Zephyrus: Do you have to stop yourself from being harder on your son/daughter than on other students?
Paul Kile: No. Actually when I get to school I’m in my ‘teacher’ frame of mind and don’t really slip into my ‘parent’ role so I don’t feel like I’m harder or easier – he’s just a student and I happen to be his teacher.
Dr. David Henderson: Yes. Sometimes I have to stop myself from being too tough on her. I try to make sure that I check in to ask if I’m picking on her. But I will call her out if she gets too out of line in class. But she gets really embarrassed sometimes.
Dan Baron: I have to treat Lucas like any other student, so I don’t think I am harder on him in class. I care much more about how he is doing in his other classes though and am very interested in how he is doing overall and hard on him when I don’t think he is doing the best he can do in my colleagues’ courses.
Zephyrus: What’s the funniest, or rather, the most interesting story you can relate to us about coming to school with your son or daughter?
P.K.: One time on the way home from school I asked how it was going having me as his teacher – if it was awkward or weird – and he said, “I guess it could be really weird if the students didn’t like you, but it’s actually pretty cool.” Proud father moment! Sometimes in class he’s the only one laughing at my jokes, though, as I make references to my strange pets and other home oddities.
D.H.: Not so much with Erin, but with Ryan (graduated 2012). As a senior he and a bunch of band buddies had lunch with me every day. It was neat that Ryan ate with me, even though I wasn’t his teacher.
D.B.: The first day of school I was making a point to his class about how much they would know about European history and I said something like, “And before you know it, I will ask you the name of the most powerful Holy Roman Emperor of the early sixteenth century, the man who tangled with Martin Luther…” and before I could finish my rhetorical point, Lucas chimed in with ‘Charles the Fifth.’ He was right, and the class laughed.
Zephyrus: Do you feel like you’re more up to date with the goings-on at EHS thanks to an extra set of eyes and ears in the school?
P.K.: YES, absolutely! And all my bandies are like my own kids and do a great job of keeping me up to speed on EHS, teen life, and modern technology.
D.H.: Not really; both Ryan and Erin have a small group of friends, a group that isn’t really at the center of attention. Sometimes when I talk about stuff from school, I’ll know more than they will. I’ve found that I learn the most through my faculty connection, not so much the kids. But, sometimes I’ll make a faculty connection through my kids. Like, now I know Ms. Slominski much better, from when Ryan had her.
D.B.: No. Ignorance is bliss.
