Father's Day Friday: The teacher conference
It's teacher conference period now, and our frequent Guest Dad Joe Burris is back some observations on the ritual. Here's his post:
"A few years ago when I was contemplating leaving the journalism field a few friends asked, "Why don't you consider teaching?" I replied that I could scarcely see myself working as a teacher, and the reason could be summed up in three words: parent-teacher conferencing.
"Every time I attend parent-teacher conferencing night, which I did recently, I come away relieved that I don't have that job. I'd rather give vaccinations to 2-year-olds all day.
"I say this because from a distance, parent-teacher conferencing seems like a no-win activity for the teacher.
"At my 11-year-old daughter Nyaniso's school, conferences are held in the respective teacher's room, which means that parents who arrive earlier than their scheduled meeting time sit as other parents conference with the teachers. Often I've sat listening to parents who are quite stingy when it comes to offering kudos to the teacher. When the child excels, it's because of the parents' efforts to make sure homework is done on time and the child's smarts, which of course was passed down from the parents.
"And when the child does poorly? Look out.
"Recently I overhead a mother berate a teacher because her child had made a "C" for the first time.
" 'Well, I'm sorry, but something must be wrong here, because my daughter doesn't make C's,' the mother scowled. She scarcely listened as the teacher outlined her daughter's output in detail, and at times cut the teacher off in mid-sentence, insisting, again, that her daughter does not make C's. To me, the only saving grace was that her daughter wasn't present.
"I sat there wondering how might I have dealt with the mother if I were her daughter's teacher, and I could come up with nothing.
"When my wife and I finally approached the teacher, we began by thanking her for all her help in making certain our daughter stays on top on her work. The teacher's smile was so big you would have thought she won the Powerball lottery.
"So here's to all you teachers out there. Yours is a tough job that someone has to do. I'm glad it's not me."
Comments
Oh wow--that's an eye-opening post!
It made me think back to the parent-teacher conference days (our sons are grown up now). I remember thinking it was a good thing when a teacher described one son as "task-oriented," until I learned that was teacher-speak for "he just wants to get his worksheet done so he can go outside and play."
Posted by: Dahlink | December 13, 2008 11:19 AM
Well stated! I grew up in a family of teachers, and remember parent-teacher conference time being particularly stressful for the teachers in my family. Now that a lot of my friends are also teachers, they serve as reminders that it can be way too easy for parents to cop out on their own responsibilities and blame teachers for things parents should be staying on top of. I also recall my teachers actually looking forward to meeting with my parents around that time, because they knew they would be talking with colleagues who knew what it was like to be in their shoes.
Thanks to all the teachers out there who go above and beyond, work long hours - often for not enough money, endure those often painful parent-teacher interactions, and look forward to snow days often more than the students do!
Posted by: Melanie | December 15, 2008 10:29 AM