I don't care if it hurts his feelings....it's my health!

I am very excited to be attending the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) conference next week in Dallas.  I love conferences, especially national ones.  The best of the best, the cutting edge, the most up to date researchers are there presenting.  I get so excited every time I attend a national conference.

At the same time I get frustrated and overwhelmed at the job ahead of us sometimes.  Here is my frustration, maybe you can help me out.

Here are a few 'truths'.

• There are great teachers and administrators out there who stay up to date on current 'best practices'.
• There are teachers and administrators who read professionally and attend national conferences.
• There are teachers and administrators who haven't read a professional book, since they left college (and for some it was a long time ago!)
• There are teachers and administrators who never attend national conferences, or even regional ones.
• There are teaches who tweak their craft regularly based on new research.
• There are teachers who are still doing the same things they have done for (insert #) years.

Unless you home school, your children will be in one of those rooms.

Teachers tell me regularly that many of the things they have done, they have 'always' done it like that. Well, we used to all attend school in one school room too but we figured out that wasn't the most effective way to teach.

Our children of today are different then we were.  They learn differently than we did.  There are so many more resources available to children today that we certainly didn't have.

So here are a few questions I have.  Why as parents, do we not ask our child's teacher if he/she  reads professionally and if so, what was the book?  Why don't we ask if they ever attend conferences?   Why don't we do our homework on our child's teacher? Would we go to a doctor who hadn't read professionally in years?  Would we send our tax information to an accountant who wasn't up on the latest tax laws?  Yet, we send our kids off to school assuming they are getting the teacher who reads professionally and stays current on research.  

I have a friend who was diagnosed with cancer a few years ago.  After her oncologist gave her the prognosis, she chose to go get a second opinion in a different state!  A mutual friend asked, aren't you afraid it will hurt your doctor's feelings that you are getting a second opinion? I can't print word for word my friend's reply, but it was basically, I really don't care if his feelings are hurt, it's my health!

That should be the feeling we have towards our child's teacher.  We are not there to be friends with the teacher, yes that's nice if it happens.  But we are there to be sure our child is getting the best education for that year from the best teacher there is.  Every child deserves that.  That doesn't happen unless we ask questions.

While you are thinking about what questions to ask your child's teacher, ask them if the program follows the NAEYC guidelines.  Based on the answer, you know what the follow up question should be.