I had to throw that word book into the title, lest you think it was some other kind of big news. Not yet. But, ironically, I will be 'giving birth' to an idea of mine this year! A book - about the things teachers wish parents knew.
I have been a teacher for 7 years, and have always felt that school should come with a guide book for parents. So, I’ve set out to create one, filled with a behind the scenes look at the world past the classroom door. This book is an honest, often humorous peek at those things that are not typically covered during parent-teacher conferences. It’s about what teachers desperately want to sit down and discuss with parents over coffee, the things we tell our sisters and friends as they send their little ones off to kindergarten. It will cover everything from homework and volunteering in the classroom, to bathroom breaks and recess drama.
Parents are their child’s first and most important teachers. Nothing is more valuable than the parent/child relationship for development and future success. Children learn early on from their parents as they watch their ways, listen to language, and mimic their actions. Then enters the teacher, and the child takes on a new role. They are no longer just a son or daughter, but they become a student. This new parent/student/teacher relationship is a complicated dance of educating young minds together, and sometimes parents are left wondering how it’s supposed to work.
This book will not give parents a magic formula to guarantee their child’s entrance to Harvard, or tell them what cereal to buy to ensure higher test scores. It will answer questions I was often asked as a teacher, and hopefully alleviate some fears of that teary-eyed mom at the bus stop on the first day of school. We will step away from test scores and report cards, teacher lingo and mommy guilt, and take a real look inside the classroom, where teachers are given the extraordinary privilege of helping parents educate their children.
So this is my idea, and I found out last week that Prodigal Press (an independent publisher based out of Minneapolis) will be helping me publish it this year! I could not be more excited and look forward to sharing the adventure with you.
