Horray for the new kid

Last week I attended the first parent committee meeting of the year, in an attempt to get to know more people in the district and to make myself look good in front of the superintendent.

At the end of the meeting, she asked if we had any suggestions for getting parents more involved with their students, and I said that I've been disappointed and frankly shocked at how much difficulty I've had in getting my students to read at home. I suggested that one way to encourage students to read is to have their parents model good reading habits at home. So I offered to start a book club for parents of high school students.

The superintendent was thrilled. She was very enthusiastic about the idea, and she even asked me to stay after the meeting to talk more about it. I've already made up a flyer to go out with report cards next month and written a short piece to be published in the district newsletter. The superintendent has a contact at Borders who can get the books I want us to read at a discount price, and the district will provide them to book club members for free! She's also going to get us refreshments for the meeting AND pay me for planning time outside of school hours.

I've already decided that our first book will be Life Is So Good, one of my personal favorites. It's a great theme to start out with, and the story will give people so much to talk about. The first meeting isn't until January, but I'm already so excited.

I know it sounds cynical, but I'm so happy to finally have an aspect of this job to get excited about.