Parent-Teacher

Tonight was an interesting experience - my first parent-teacher conferences (made more interesting by the pitcher of beer we shared at dinner!). We had about 7 or 8 sets of parents through, which was far less than some other teachers (for example, the one next door who is reknown for being really tough), but still a decent turnout. I was surprised that I couldn't pick up a pattern as to which parents came and which didn't. Other than the obvious that the parents who came obviously care a lot about their child. But there was no trend in terms of marks. We had a couple of sets in about their daughters who are both doing extremely well (mid to high nineties) and just want to make sure they're developing the right study habits for university. We had a couple in for students that struggle through the math but aren't failing (65-75 (60 is the pass number at my school)) - discussions over whether they should take the more advanced math next year, or hire a tutor and so forth. Then we had a few in about kids who are not doing well, mostly because the student just isn't willing to put in any time. The parents are obviously concerned, caring and well-meaning and the kids don't seem to correlate at all with the parents, which was an assumption I had had going in. I learned a fair amount about discussing marks, attendance and behaviour with parents without pissing them off. My cooperating teacher has it down to an art.

Speaking of attendance, I had the pleasure of making my first calls home to a parent today. The students had received their report cards about 10 days ago and had until yesterday to bring them back signed. We had told them that if they were not back by today we would be phoning home to pass on the marks and ensure the parents knew about parent-teacher night. Lo and behold, two students had not returned them - they had also not been in school the last two days, so we couldn't really fault them for it. I called one number and left a message. But at the second number I spoke with his mother.

Me: Hi, I'm calling from your son's high school. Last week we handed out report cards and he hasn't returned it signed yet.

Mom: Sigh. I signed it and gave it to him four days ago.

Me: That's okay - probably just kids being kids. Hahaha.

Mom: Yeah - he's not that organized. I'll have a discusson with him tonight.

Me: Besides which, I know he wouldn't have been able to bring it in since he's been away from school these last two days.

[awkward silence]

Mom: I'm sorry, he's been what?

Me: Ah...I take it this will be a more interesting conversation between you two tonight.

Mom: But he's at school right now, right?

Me: Um...not so much...at least he wasn't there for homeroom and period 3 math, which are my classes with him.

Mom: Well thank you very much. We will deal with this.

Me: No problems. Reminder about parent-teacher night...

So I caught my first student jigging (which is East Coast for skipping class). You have to wonder about a student who jigs the two days before parent-teacher night when we'd told him we'd be phoning home if he didn't return the report card. Nice work Einstein.

On another note, I gave my grade 10s, who I have been teaching on my own now for 2 weeks, a quiz today that was on all the material I've covered. It will be a bit of a test of how well I'm getting through to them. Initial returns are not so great, at least for the morning class, with an average of 68%. In my defence, I will point out my cooperating teacher says the morning class is the most difficult math class he's had in 4 years. I haven't finished marking the afternoon grade 10s yet, but I suspect they did much better. He says they're the best math class he's had in 4 years...extremes abound.

But things are progressing well in this internship. It is tiring - always having to think of what to do the next day, always having to "perform" in front of the class. But I'm gaining confidence and think I'm starting to deal with the classes well - particularly when it comes to discipline issues now. Just wait til you hear my teacher voice :-)