en loco parentis, in place of the parent.

Going into this semester I

would have told you that this term refers to the teacher legally standing in
place of the parent during the school day, taking on the responsibility of
caring for the child. Though this is the technical definition and by no means
wrong, it is an incomplete picture of what the term has come to mean to me
as a teacher.
In January, I found myself facing 31 fifth graders, 18 boys, 13 girls and
the prospect of not just facing them but teaching themmathscience
reading, writing, social studies. But over the past 14 weeks, I have come to
understand that standing in place of the parent during the school day is
actually the most important, rewarding, emotional, exhausting, and
absolutely hardest part of being a teacher. Being en loco parentis means
answering the same question with the same answer even when you are
asked for the twenty-seventh time that day It means showing that student
that in my classroom, no means no, no matter how many times you ask,
especially since that is not the case at home. It means being a patient,
consistent adult who stands by their word, meaning I must be careful in the
statements I make. Standing in place of the parent means teaching students
how to resolve conflict by taking responsibility for their actions and working
towards a solution instead of pointing the finger at everyone else and
tearing each other down. In doing this it also means modeling that myself
when in conflict with a student or fellow teacher. It means being on all the
time because everything I do is being watched by many sets of eyes and
ears. Being en loco parentis means laying awake at night worrying about
my students, thinking about how I can be there for them the next day. For
some students I simply continue the work their parents are doing at home
but for far too many it means being one of the only adults they are going to
be in contact with that day who models consistency, conflict resolution, and
many other valuable attributes. I have come to understand that being en
loco parentis is the most important part of my job, yes the academic
content I teach each day is vitally important, but academic content is not
what gets me out of bed each morning at 5 am when my alarm goes off,
what gets me out of bed each and every morning is my kids.