Open House and
Parent/Teacher Conferences
November 8, 2007
BlueSky News
Issue One: Fall, 2007
School News
The anticipation makes me giddy; I am a total spaz for hours before it begins. I run around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to put the finishing touches on posters, make sure the tablecloths are straight and somehow calm down enough to keep from sweating profusely. I worry about what I’m going to wear even more obsessively than I do on the first day of school because I know that tonight might be the only time I ever see these people face to face and I want to make a good impression all around. I can’t sleep the night before or the night after because my veins are full of adrenaline, and when I finally am able to sleep, it’s the sound, exhausted sleep of one who’s totally content.
What am I talking about? My first Thanksgiving with the in-laws? Nope. Ask any BlueSky staff member and they’d be able to tell you in a heartbeat: Parent/Teacher Conferences.
Who would’ve ever guessed that a teacher could look forward to such an insanely long, hectic day? I never would have thought it possible. I have taught at several schools, large and small, inner-city and suburb, “alternative” and “mainstream”, and have never so thoroughly enjoyed conferences as much as I do at BlueSky. It is amazing…utterly, totally awesome…
Imagine the dynamic we have here: parents trust their children to teachers and administration they’ve never met in person; students put their heart into assignments for teachers they’ve never seen; families share joy and pain with counselors they could never pick out of a crowd; teachers bending over backwards so their student (who has never walked through their door) succeeds. Wow. With all those things going on and the bonds that form by the grace of phone and email, imagine the emotions wrapped up in meeting that student, parent, teacher, advisor or social worker face-to-face for the first time…
The anxiety (will they still like me after meeting me?), the nervousness (do I really have to go through with this?), the aforementioned giddiness (is anyone here as excited as I am?), the hyperness (did anyone keep track of how many Dews I’ve had today?)…every emotion imaginable…and I’m a fairly seasoned teacher who is still totally blown away by the energy generated when hundreds of people, all dedicated to the same thing, gather together in one place. Again, wow.
That’s what happened one evening last week in a nondescript office building in West St. Paul – magic.
For those that were there, I hope you felt even a smidgen of what I did. For those
that weren’t, enjoy the pics and know that you are welcome anytime. And that we
really hope to meet you someday…
By Sarah McFarlandNewspaper Teacher
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