It Only Took Three Years

So tonight is Back-to-School Night at Mar Vista Elementary. The last time we were part of this was TK Back to School Night. A full 3 years ago and well before the pandemic. This is the session where the teachers meet parents for the first time and talk about the year ahead in terms of the classroom kid's learning journey. I can still remember one of the parents getting up and saying 'I hope these kids become lifelong friends'. I will admit it is pretty cool to see Johnnie's classroom and all the work he has done in all of 2 weeks of school. He had a self portrait (see pic) and an "I am" poem. It struck me that he wrote "I am Chinese and I am smart". Kid knows who he is that is for sure. By all accounts he is very active in class, and that the class is full of advanced readers and that they need to learn to be still/quiet for 5 minutes. LOL. Good luck with that one. I will say that his strong connection with his Chinese identity is something that creates a little anxiety with me. Because he is MY son and I am not Chinese so I see it as a division. I feel like Darth Vader having to assert myself: "I am your FATHER". But I also know that's just MY insecurities playing out. I love this boy more than anything. And I also know HE loves me back just as strongly. When I picked him up from STAR after the meet-and-greet you could hear him all throughout the school: "DAD!" "DAD!" And I brought him back to the classroom where Lisa was still meeting with his teacher. He seems bored with 2nd Grade Math... so we agreed to up the level of his CGI problems by changing the numbers so they are more difficult. And by making him show how he got to the answer. Seems like a priority with learning now. Process is more important than the result. No blindly learning one method and cranking out the algorithm. I'm willing to work within that framework so Johnnie can show his teacher how advanced he can be.