8.24.2005

Evan's First Day of School

Yesterday was the meet-n-greet with the teacher...today is the real deal. Evan starts a journey that we've all taken; the path to intellectual independence. Yeah, I know, its just kindergarten. But it loooks a whole lot different than my recollections of school as a 5-year-old. It seems much less structured, yet more cluttered, noisy, and chaotic than I remember it.

My memories of kindergarten life are full of images of the cute girl I had a crush on two seats over. I still remember her name. I remember the "boy side" and the "girl side" of the classroom. The boy side had cars and trucks carefully placed on little kid-sized shelves; the girl side had mockup kitchens and dolls piled neatly in baskets.

That boy-side, girl-side thing won't fly in today's political climate, now will it?

I remember neat, tidy rows of desks, kids sitting 2-to-a-desk, a large chalkboard and bicycles and balls strewn across the playground. This new classroom had only 2 desks, chairs arranged in a large circle, and no chalkboard to be seen. Strange.

The teacher seemed very uncomfortable talking to the parents, but she could certainly handle the kids! "But why the unease with the adults?", I thought to myself. She is married, has kids of her own, maybe even grandkids...I didn't pry.

Still, it seemed odd. Then I found out she's not used to having that many adults in HER classroom. Then it made sense. This was the first year they had the 'greet the teacher' event at this school. I still thought about the discomfort, though. Hers, and mine, now. It was clear now that I, too, was uncomfortable in the classroom, but why? Because of the teacher's anxiety?

Maybe she was uncomfortable because she was sitting in a chair that was clearly too small for her, as were all of us parents. We were crammed into the kid's chairs! Next time, can we please use the auditorium?

No comments: