Show, Don't Tell: Reflections on Back to School NIght

Now that school has begun and the first frantic two weeks are over, I can return to this blog. I feel guilty for missing last week's post, but I just didn't have the energy or creativity left to write. Sad but true.

I've done most all of the things teachers do at the beginning of the year. I learned my students' names. I gathered some personal info through get-to-know-you games. I gathered some academic info through surveys and reflections. I set up files and data collection systems. The final beginning-of-the-year hurdle looms on Monday: the dreaded Back to School Night, also known as The Night of Speed Talking.

image found on the online schools website

I've presented at a lot of Back to School Nights over my almost 30 years of teaching, at various schools, and for various grade levels. Somehow it all boils down to the impossible feat of conveying my entire curriculum, grading practices, and expectations for both students and parents-- for two subjects-- in about 12 minutes. Thus, I have developed the ability to speed talk. At the end of 12 minutes, I am left breathless, the parents look dazed, and I am inevitably hit with a handful of parents who linger to ask, "How's my kid doing?"

I wish there were another way to show parents what we do all day with their children. I wish I could capture the excited energy of last week's Language Arts lesson when students were ranting--in writing-- about issues they were passionate about ("parents coming into my room without knocking" was a popular one), and then looking at the other side and thinking about a possible solution. I wish I could show them the kids' faces when they heard Martin Luther King III speak at the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, explaining how far we've come and yet how far we still have to go for an equal and just world for all. I wish they could sit in my comfy green chair as I read aloud a short story in the reading corner and listen to the kids respond to the beautiful words and make connections to big important ideas. I wish they could listen in on my kids talking about what they are reading and books they love. I wish they could read the annotations in the margins of the article we read about why sports teams named "Indians", "Redskins", and "Braves" are a racist slur, annotations that basically said, "Wow, I never thought of it like that!" I want them to see moments when new ideas crash into students' minds, and their eyes light up with the possibilities.

That's what my class is about. That's why I am still teaching, and why I am still passionate about it. I wish parents could be the proverbial "fly on the wall" so they could see the magic happen.

I don't have the time this year to do anything but Speed Talk during my 12 minutes with parents. But maybe next fall, during the first two weeks, I can capture some of the excitement with photos and short video clips. After all, how many times have I voiced "Show, don't tell"?