A few weeks before the beginning of every school year, I eagerly look over my class lists. Will I know any of the students coming into my class? What will the dynamics of the class be like this year? Most veteran teachers have probably gone through this same exciting mental exercise. However, in the first few years of teaching, my class list meant nothing to me. The students were all new, as were their families. I had no established relationships with any of these individuals. We were all strangers to each other. However, after being in the school for a few years, those last names had taken on a wonderfully familiar meaning.
One of my favorite aspects of the schools in the Hillsdale K-12 network is their relatively small size. Once you have been in these schools for a few years, you begin to feel the sense of community that these smaller atmospheres can cultivate. Teachers, parents, and students alike can really get to know one another. I have taught numerous younger siblings of students I have had in the past, and this repetitiveness brings with it a well-established rapport with the families. I think it is important to note this special sense of fellowship that our schools foster. I have been in many schools where there are thousands of students, even just in the elementary grades. While I’m sure occasionally the same teacher will get a sibling, this likelihood is greatly decreased and the teacher may not even remember a previous sibling given the hundreds of students they have encountered in the meantime.
I think this sense of unity is incredibly important because education is very much a partnership between the teachers and the parents in the education of their students. Parents are entrusting me and every other teacher with their most priceless possession. Knowing the parents and having the ability for the parents to really know me is invaluable in our team effort to support their child. I feel so lucky to get to teach at a place where there is such a sense of fellowship.
