“A parent is a child’s first teacher”
Interviews are hard. They are hard for the interviewer and harder for the interviewee. I’ve participated on a number of committees in my school, and while honored to be involved, it’s also a process that teaches you a lot about people.
Some people are nervous. Some are confident. Some interviewers look for different skills such as technical knowledge of a teaching strategy. Some focus on idiosyncracies like speech characteristics (it’s “especially,” not “exspecially”). In the final analysis, it’s like the evaluations I give my students.
It’s a snapshot in time.
It’s a set of questions divorced from students and a classroom. And while you get some idea of a person’s skill set, you miss out on things that are infinitely more important.
And then sometimes, like today a person says something and it sticks with you. In a good way.
A parent is a child’s first teacher.
For all of the time we spend working with children. For all of the planning and worrying. For all of the meetings and conversations. For the dread of a hard class, or the pleasure of watching children develop and learn, you remember this thing. A parent is the child’s first teacher.
This needs to be remembered next time you’re fielding an angry phone call, or even receiving a compliment. It needs to be remembered at conferences, and at graduations too.
A parent is a child’s first teacher.
