Tying Up Loose Ends

Day 97:

The shadberries/Juneberries/serviceberries are purpling!

I have never been at a school where I loved Parent Teacher Conferences. I would say that I have enjoyed meeting parents and talking with them about their kids, but they were always grueling and energy-draining days, weirdly lonely (every teacher in their little silo cranking out 15-minute conversations that never seemed to get very deep.

All that changes at The Janus School. We meet with parents in teams. All a student’s teachers sit in a circle with the parents (and the student, if they’re in high school), and talk about needs and successes and challenges. When the conversations are easy, it’s wonderful to have other teachers there, celebrating together. When the conversations are hard, it’s wonderful to have a whole team of teachers working together with the family to talk about how to help a student problem-solve. We see threads of goals met and behaviors experienced across many classes. We strategize together. We hold each student in a bowl of care. It’s still exhausting, but it also gives energy and reminds me why I love teaching these kids.

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Today I finished the triangle half squares and steamed them to block. I might need to make four more in order to shape the sleeves. (One of these photos is of the sleeve of sweater one of the moms was wearing to our construction groundbreaking today. It reminds me of my granny square cardigan.)

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