Back-to-School Night for the Middle School

Yesterday, we went to the Back-to-School Night for the middle school a.k.a for Zey. He prepared a schedule for us to follow starting with his homeroom. Then we moved from building to building and many different rooms to meet different teachers. I knew what he meant when he first started there that bunch of students moved from class to class while getting lost. He quickly got a hang of it. Rob had a good sense of direction and I just followed Rob as I usually got lost as soon as I stepped out of a room.

Zey’s home room teacher was very new agey and fun. We met teachers who taught Spanish, PE, Science, English, Design, Humanities, Art, Drama, Repair and reuse and Math. I saw 3D printers, tools he would use to build wooden products, a classroom where they repaired old things, a science room where they incubated some duck eggs. Anyone want a duck as a pet? Hope might go berserk if we brought one home.  We saw a library which was larger than our DC public library. We saw more sports facilities we didn’t see on Orientation Day. They were amazing.

Only one teacher wasn’t available to meet us, drama teacher. Somehow I felt like it made sense that we did not get to meet the drama teacher. We met all his other teachers; some are new and some have been with UNIS for many years. All of them have lived and taught in many different countries. One of them even taught in Myanmar.

The common themes from the teachers seemed to be excitement, understanding for the students, some of whom were overwhelmed, and desire to contribute. Some of the classes have no grading and none of them have homeworks for now.

It’s all good that our kids had the opportunity to experience a great school. But how could we motivate them so they know it’s a great opportunity and it is up to them to take advantage of it. That’s a constant challenge for most parents I know. I read many articles that talked about not bribing kids but since bribing seemed to work better than threats (they are not that afraid and I am quite dramatic when I am angry), I deploy cash, video game times, scratches to get them to listen to me. No judging here. Hopefully, it all works out in the end that they are happy, do well academically and socially and live a happy life as adults. That’s all the parents’ goals for our children, isn’t it?