Letter To My Child’s Kindergarten Teacher

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Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Ben Jatos, GoLocalPDX MINDSETTER™

In far too little time, my precious little girl, Francie, will be entering your classroom to spend the day. I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t nervous. First off, you need to understand that I became a father for the first time when I was 42 years old and that this little girl is the sun and the moon to me. 42 years is a long time to wait for something so divine and wonderful to enter my life and the thought of turning her over to someone else for a few hours a day frightens me.

As a teacher for over 20 years I am all too aware of the covenant between parent and teacher; but now that I’m on the other side I understand it on a whole new level. Maybe my experience as an educator shapes my expectations as a parent. Maybe I’ve seen the impact a good teacher can have on a child. And also the impact of a poor teacher.

My expectations are simple; I have only two. First, I want you to help my daughter develop a love of learning. That’s it. I don’t care if she learns how to read or learn her multiplication tables or knows what an atom is. I just want her to enjoy the process.

I want her education this year to be 100% free from “academic” stress. I read that one school in Florida cancelled their Kindergarten “festival” because the school felt they couldn’t give up the time because it would take away from preparing for standardized tests.

I want more Kindergarten festivals. I want elaborate dress-up days. I want a party most every week because your classroom needs to be a place my daughter wants to spend time. It has to be fun and awesome and entertaining and safe and wonderful.

The problem with boring 

When Francie comes home from school and I ask her about her day, I want her to be able to say, “It was so fun today. We learned…” I don’t want her to say that it was boring. Boring will kill her love of learning.

The other expectation I have for you is that I want my daughter to continue learning how to interact positively with others. Your classroom provides a proving ground for Francie to deal with people. She’s an only child and it doesn’t really come naturally yet.

I don’t want her to ever come home with a story about how another kid was mean to her or picked on her and you didn’t do anything about it. I want my girl to be safe. I think this should be job number one for all teachers, myself included – teaching the kids in our care how to treat each other well, and protecting those that need our protection.

Those are my two big expectations for you in your classroom. As for out of the classroom, I have one simple request. When I come in for a parent conference, please don’t talk to me about Francie’s learning or which academic standards she is meeting. When we talk about my girl, just tell me what kind of kid she is when I’m not around. Is she kind? Is she a risk-taker? Is she a good friend? Does she play by herself ever? Is she confident?  Who she is becoming is so much more important to me than any so-called academic standards. I just want her to grow into a great person, the best that she can be.

The role of teacher

You are her teacher. You will have a big impact on her, not only for these next nine months that she is with you, but for the rest of her life. If you do things right, she’ll be on the path to becoming her best self. But if you don’t take this job seriously, you could set her back and she may not reach her potential. Your job is important and you should feel that pressure.

I feel it every day as a teacher. And now I feel it as a parent. These children are in our care – we owe it to them to do the best job we can. And becoming a parent has made me a better teacher.

My little girl is the sun and the moon to me. That’s probably how every parent feels about their child which is something I try to remind myself of every morning. 

Ben Jatos is in his 21st year of teaching secondary English. His opinions are his own and in no way represent the views of his school district. He is passionate about his family, the Portland Trail Blazers, the writing of Raymond Carver, and educating young people. For more of his opinions and reviews of literature for the classroom, check out his blog at www.benjatos.com

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