Punching the Clock: Back to school
I did a lot of daydreaming when I was a student at Holy Family School (Class of ‘94).
Most of the time it involved Chuck Norris and me saving hostages from a hijacked Israeli airplane, or me as a 6’8 forward dunking – with authority – over every member of the Utah Jazz to win the NBA finals. (As part of the fantasy, Karl Malone would retire during a tearful post-game press conference because he was so embarrassed.)
Not much has changed. I still daydream (mostly about Chuck Norris, except now we’re demonstrating his Total Gym workout machine on the beach and hundreds of people have gathered around to behold our rock-hard abs).
Aside from a few minor adjustments – a new library, a few new class rooms and, almost forgot, a middle school! – Holy Family is the same as I remember it, too.
“A lot of it is the same,” confirmed Katie Conron, a Holy Family alum (Class of ’95) who now teaches 4th grade there. “There’s been some changes, but the beliefs and the fundamentals are still there.”
The fundamentals were then and are now: be polite, be respectful and be yourself. And follow the golden rule!
If only I could’ve remembered the fundamentals of long division so easily when it came time to do math problems on the board with a dozen of Conron’s 4th graders (give yourself a gold star if you know or remember what quotients, dividends and divisors are).
But when it comes to teaching, knowing all the answers is the easy part. The challenge is being able to communicate knowledge in a way kids – in this case 9 and 10-year-olds – will understand.
“You definitely have to try and think like they do sometimes,” said Conron with a laugh.
Not as easy as it sounds. My mind hasn’t matured past 12 and I needed all the help I could get trying to explain the human body’s respiratory and circulatory systems. I even had the teacher’s book, which – after 20 years of wondering what was in there – wasn’t that fountain of freebies I’d always imagined it was. In the end, the kids wound up teaching me.
“They are a great group,” Conron said.
Next, we went through a photo album Mrs. Manwarren, my 6th grade teacher, made for my class when we graduated and documented our seven years at Holy Family. Wow! I went from cute to “he’s got a face only a mother could love” somewhere between 1st and 5th.
All kidding aside, it was nice to take a walk down Memory Lane. Those were great days, being a kid at a school like Holy Family. Most the people I knew then have moved on. As far as I know they’re good people, and doing well (soon, the school will be posting a spot on its website where alumni can give updates on where they are and what they’re up to).
For Conron, to come back as a teacher has brought her Holy Family experience full circle.
“My experience here was a really, really good one, and it helped me become the person I am today,” she said. “To be able to give that experience back to the kids now is great.”
To be able to teach for a day, and look back on the impact teachers had on my life, gave me an even deeper appreciation for the important work they do. Thank you!
Most of the time it involved Chuck Norris and me saving hostages from a hijacked Israeli airplane, or me as a 6’8 forward dunking – with authority – over every member of the Utah Jazz to win the NBA finals. (As part of the fantasy, Karl Malone would retire during a tearful post-game press conference because he was so embarrassed.)
Not much has changed. I still daydream (mostly about Chuck Norris, except now we’re demonstrating his Total Gym workout machine on the beach and hundreds of people have gathered around to behold our rock-hard abs).
Aside from a few minor adjustments – a new library, a few new class rooms and, almost forgot, a middle school! – Holy Family is the same as I remember it, too.
“A lot of it is the same,” confirmed Katie Conron, a Holy Family alum (Class of ’95) who now teaches 4th grade there. “There’s been some changes, but the beliefs and the fundamentals are still there.”
The fundamentals were then and are now: be polite, be respectful and be yourself. And follow the golden rule!
If only I could’ve remembered the fundamentals of long division so easily when it came time to do math problems on the board with a dozen of Conron’s 4th graders (give yourself a gold star if you know or remember what quotients, dividends and divisors are).
But when it comes to teaching, knowing all the answers is the easy part. The challenge is being able to communicate knowledge in a way kids – in this case 9 and 10-year-olds – will understand.
“You definitely have to try and think like they do sometimes,” said Conron with a laugh.
Not as easy as it sounds. My mind hasn’t matured past 12 and I needed all the help I could get trying to explain the human body’s respiratory and circulatory systems. I even had the teacher’s book, which – after 20 years of wondering what was in there – wasn’t that fountain of freebies I’d always imagined it was. In the end, the kids wound up teaching me.
“They are a great group,” Conron said.
Next, we went through a photo album Mrs. Manwarren, my 6th grade teacher, made for my class when we graduated and documented our seven years at Holy Family. Wow! I went from cute to “he’s got a face only a mother could love” somewhere between 1st and 5th.
All kidding aside, it was nice to take a walk down Memory Lane. Those were great days, being a kid at a school like Holy Family. Most the people I knew then have moved on. As far as I know they’re good people, and doing well (soon, the school will be posting a spot on its website where alumni can give updates on where they are and what they’re up to).
For Conron, to come back as a teacher has brought her Holy Family experience full circle.
“My experience here was a really, really good one, and it helped me become the person I am today,” she said. “To be able to give that experience back to the kids now is great.”
To be able to teach for a day, and look back on the impact teachers had on my life, gave me an even deeper appreciation for the important work they do. Thank you!
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