Parent - Teacher conference #2

Last year, in an effort to make my 100% participation from parents at conferences, I had to try to be a little creative (such an important trait for a teacher).

I had schedule all my conference for one day and most parents said they could meet on this day. I had a few parents that requested another time due to their work schedule, which I was more than happy to oblige. By any means, right?

There was one parent (who later became a thorn in my side all year) that couldn't bother to drag herself out of bed to come for a scheduled conference. This was not surprising to me since she had three other students in my school and two of these students were having MAJOR problems in school, and she never bothered to show her face. These students included a kindergartner who would throw VIOLENT temper tantrums at school because she didn't want to be there. Ultimately, this little girl was switched teachers, in order to try and make her feel safe, given incentives for every hour she didn't' throw a tantrum and stayed at school, and basically was given the option to not even be in class, as long as she was at school, this was considered a huge accomplishment.

But I digress. Anyway, about a week after several attempts to meet with this "no show" parent, I was at my wits end. This one unconcerned parent was keeping me from reaching my 100% goal. What could I do to get this parent to meet with me? I was considering a home visit, when the "conference gods" smiled upon me and gave me a solution.

It seemed that her other "troubled" child, who was in the third grade, decided to kick, hit and hurt his teacher along with trashing through his class, with the force of a tornado. Due to the extreme nature of this incident the police had to called, and they in turned tried to contact the parent. Even with this situation, "Ms. No Show" didn't feel it necessary to be bothered to come to school and obtain her son. The police paid a visit to her home and basically gave her the ultimatum of either coming to school or going to jail. She chose school.

It just so happened that I was in the office as this mother was being escorted into the Principal's office. I stayed around for a bit. While the officers talked to her and explained the severity of her non-parenting skills, I waited for my chance. And then it happened. The officers stepped out of the office to speak with teacher and principal about the incident that had transpired. With folder in hand, I scooted into the office to conference with the parent. Bold, huh?

I told her that I knew she had a lot on her plate at the moment and I hated to add one more thing, but if I could just have a minute, we could discuss her child's progress in my class and then she could get back to the matter at hand. She agreed, we talked and discussed concerns I had with her child. She signed the conference form and I was in and out before the police returned. As I walked away down the hall, proud of my huge coup, I was stopped by my assistant principal and asked why I was coming out of the Principal's office, where the police had been and Ms. No Show was stationed.

I simply replied with a smirk, "Oh, I just had a parent-teacher conference with Ms. No Show. This was the only time she could come in."

"You just held a conference with her? While she is in police custody?" she asked.
"Yep, sure did. Oh and here is my conference sheet, as you can see I made 100% participation again this year. Hope this helps you with downtown."

I handed her the sheet and walked away with her mouth still open.

Victory was mine!

Parent - Teacher Conference

So every year, at the end of the first nine weeks, we have the dreaded parent - teacher conferences. Our administration pushes us to receive 100% participation from parents, meaning attempt to meet with all parents. This makes administration look great to their bosses downtown, and makes my life a little easier if I meet their goals.

So for the past three years, (pat my back) I have strived and succeeded to conference with every parent of every student in my class. But it hasn't come very easy, I must say, but I get my conferences by any means necessary.

My first year at my school, I had a student who had a twin in another class. We tried desparately to schedule one conference for this parent. Working with my colleague, we scheduled a time that we could meet together. The parent would come in ONE TIME and we would meet together to discuss both children. The parent, of course, didn't want to visit the school at all, but since we had trouble with both students, it was more than a necessary.
So on the day and time of the perspective meeting, the other teacher and I met and waited for the parent to show. And waited, and waited, and waited. The parent was (wait for it) a no show. I'm sorry, I didn't realize that your child's education was so trivial to you, that you can't come in for a SIMPLE MEETING, to which two teachers worked hard to find a convenient time FOR YOU!

We then tried to do a phone conference (yes, this does count in 100% goal, but a face to face is encouraged). We had about 6 contact numbers for these two students, you would think that at least one number would work. Negative. All 6 numbers were either disconnected or not available. Another road block. We stopped there. But I wasn't giving up.

The next week, we had our annual "Fall Family Fling". In which students would come to school, dressed in Halloween costumes and play games for prizes. Families also received free pizza and drinks. Wouldn't you know, free is the key word, and this family. including the mother, (whom I had tried desparately to come to school, but who couldn't be bothered with a conference) free food and games, and she was in! When I saw her in line for pizza, and gingerly walked right up and said, "Ms. Blah-Blah, I'm so glad you could come tonight. After you get your dinner, why don't you come to my classroom before the festivites start and let's have a quick conference about Baby blah-blah's performance in class." BAM! She couldn't say no. She was caught like a animal in a trap. I escorted her up to my classroom and had my conference while she ate her free pizza.

Lesson learned: A child's education is not as important as free Papa John's and a coke.

I have too much on my plate, can you please not add ANOTHER thing?

So on top of teaching Fourth grade (all subjects), I am head of two committees, have two mentees, and two part-time jobs. Needless to say, I have a lot on my plate.


Inevitably, someone, somewhere in my school will come to me and ask me to do one more thing. Whether it be one more committee , one more piece of paperwork, one more parent to call, one more meeting to set up, I can not handle ONE MORE THING!!! I am up to the brink of things that I have to do. WHY OH WHY, does people think that teachers have all the time in the world to do just one more thing.

I am sick of paperwork. I can literally drown in all the papers on my desk. Things that need to be done, things that should be done, things that people want me to get done. I am thinking about just dumping my whole desk in the recyclable file cabinet (ie the trash can). I really don't think I can be handed on more paper, one more worksheet. I am at my limit and I am about to crack.

This blog is my only refuge. It is my cathartic way of dealing with the stress. I just hope that it lasts long enough until the next tragedy takes over my world.

Fat - less

In a recent lesson reviewing suffixes, we were talking about the suffix "-less", meaning "to be without". I began asking students for words that they knew with the suffix "-less" and to use it in a sentence.

Though her intentions were real and genuine, one of my students raised her hand ready to give me her very best sentence. With a stong voice, she answers, "Ms. Guidry is fatless. Like, without fat!" I was very impressed with her trying to overcome my self-deprecation, I replied, "Well, thank you for that sweet sentiment, but fat-less is really not a word. But I am glad that you tried."

It's nice to know that my students see me better than I see myself.

A new year

Last school year ended on June 10, 2008. This was the last official day with students. However, teachers had to come for an extra four days to clean up, pack up and get things ready for the next year. So this was the beginning of my "summer break". Since teachers have three months off of not doing anything, I couldn't wait for my relaxing vacation......

YEAH RIGHT!!! This is how my summer "vacation" was really spent":

The very first week of "break", I attended three mini workshops on Team Building activities in the classroom, "What Good Teachers Do Differently" by an awesome educational speaker, Dr. Todd Whittaker, and another workshop on Rigor and Relevence in the classroom. I was doing all this while holding down my other two summer jobs.

Week Two was spent taking another course. An education symposium on Urban Education. I wanted to be able to use this information from this workshop to help the students in my school. This was one of the best workshops that I had taken for a long time.

Fast forward to July, where I took a three day course on Mentoring Beginning Teachers. One of the most important thing that a "veteran" teacher can do, to ensure that the new teachers who are coming in, will stay. The turn over in our school is ridiculous. It's a hard school ,with a low-socio-economic population. I wanted to help, to give back to all the "mentors" in my career who helped me.

This brings me to August, when I could finally get into my class toset up for working on this year. Remember I am still working two other jobs, so the time that I had to actually work IN my classroom was very limited. Meanwhile, all summer I was sending emails setting up programs to help my school become better. What can we do to get parents involved? How can we bring up our scores? What can I do to become a better teacher and infect others with this challenge? These were my ultimate goals.

Foward to the "first week of school" for teachers. Monday was a "meet and greet". Getting to know the new teachers (21 or so) and learning of all the new "rules" that we would have to comply with. Did you ever notice that sometimes it feels that teachers have more rules that the students do? Hello? Are we all adults here? Evidently not, because this year it felt like we were getting bombarded with more things we HAVE to do, and ALOT of this we COULDN'T do anymore because other teachers didn't do their job last year.

This brings me to two full days to get my classroom ready before parents and students showed up for "Back to School Night". Overwhelmed does not even cover how we all felt. And I am a fourth year teacher, the stress on the new teachers were even more. But we made it through. Yes, some of my posters weren't (and still aren't) put up. Files that I wanted "go through" and "get in order" were never accomplished. But I made it through with no big upsets. Until I realized that I had only three days before students came and it was the " First Day of School".
A new year. 180 days to change the lives of 17 students......