The other side of Parent Teacher Conference

Okay, not that I've ever experienced the parent side of the conference, but I didn't think I'd ever be on this side of parent teacher conferences. As I imagined it, I was sitting in the small desk hearing wonderful things said about my children by their adoring teachers.

Tonight was my first run in with parents face to face. (Oh, except for the parent who sat in on my very first lesson on the very first day of school. That wasn't intimidating.) I've called several parents about behavior problems, so that's nothing new. But two whole evenings filled with parents is a little bit daunting. My first visit was the mother of two of my students in two different classes. She was pleasant. Her son just barely passed and her daughter put in more effort, but also just passed.

The most unpleasant part of the evening was watching a mother ream into her daughter for not passing my class. I watched the daughter cry during the stern talking-to. I felt awful, but honestly the girl talks straight through my class. Today she put forth special effort during my class hoping I would have tons of good stuff to tell her mother. But guess what. One day doesn't really make up for 8 weeks of goofing off. Her grade was totally justified. Nevertheless, I felt pretty uncomfortable.

One of the other teacher's was threatened by a mean mother. That didn't happen, so I guess the evening was a success. I'm up for day two tomorrow. Plus we only have half a day of classes! Thank-you NYC Public Education System.