ptc observations

Well, I made it through Parent Teacher Conferences. It's Friday morning and I promised myself I'd sleep in, but at 8:30 I popped up and was wide awake. I suppose 8:30 is sleeping in for my normal waking up time of 5:30. I'm hoping that in a few minutes, I feel sleepy and will be able to go back to sleep for a bit.

I had a fairly good turn out at PTC about 35 parents both nights. A few of the ones that came were ones that I actually needed to see and I got good information from a lot of parents about their students. I used the laptop in my room and as people came, I pulled up a grade report for the individual student. It worked well and this way I didn't waste any paper!

I noticed some interesting things about parents coming to talk about their students grades. I hate to generalize or maybe put these 'stereotypes' on people, but rather just stating it as an observation. First off, the parents of my Bosnian/Croatian students are very serious when it comes to grades. I had one student who has a B+ in my class, a grade I feel is very good considering. I told this parent that his student was doing good in my class and he reported back to me, "No, it's not good." Luckily, I had added a few scores to his grade which raised it up to an A and the parent was fine. Another Bosnian parent had a difficult time hearing that his student was too talkative in my class. He told me that he would take care of it at home and that I should call him if I had any major problems.

Another observation I made was with the parents of my Hispanic students. For most, they barely understood my English. A few understood me when I used hand motions or pointed to something. For them, I realized that they weren't so much upset about the letter grade than they were the behavior. I firmly believe that behavior in class has a direct correlation to the grade. If a student had a D or something, the parent was more concerned about the behavior, not necessarily the letter grade.

And then, lastly, something I remember from last year as well as all of the times my mom went to my Parent Teacher Conferences: The students who do good in all of their classes, both grade wise and behavior wise, are the ones that take up the majority of the parents who come. I remember always being so nervous for my mom to come home, but every time she came home she had nothing but good things to report. The conferences with these students as a teacher last maybe 1 minute because I have no negative things to say. The parents already know their students is nearly perfect.

Yesterday I was very tired during the day. I wore my glasses and had my hair in a ponytail. I told my bratty 2nd period that I wasn't feeling well and that I didn't have the patience for them. They seemed to understand and got right to work. I was walking around to see if they needed help and this one girls says, "You don't look very good today." Thanks. They all laughed and said I should give her an F. Then she came to PTC last night with her mom and explained how sorry she had felt all day. I laughed and told her it wasn't a huge deal; I know I didn't look very good.

I have tons of DVR shows to watch today--I simply want to relax and not do one bit of school work. I think Ben and I might go to Milcreek Canyon with the dog a little later and take some pictures.

I'll leave you now with this: Hope you all have a good Friday at work while I'm at home :)