I think there's a lot we'll ALL learn in Kindergarten...
Ahhhh... Kindergarten. Where you learn to behave in the real world. Where you learn to read. Where you learn what it means to be the little man on the totem pole. And in this day and age, it's a coming of age, when parents --in some manner of speaking-- are saying goodbye to their babies and welcoming their school kids. It's a time mixed with anxiety, anticipation, a little fear, but mostly hope.
So much is talked about this time as being critical for a child's development into well-adjusted adulthood. Since January of this year, we have been building up our own soon-to-be-Kindergartener's anticipation for what is to come. He has been looking so forward to it, as have we. In January, we were the very first family to register him for his school. We had no second thoughts about the school. We were convinced that it was perfect and would offer him a well-rounded education. A computer lab, an organic garden, a well-developed performing arts division... Because it seemed to have it all, we pursued enrolling him in this school with reckless abandon.
In May, we attended a parent orientation. They invited us for an evening to chat with the K teachers, of which there were 3: a bilingual teacher, a 40ish year old mother of kids at the school, and a veteran who had been there for decades. In this meeting, they explained that the rooms, which are all next to one another, would all be used by all the children. They explained the co-mingling that all the classes would have (except the spanish-speaking which would have only limited integration at first). I was excited. Overjoyed, actually. This meant he would have all the amenities that both classrooms had to offer.
So, it came as a grave disappointment to learn today --one day before school starts-- that only YESTERDAY a teacher who had been a sub at the school for some time, accepted an offer to teach a Kindergarten-1st grade mixed class, to which my son was assigned. This classroom is on the OTHER side of the school from the kindergarten rooms. It opens to the big kids' play yard and is in a portable classroom.
I'm totally devastated, and at the same time, ambivalent.
On one hand it completely dashes any and all expectations I had of my son's first real school experience. His will not be the typical Kindergarten experience. I do not know how they will be able to have the same interaction with the other classrooms that they had shared with us back in May. They do not have their own playyard like the other Kindergarteners have that contains a brand new play structure. I do not know how they will be able to integrate with the other kids. How will this young teacher of only 24 years manage our handful of a child? Can she do it? What if she can't? I worried whether even the veterans would be able to do it. We only get one shot at kindergarten, and it somehow feels like we got gypped in a big fucking way. I feel pissed. I feel dissed. I feel outraged.
And then on the other hand, for my son I have to try to model the reaction that I would ask of him: to be open minded. Maybe it could be a good thing. The ratio in this class is less than the others: only 17 kids, 6 of which are 1st graders. Mixed-level classes lends itself to a more Montessori approach, which is something I've always stood behind and felt was an excellent teaching model. Maybe the 1st graders will mentor him. Maybe he will get an opportunity to self-advance his education because he'll be exposed to it more.
I know that I have to put on a brave face and not let him see my disappointment. He is so excited. He can't wait to get started and he doesn't have the same set of expectations that I do. Maybe I need to go with the flow more. Maybe I need to behave more like an adult, less like a kindergartener and stop pitching a fit.
One thing is for certain though: we are all going to learn a lot this year. Probably and most especially me.
So much is talked about this time as being critical for a child's development into well-adjusted adulthood. Since January of this year, we have been building up our own soon-to-be-Kindergartener's anticipation for what is to come. He has been looking so forward to it, as have we. In January, we were the very first family to register him for his school. We had no second thoughts about the school. We were convinced that it was perfect and would offer him a well-rounded education. A computer lab, an organic garden, a well-developed performing arts division... Because it seemed to have it all, we pursued enrolling him in this school with reckless abandon.
In May, we attended a parent orientation. They invited us for an evening to chat with the K teachers, of which there were 3: a bilingual teacher, a 40ish year old mother of kids at the school, and a veteran who had been there for decades. In this meeting, they explained that the rooms, which are all next to one another, would all be used by all the children. They explained the co-mingling that all the classes would have (except the spanish-speaking which would have only limited integration at first). I was excited. Overjoyed, actually. This meant he would have all the amenities that both classrooms had to offer.
So, it came as a grave disappointment to learn today --one day before school starts-- that only YESTERDAY a teacher who had been a sub at the school for some time, accepted an offer to teach a Kindergarten-1st grade mixed class, to which my son was assigned. This classroom is on the OTHER side of the school from the kindergarten rooms. It opens to the big kids' play yard and is in a portable classroom.
I'm totally devastated, and at the same time, ambivalent.
On one hand it completely dashes any and all expectations I had of my son's first real school experience. His will not be the typical Kindergarten experience. I do not know how they will be able to have the same interaction with the other classrooms that they had shared with us back in May. They do not have their own playyard like the other Kindergarteners have that contains a brand new play structure. I do not know how they will be able to integrate with the other kids. How will this young teacher of only 24 years manage our handful of a child? Can she do it? What if she can't? I worried whether even the veterans would be able to do it. We only get one shot at kindergarten, and it somehow feels like we got gypped in a big fucking way. I feel pissed. I feel dissed. I feel outraged.
And then on the other hand, for my son I have to try to model the reaction that I would ask of him: to be open minded. Maybe it could be a good thing. The ratio in this class is less than the others: only 17 kids, 6 of which are 1st graders. Mixed-level classes lends itself to a more Montessori approach, which is something I've always stood behind and felt was an excellent teaching model. Maybe the 1st graders will mentor him. Maybe he will get an opportunity to self-advance his education because he'll be exposed to it more.
I know that I have to put on a brave face and not let him see my disappointment. He is so excited. He can't wait to get started and he doesn't have the same set of expectations that I do. Maybe I need to go with the flow more. Maybe I need to behave more like an adult, less like a kindergartener and stop pitching a fit.
One thing is for certain though: we are all going to learn a lot this year. Probably and most especially me.
posted by LisAnt at
6:45 PM
1 Comments:
How frustrating. I hate when you get right up to the last minute and they pull the old switcheroo. But then, it may work to his advantage. He is SMART, and being able to take advantage of the educational challenges target at the 1st graders will be good for him. I hope it all works out, and I know it will, because you are an advocate for your child.
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