My Pledge To The New Teacher

This month I find myself in new territory: I am a parent of a school-age child.

For ten years, working as a high school teacher, I shared my passion for English, navigating students through Shakespeare and college essays alike. Now I nervously await my kindergartener’s first day of school. Thinking about switching roles this year, I had a heart to heart with myself as a parent who has been on the educational front lines.

This is my pledge:

I will ask how I can support what you’re doing.

My kid will fail and it isn’t your fault. 99% of teachers are passionate about their job and go above and beyond for their students. We certainly don’t take this job for the pay or long hours! But in a class of 20-30+ students, my student will occasionally fail to grasp some concepts. That will be okay! I will not call or email and demand to know why my kid hasn’t mastered a concept yet. I will ask how I can support what you’re doing in the classroom at home. And besides, dealing with failure is a life skill—I’m glad you’re here to help teach this one.

I will listen to your side.

My kid will likely lie. Parents are quick to defend their children at all costs; I understand this instinct. However I can’t recount the number of conferences where parents defended their student’s actions of plagiarism, lying, failure to complete work, or inappropriate classroom behavior. In most of these instances they insinuated that it was the teacher’s fault in some way. While I recognize that every story has two sides, I will listen to your side. Heck, my kid lies at home, why would it be different at school! Therefore, I will support you in your quest to maintain a safe and orderly classroom.

I will be kind.

You manage a classroom of diverse personalities. You create lessons that appeal to the child on the brink of poverty and the child who doesn’t know hunger. You encourage reluctant readers as well as those whose love of reading is boundless—in the same lesson. You champion their successes and help them navigate their failures. You love the child whose parents are going through a divorce, whose sibling is very ill, and whose beloved pet crossed the rainbow bridge. You show up every day ready and make millions of decisions before the final bell in the best interest of your students. Teachers wear many hats: educator, cheerleader, parental-figure, coach, nurse, disciplinarian, motivator, and you’ll be exhausted. I will be kind in my emails, my phone calls, my conferences; I will remember everything you do before I write about something you didn’t.

I will remember that teachers are people.

Despite the fact that many students believe teachers simply appear at the beginning bell and are astounded when they see them out and about in the community, teachers are people. You have families and lives and interests. Teaching is your profession, but it isn’t your life. You will make mistakes just like the rest of us. You may lose an assignment or delete an email without responding first. You may have an off day and be grumpy. I will honor this truth: as superheroes, teachers still put on their pants one leg at a time like the rest of us. Sometimes you need some slack, and I’ll give it.

I will remember that my kid is not the most important.

My kid is the most important kid to ME; she is equally important as the other students in the classroom. And I will remember that on any given day there may be another student whose intellectual, social, or emotional needs trump my kid’s. You may need to spend an extra day on a concept my kid already knows and she’ll be bored that day. She’ll live. You may need to change the curriculum to honor a student’s sensitive situation, and that’s okay. Sometimes other kids will need your attention more; my kid will be fine. And while we’d all like to be the proud parents of an Ivy League graduate, it’s more important that my student simply loves learning; if she loves learning she’ll excel wherever she goes.

I will say THANK YOU.

I won’t simply be thankful, I will say THANK YOU. I will say THANK YOU for helping every student in your classroom increase their intellectual, social, and emotional knowledge. I will say THANK YOU for repeating yourself 100 times a day patiently. I will say THANK YOU for putting students first, skipping your lunch or staying late to help students reach that “ah-ha” moment. I will say THANK YOU for that encouraging smile, that “I know what you’re thinking and you’d better make the right decision” look, that ability to inspire curiosity and confidence. I will write you a few thank you notes throughout the year describing the amazing things you did—because notes of acknowledgement can be more precious than gold (and they’re not bad for the portfolio either).

Teacherhood: a calling that only the bravest and largest of heart dare to attempt. It’s a tough and amazing job loving other people’s children. Teachers want the best for their students, and I want the best for our teachers.

And that starts with me.



After surviving ten years as a high school English teacher, Kathryn opted to create imaginary worlds and spend her days hunting for ladybugs with her daughter. She has written for ChildGood and Babies and Breastfeeding magazines as well as various sites around the web.