Who Sets the Table?

There are certain things that you just don’t do.  You don’t tug on Superman’s cape. You don’t spit into the wind. More importantly, you do not answer incorrectly when your wife asks what you think of her outfit.  Here’s another thing you don’t do – let  little kids set the dinner table when fine china is involved. My wife and I were given my Great Grandmother’s china service several years ago. This is china from the World War I era.  We take them out only on special occasions  such as family holiday dinners. Throughout the years, a simple meal has not made contact with the china.  These are not your everyday run-of-the-mill plates.  They are beautiful and quite breakable.  This china is not brought out for spaghetti night or hamburger helper. No, when this china adorns our dinner table, the crystal glasses also are used.  When our kids were little, we enjoyed family dinner time many nights per week. Most of those dinners were consumed on everyday plates with everyday glasses with everyday silverwear.  We had no problem letting the kids set the table. However, when the china was to be used, the kids were not invited to prepare the table.  This took skilled hands. This job should not be given to just anyone. 

You set the table in your classrooms. Why? Glad you asked. It is because what is in your care is too valuable to leave to just anyone. This is “Teacher Appreciation Week.”  Not everyone should be setting the table.  What I mean by that statement is that not everyone is cut out to teach kids.  Kids are like that fine china in our pie safe.  Not everyone should be setting them on the table.  As I taught about in February, the quality of the relationship with your students is the cornerstone of effective management within the classroom. Students need to know that they can count on their teachers and that you have a personal stake in their success.  It doesn’t matter how you feel; it matters what you do and how kids interpret your actions!  Remind yourself to engage in these behaviors each day:  meet your students at the door, smile at them…really, it’s okay to do that, use appropriate banter with them, provide guidance both academically and behaviorally, be clear about the goals, be clear about the expectations, and be consistent in applying consequences.  No, not everyone should set the dinner table that we call teaching. That job is reserved only to those who can handle the breakables with care. Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!