Friday Thoughts: Parents in Our Rooms

Open House on Mustang Mountain is unique, and the first experience is always somewhat chaotic. I didn’t understand it at first, but now I kind of enjoy seeing parents hurrying through the hallways from class to class worried they might be late to class.

Last night got me thinking, though. Having parents walk the halls and visit classrooms during Open House is one thing, but what if they walked the halls and visited classrooms each day? What would that look like? Would it affect what we do? Would it change how we interact with each other and how we interact with students?

That thought leads me to this principle all of us should strive to follow: Treat each student as if his or her parent is in the room. It means we must treat each student the right way 10 days out of 10. We must talk to students with respect, and we must never yell, argue, or use sarcasm.

Combining this principle with the one shared last week (Students won’t care how much you know until they know how much you care) lays a great foundation for developing the relationships and mentoring opportunities all of us want to have with our students.

I don’t expect to have parents walking our halls on a normal school day anytime soon (Open House works for me), but I do expect all of us to treat each student as if the parent is in the room.