Media teacher Jeff Manders has had the unique privilege of teaching two of his kids, Kenzie and Liam, in Media Communications, and Liam also took AP Government. Liam graduated last year, but Kenzie is currently a sophomore.
Manders loves working in the same building his kids go to school in. He sees Kenzie every day before her second hour class and usually receives a wave of acknowledgement.
“I wouldn’t say [working in the same school Kenzie goes to is] a hindrance,” Manders said. “I like it. I think it’s nice to see [Kenzie] if I have to say anything to her. She drives now, but before she was driving, she would have her sports gear, and she’d come in here and drop it off and have a place to keep it. But now that she’s driving, she’s a little more independent.”
While Kenzie is more independent, Manders still knows what’s going on in her life. It helps that he is co-workers and friends with most, if not all, of her teachers, which makes parent-teacher conferences easy (meaning he doesn’t have to go).
Manders also knows all the events going on in her school, the sports, dances, and assemblies in which he is involved. He can go support his daughter and his other students by going to a sporting event. Manders has found that working in the same building as his kids gives him a bigger appreciation for what students go through daily. He believes he has a better understanding through his kids what his students balance in their lives.
“I think what its really helped me understand [is] what students deal with and what they go through,” Manders said. “Having had a child of my own, who’s a student in this building, I really know in the past few years [what] has been going on. This is my 13th year here, and I think I now have a better idea of how busy a lot of students are, especially those who play sports and have a job, [or] do other extracurricular activities. [I’ve learned] how much they have going on in their lives and how tough it is to juggle school and all your other commitments. It really helped open my eyes to that.”
Manders is not the only teacher in the building who has their kids attend FHC. Math teacher Rebecca Lipke has had her daughter Zoey attend and graduate from FHC, and her son Eli is a junior now. She, like Manders, gained insight only a teacher who is a parent can gain. She is happy her kids attended or attend FHC so she can better understand her students and work harder to make their workload lighter or better fit their hectic schedules.
“Probably my biggest learning curve has been having my own kids go through the high school,” Lipke said. “And I wish that I, back when I first started 27 years ago, knew then what I knew after my kids came through. Understanding [school] from their perspective about the different stresses that they’re going through, and the immense pressure here for grades and high achievement in everything you do and to be involved in 1000 things but get all your schoolwork done and go to bed early. You know, all these different things that they have to juggle, I didn’t really get it until I watched my oldest daughter go through it and saw how much it was. It gave me a different perspective as a teacher in terms of the quantity of homework that I assign [and in] me planning ahead so that I can help my students [to work] in advance because they’re leaving for tournaments and for shows and for things. [I do this]to help them with the planning and time management of it. I wish I knew this 20 years ago.”
Lipke has learned a lot from her kids that she takes into her daily life when dealing with students and planning lessons. She also feels as though her kids have learned from her how hectic teachers’ schedules can be and to hold more respect for them. She feels like her kids have more respect for her as a whole by being able to see her at work.
“I think that [my kids] have a lot more respect for what it is that I do,” Lipke said. “Because they see not just me here, but they see how I interact with their friends and other kids in difficult situations. They see how much work I do at home, and how much time I put into it. So I feel like that’s really given them a good perspective about just what it is I do.”
Eli Lipke is both slightly embarrassed by and loves the fact that his mom works at his school. He gets to put his extra textbooks and practice bags in her room, eat lunch with her, and have a place to relax between classes. But he also has to hear his mom yell at students in the hallway, which he knows she has to do, but it’s still a little embarrassing.
However, Eli knows that because his mom works in the building he has a stronger connection to his teachers and holds more respect for them and for school.
“I think [my mom being a teacher here] definitely has made me bond with my teachers more because they know I’m her son, and they’ve heard stuff about me,” Eli said. “So then, when they finally meet me, they’re like, ‘Oh, this kid is cool.’ And I feel like it’s easier to bond with teachers. I definitely have more [respect for my teachers]. Some people are like, ‘Oh, I hate teachers because they’re teachers,’ but I kind of see them past that. I know more of them as who they are outside of school. I really do like a lot of my teachers, [and] I have enjoyed them with talking with them and stuff like that.”
Eli holds more respect for his teachers and has found it easier to see them past just teachers but as people with lives outside of school. He can connect and go to his teachers more easily because of this.
Eli’s friends have also benefitted from his mom being a teacher, they sometimes join Eli in her room for lunch, and she is someone in the school they know they can go to if they need help or have questions. Overall, Eli sees the many benefits he gets from his mom working in the building: he has a place to go to unwind, he connects with his teachers more, and he has a large respect for school and teachers.
Eli believes all students could benefit from seeing their teachers as more than teachers, and by holding more respect towards them. He has some advice for other students he believes would help them out.
“Realize that teachers aren’t out to get you and that they [assign] the work to help better yourself,” Eli said. “Even if you think [the work is] a lot, or useless, or not worth it, see [that your teachers] are trying to help you. They’re actually cool people, not just teachers.”
