A Fresh Start

I really like Open House. Every year, scores of parents and their students file into my classroom with their best smiles on trying to make the best impression possible. It's touching really. I love talking to parents. I love that almost all parents think their student is "gifted." I love that almost all students think that their parents are embarrassing. It's fun to see the family dynamics and pick up on all the hidden messages.
This year, I tried to be methodical in my greeting when each family entered. First, I would shake the hand of the student (you may think I'm rude, but I wanted to let my students know how important they are to me). Then, I would ask the student what class I have them in. It was hilarious to figure out that half of them had no idea what class they would be taking with me. I also enjoyed them trying to say "Euclidean". I greeted each parent with a handshake and a smile. Everyone was so polite and on their best behavior (including me).
Here are some highlights and low lights:

HIGHLIGHTS:

• I met about 50% of my students, which is an awful high percentage at a high school open house
• The Math Department is the best. The folks that teach math at ECHS are top notch.
  
• I had lots of former students come visit me and I loved it. It was very sweet.
• My classroom was clean and inviting. I even put posters on the walls.
  
• I was pleasantly surprised with most of the students that I met. As far as I know...they are all geniuses. I refuse to be one of those teachers that gets the "scoop" on all the "bad" students before the first day. Preconceived notions are often false.
  
• I have the privilege of teaching our superintendents niece and many teachers kids.

lowlights:

• Almost none of my seniors came
• People started showing up 30 minutes early. HOW RUDE. We needed a minute to get in our rooms and get set up.
  
• One kids informed me that she would be missing the first 5 days of school for a WEDDING. Huh?!? Last time I checked it only takes 1 day to get married. Some parents don't think some times.
• I have a lot of kids with diabetes. I'm not sure, but it seems like this is a growing trend.
  
• One of the parents asks me rather sarcastically if I will be teaching the necessary material her son BEFORE I sent him home with homework on the material. when I answered "of course" she said..."So, he's not going to be coming home telling me he doesn't know how to do his homework" and I had to honestly say that him understanding his homework would greatly depend on him paying attention and participating in class. What was I supposed to say to that?
• I had to tell all of my parents that I would not be offering after school tutoring. A new school policy says that we are responsible for making sure that any student that stays after with us leaves campus. This means that if Johnny's mom is 45 minutes late picking him up, we have to stay. This also means that if multiple students stay and all leave at a different time, we still have to accompany them ALL to their respective transportation. I think not. I will only be offering tutoring BEFORE school.

I can't wait to get back into the swing of things. I think that this will be the best of my first 3 years. I have 2 years under my belt. WOW.. only 28 more years until retirement.....just kidding...I'm not thinking about that yet. I am looking forward to getting to know the kids and getting to do math again. I am teaching a new class called Math Money Management. It is gonna be awesome. We are going to study Finances, Loans, Taxes, Jobs, Insurance, etc....all the important math applications. I know, I am such a nerd.