A Letter to A Teacher...

Hi Mrs. Sellers,

I apologize for not responding to your email sooner - we’ve had some issues with my email account since moving, but the kinks seem to be worked out now. I also owe you an “All About Jack” email, which I’ve been writing in my head these last weeks. You’ve probably gotten to know Jack a bit by now, and I’m glad for that, because it’s great for him to have had the time to make his own impression on you before I give you mine as his mother!

The best word I can use to describe Jack is INTENSE. There’s nothing half-hearted about him. He has no shortage of enthusiasm, curiosity, persuasiveness, persistence, happiness (when he’s happy), melancholy (when he’s not happy), inventiveness, and most of all ENERGY!

I often joke that he’s an old engineer trapped in the body of an 8 year old. He is driven to know the “why” to everything, and when he finds it out, he can’t stop himself from sharing the good news to everyone around him. He’d stay up all night watching the Science Channel if we let him, and has taken his bike apart (and thankfully put it back together) more times than I can count. He made business cards when he was three for various companies he imagined owning, and by four had taught himself to read.

The challenge is to keep his passion for learning burning, while bringing his intensity down a notch (or twelve) so that he can make it through a school day without disturbing the peace. You may have figured it out already, but self-control is a huge hurdle for Jack. He has made slow and steady improvements every year, but it’s still his Achilles heel. He has a hard time stopping himself, or remembering social etiquette when he’s in the middle of something he finds interesting. He despises limits, but if firm ones aren’t set for him, he’ll run right over or around them, finding loopholes in every argument, every roadblock, until he gets what he wants.

You’ll never see anyone work harder than Jack! The key is to keep him on track and within boundaries so that he can accomplish what he needs to within the time frame of each lesson, and each new day. I found his teachers at his former school in Massachusetts to have an obvious preference for students who worked “within the box”; following orders, not asking questions, and so on. Independent spirits were not valued there. It was disappointing for Jack, who is the King of independent spirits, because he simply could not excel in that environment. Every month from kindergarten through second grade, a “star student” was chosen from each homeroom class. And despite being at the top of his class in reading and math, Jack was never chosen as star student. Not once. I didn’t know it bothered him until the first day of the last month of this past school year when he came home in tears because he’d missed his last chance. It was heartbreaking, for both of us!

As his parents, Marc and I want to see him thrive, and to be proud of his successes, helping him weather the failures that we all go through in life. We are incredibly hopeful that Spring Brook Elementary is the place that he can do that. Find his balance, learn from his mistakes, continually improve his skills and knowledge and celebrate his successes. Thanks so much for being part of that! He really enjoys your enthusiasm and has been excited about all the new things he’s learning and doing in third grade. We’re looking forward to a wonderful year.

Sincerely,
Beth Mallett