon.

I encourage you to find out the teacher’s educational goals in your child’s classroom and find out how you can back them up. We want your child to be successful. When teachers and parents are together in this purpose the students benefit. We need to have each other’s backs.

Thanks for reading todays Blog! We hope you are encouraged and inspired.

We love educators here at The Fruitful Educator and we love our parents as well!