WEEK 8 - Parent-Teacher Conferences

This week we will have parent-teacher conferences. The first part will be Tuesday from 4pm-8pm. The second part is Wednesday from 8am-12pm. Generally conferences would be all day Wednesday (students have Wednesday off, and then Th and F for MEA), but we voted to split them between Tuesday and Wednesday so that parents who work odd hours would have different choices about when to come.

Personally, I love parent-teacher conferences. I have had nothing but good experiences with parents during conferences. The way I see it, if a student is doing awesome and his/her parent comes in, I get to be the bearer of good news, which I love to do and parents love to hear. And if a student is struggling, I get to connect with the parent, who many times is unaware that his/her child is struggling. In that case, I have the opportunity to get the parents on board to help support the student. Only good has come from my interactions with parents.

Although I have not had any issues during conferences, I do understand that that's not the case for everyone. Many times parents have an idea of how things should or shouldn't be taught, and they sometimes put the pressure on the teacher to change what they are doing. Other times, parents think that their child should be getting a higher grade than s/he deserves, and in their minds, it becomes a problem with the teacher rather than the student. I personally have not had these experiences, but I know that it happens all the time, and can be a very stressful part of teaching.

My hours for week 8:

Day	Date	Start	End	Total Hours
Sun	10/7/2012	9:30 PM	11:00 PM	1.5
M	10/8/2012	7:45 AM	6:00 PM	10.25
		10:30 PM	11:15 PM	0.75
T	10/9/2012	7:30 AM	5:30 PM	10
		7:30 PM	8:30 PM	1
W	10/10/2012	7:45 AM	5:00 PM	9.25
Th	10/11/2012	7:30 AM	6:00 PM	10.5
		9:45 PM	10:45 PM	1
F	10/12/2012	7:45 AM	5:00 PM	9.25
Sat	10/13/2012	9:30 AM	1:30 PM	4
	Total			57.5