Conference Days
It's that time of the school year - Parent/Teacher conferences!
I hate and dread conference time, as it always makes me feel inadequate, like there was something more I could have done for someone's Earth Angel to help them learn. It doesn't matter to the parents of that particular underachiever that I put in at least an hour after school every day working on grades and planning for the next day. Nor do they care that I actually have a life outside of the school building with an Earth Angel of my own. What matters is that I didn't coerce their child into staying after school for extra help that they were completely unreceptive to - that I didn't carve that hour out of my own time and give, give, give until it hurt. I guess I'm not that altruistic. Whatever.
What really burns my toast is that I have a classroom full of underachievers for one period of the day. Twelve of sixteen students failed the first marking period. Ten of that twelve failed with a final average of below 50 percent. WTF?! They couldn't comprehend why I was so upset with them, either. In another class, I had a student fail with a 14%. Fourteen! Percent! Why bother coming to class if you're not going to do anything? How do I explain to those parents that their students just don't care, and nothing I've done could make them care? How can I do that and not sound totally incompetent?
I don't want to sound like a whiny, excuse-making cop-out artist, but jeez! What more could I have done? Parented their children myself? Just given out 'A's indiscriminately? Called every parent every time a homework assignement was missing? Not bloody likely, I'll tell you.
Wish me luck for tomorrow. I'm sure I'll offend someone.
I hate and dread conference time, as it always makes me feel inadequate, like there was something more I could have done for someone's Earth Angel to help them learn. It doesn't matter to the parents of that particular underachiever that I put in at least an hour after school every day working on grades and planning for the next day. Nor do they care that I actually have a life outside of the school building with an Earth Angel of my own. What matters is that I didn't coerce their child into staying after school for extra help that they were completely unreceptive to - that I didn't carve that hour out of my own time and give, give, give until it hurt. I guess I'm not that altruistic. Whatever.
What really burns my toast is that I have a classroom full of underachievers for one period of the day. Twelve of sixteen students failed the first marking period. Ten of that twelve failed with a final average of below 50 percent. WTF?! They couldn't comprehend why I was so upset with them, either. In another class, I had a student fail with a 14%. Fourteen! Percent! Why bother coming to class if you're not going to do anything? How do I explain to those parents that their students just don't care, and nothing I've done could make them care? How can I do that and not sound totally incompetent?
I don't want to sound like a whiny, excuse-making cop-out artist, but jeez! What more could I have done? Parented their children myself? Just given out 'A's indiscriminately? Called every parent every time a homework assignement was missing? Not bloody likely, I'll tell you.
Wish me luck for tomorrow. I'm sure I'll offend someone.
posted by Peevish McSnark at
6:10 PM
5 Comments:
Heya dear-- stick to your guns. I know college is a whole different ball game, but we have students who don't care too. When their grades get bad enough that they come to me in a panic, I simply sit down and show them the facts. Assignment X: never turned in. Assignment Y: never turned in. Assignment Z: Late and incorrect. And I should be giving extra credit? When they can't do what's assigned? We all know that we teachers don't give grades...students earn them. Don't feel badly for doing your job. If my suspicions are correct, you probably won't see most of the parents of the failing kids anyway...because they don't care either. More's the pity.
My heart goes out to you-- though sometimes I WISH we had parent-teacher conferences here at college. It would be nice to at least have the opportunity to discuss student progress with SOMEONE-- parent or kid.
By
Anonymous, At
10:15 AM
I feel your pain, babe!!
By
Anonymous, At
11:00 AM
Ugh. The parents always made me feel like a child myself. I found things improved when I put myself on the same side of the table as the parents instead of sitting across from them. Just a body language thing that made a big difference.
Good luck!
By
Whinger, At
1:33 PM
Well, the comprehensive system over here in Blighty is all about rewarding underachievers. It works: everybody gets millions of grade As for their school exams! But we now have to have A* grades to start discriminating the not so stupid from the stupid. And overall the standards are getting lower.
Keep caring though. Because one day one child will benefit, they'll turn themselves around because of your efforts and if you can do for just one child, it'll make it all worth while.
Or you could just stand at the class, pull mong faces at them and call them useless fuck-up spastics (the parents, not the kids).
By
Sniffy, At
1:57 PM
So, how'd it go? Details, we want details....:)
By
Stacy The Peanut Queen, At
10:25 AM
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home