Parent/Teacher Conferences

When growing up in my day there was no such thing as these. Well, there was the visits during the National Education Week when the parents would converse with teachers, but not so much on a one-on-one basis. I can remember getting a report card (in grade school) with comments the teacher wrote on the back. Often it was to tell how their student was needing to improve and maybe once in a while some really positive comments. If your student was really having a problem then your parent would come to talk to the teacher one-on-one, but other than that there wasn't that much contact with the teacher.

In this day and age there is more contact with the teacher. In our school system, we as parents, are allowed to talk with the teachers at least twice a year or more. If there is a question or a problem we are allowed to contact them immediately or at least use email. Communication between parents and teachers are a whole lot better today. It's great! As parents we can find out exactly what the teacher sees and what our students tell us.

Yesterday we went out to the HS to have the conferences. I always look forward to this time of year. I really enjoy most of the teachers on the whole. A few, depending on how well my daughter and son are doing in the classroom, I dread to even visit with.

There are the teachers that hand out a progress report and have nothing to say, especially if the student is doing well. I would at least like to hear a little feedback instead of nothing at all. We spend a minute, if that at one teacher's table. Then those teachers we know our daughter really likes we spend more time talking to them. They sometime tells us things that are surprising and a lot of positive things, these are the teachers I really enjoy. Teachers who talk about helping them get further in subjects, these are the true teachers. The ones who truly care about students doing well in school.

One of the most interesting teachers last night was the Biology teacher. I was looking at these bones that students glued to a card. The teacher tells us that was the remnants of a dissected owl pellet. I was so fascinated by that, that afterwards at home I looked on the Internet about how this was formed. Now I understood how these pellets were "formed." I like teachers that makes their subject so interesting for the student.

The last teacher we visited was funny, but the subject was Math. He really didn't give us any constructive ideas to help our daughter in that subject. I just know that my kid will not ever be a Math major or minor. It would be nice if Math teachers would make their subject more interesting. Or at least break it down for those who just struggle with it. If they could do that, then they would be good teachers.

After the conferences at the HS, I came back with a positive feeling overall. I feel like she is getting a good education here.

Parent/Teacher Conferences are a good idea, it is a win-win situation.