OK, if you are a fan of pop culture at all, you recognize the reference I'm making to the great Monday night show, 24. Well, I felt a bit like Jack Bauer today, living at the school from 7am till 8pm. Tonight was Parent Conference night. And it was a conference night like no other I've ever experienced.
I'm used to sending out 10-12 requests, then sitting through 4 hours of mostly boredom while 2 of our requested parents show up, maybe 2 or 3 who we didn't request show up, and the rest avoid us like the plague.
But then, that was when I taught Gen Ed. Tonight, being a dual-language (ie, bilingual) teacher, it was like, "Welcome to the Big Leagues, Mister Teacher!"
Conferences started at 4:00. By 4:05, we had about 15 people in the hallway outside my room.
My partner and I had sent home requests to 16 of our kids, spacing the conferences 15 minutes apart. I had told both of my classes that if they did not get a request form to PLEASE tell their parents NOT to come to the school tonight. I told them that we would be happy to talk to them some other time, but that we needed the time to speak to the parents we had requested.
By the end of the night (and we WERE the last ones out the door), we had met with 24 parents. There was no downtime, no lulls, no periods between 4 and 8 that there weren't people waiting to see us.
Of course, one could take from this that my kids just don't follow directions (often true), but I suppose a lot of the parents wanted to meet with us because we were not their children's teachers back in October when the last conference night occurred.
Hey, by comparison, tomorrow will BREEZE right by!!
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6 comments:
So... Mr Teacher Bauer... did you ever hear the toc toc sound of the little timer in your head? :))
ps... I think that's why the cut to commercials on the TV show, so that Mr Bauer can relieve... hahahaha
I've read a few posts from others over the years about a lack of parents at conferences. As hectic as it was, you are in a lot of ways so blessed to have met with so many! And that was another feat for Super Teacher!
wait a minute....bi-lingual ed means English as second language. Doesn't that also mean primary family culture is not typical American? Maybe you experienced for the 1st time families who actually understand that education is the key to improving your means in addition to the other reasons you stated for outstanding participation. Hope you got a comp day off the next day.
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Happy, you are no doubt correct. It was hectic, but there was certainly no aggression, no confrontation, and lots of care and involvement.
Margaret, no comp day...In fact, I was so tired, I somehow missed BOTH my alarms the next day and almost was late to school!!
We have an end-of-quarter gathering every Veterans Day called Touching Bases. November 11th is usually a school day, but a lot of parents have off. So, we have a delayed opening, and parents come to assigned spots in the school (teachers are at cafeteria tables in large areas, such as the gyms, the cafeteria, etc.) to chat. We each have hour (minute?) glasses, and each parent gets 3 minutes. I was so surprised to get 20 parents this last time, just to talk about how well their kids were doing in journalism! PS: Don't forget mañana's Sx3!
(insert shocked face here)
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