MEET THE CREATURE

Tonight was "Meet the Teacher Night," or Meet the Creature as we like to call it, at our school. It's when we open the school at 6:30pm and invite all of the students to bring their parents to the school to meet the "creatures!" It is pretty informal, parents are welcome to poke thier heads into the classrooms and see where their child spends a good portion of thier week.
I am the French Teacher at our school and to be honest, not a lot of parents come to meet the French Teacher. Don't feel bad for me though, I like it that way! Oh, I like meeting the parents and I think it is fun when kids make a point of bringing theirs in to say hi, but if the truth be told, most of the kids I teach, are of the age where they do anything to keep thier parents from Meet The Teacher Night. Funny isn't it, that the first graders can't wait to drag thier parents to every room in the school. They have so much pride in their school and classrooms when they are 6. They love thier teachers and can't wait for thier parents to meet them. This year my classroom is in the K-3 wing of our school, though I only teach French to grades 4-8. I love being in the K-3 wing. The kids are hilarious, happy and sooo full of hugs, even for me and I don't even teach them! The parents of the Kindergarten to grade 3 wing students were lining up at the doors at 5:50pm and we were not opening them until 6:30! When the doors did open I stood at my classroom door and watched as children held thier parents hand and described in detail every room and teacher as they passed. They were so excited and proud! I wondered through the building, checking out the 4-6 wing. Not as many parents down there, but plenty of kids and they were all excited, but mostly because they were at school in the evening and they were seeing thier friends. There was very little hand holding and most of the parents went inside the classrooms by themselves. I checked out the 7-8 wing and wow, it was sooo quiet! Definately more kids than parents down there and most of the kids were there because they were hiding from thier parents who had brought younger sibilings to meet their teachers. The atmosphere in the building was happy as the excitement of Back to School rang through the hallways, but I still felt kind of sad. What happens between first grade and 6th that changes kids attitudes towards school so much? Is it just that the novelty wears off? What happens to make them lose thier love for school, for learning? I am going to make it my mission this year to help every student in our school find a sense of pride in the place they spend the majority of thier time for ten months of the year! Thank God tomorrow is Friday!