All Of My Teachers Are Great.
The first day of school went off without a hitch. Dylan made it to his bus on time, and Shane got there way early.
Best of all, they came home almost happy.
Shane was thrilled to have a lot of friends in his classes. (Last year, he had one friend in one class.) As he often does, he details his day in chronological order, letting me know about the kids, the teacher, and what they did. By the end of our chat, I almost had Shane’s schedule memorized.
I am thrilled that he has friends in his classes. One of his teachers remembered Shane from sixth grade, and actually chose Shane to run the PowerPoint for the class.
I picked Shane up from school, since it was a special occasion, and he talked all the way home. He went into the office with me and talked to me in the office for half an hour. By the time his dad, and his grandfather, asked him about school, he’d already talked about it so much, he was talked out. He told me about his science teacher, how he really liked him at first. Shane shared an interesting discipline tactic that his science teacher used, one that silenced the whole class. I explained the possible reasoning for the technique. It seems as though Shane’s teacher is subtly gaining respect from his class. Brilliant!
I am just happy that Shane is still talking to me, now that he’s in 8th grade.
We filled out his paperwork together and organized it to send it back to school. He had homework, which he did immediately. Shane may not love school, but he sure knows how to do it successfully.
Meanwhile, I texted Dylan and asked him if he wanted a ride home, but he didn’t respond. I texted him two more times with no response. I called his cell phone – no answer.
Dylan took the bus home.
Finally, I called him on the home phone while I was standing in Shane’s school’s parking lot, and he answered.
“Dylan!” I said gleefully.
“What?” he grumbled.
“Well, I was just wondering about your day,” I said.
“It was fine,” he said. “But now I’m really irritable.”
“Eat a snack,” I told him. “At least, get a drink.” Dylan gets grumpy when he’s hungry, but he doesn’t eat and then wonders why he stays grumpy.
After hearing about Shane’s day, I went up to Dylan’s room where he was electronically chatting with someone.
I plopped onto Dylan’s bed. He looked up from his electronic device. I smiled at him. He looked back at his tablet.
I waited.
He looked at me again. I smiled again.
“What?” he grumbled.
I looked at the clock. I had waited almost eight hours to ask. “How was your first day of school?”
There was a brief pause. Then Dylan said, “All of my teachers are great.”
I couldn’t believe my ears. “Really?!”
“Yep,” he said.
“What about your precalculus teacher?”
“Why are you singling out that one?” he asked.
“Because math teachers are notoriously awful,” I said.
“Half of the math teachers at school are the worst teachers ever,” Dylan said. “And the other half are, like, chill. I got a good one.”
Absolute music to my ears.
I asked him a few other questions about his day, and all of his answers were positive. He even said that he introduced himself to his teachers! I’d been asking him to do that since sixth grade, and – perhaps – he finally did.
So everyone is happy.
Mostly me.