Saturday, September 30, 2006

Saturday Update

The weekend is here! Finally!

I made it through Back to School Night on Wednesday unscathed. Most of the parents seemed excited to be there and interested in what I had to say.

Both of my presentations went really well, I thought. However, there was one father who interupted me three times, and I thought that was really rude. The other parents were rolling their eyes every time he interrupted. He was very gruff and unfriendly, but I held my own. It wasn't enough for him that I had a blog for them to check homework assignments. No, he wanted a rundown on the blog of which chapters we were studying and more notice of upcoming tests. I told him to ask his daughter what she was learning in class. Actually, I said, "I recommend you maintain a dialogue with your daughter about the things she's learning at school, and ask her to bring her textbooks home to show you what she's read in class." After my presentation, he came up and thanked me for holding his daughter accountable when she didn't have her homework the other day, and told me one of her greatest faults was her lack of organization. He was a real hard@#% and I feel badly for his daughter. I don't think she will ever live up to his expectations for her.

Another mother needled me about using email, after I'd already told everyone that the blog wouldn't accept comments or email. I don't think she understood that I didn't want to bring my job home with me. I just was trying to make things a little easier for them by posting assignments on the blog, something I've never done before and something that most teachers don't do. Some people are never satisfied. A few other parents thought the evening was an opportunity for them to address issues their children were having. They wanted a little mini-conference, if you will. Back to School Night isn't the time to do that. It's not fair to monopolize the teacher's time asking questions about your child's particular issues.

Thank goodness that's over for another year.

In other news, I am going to my twenty year high school reunion after all. I didn't think I'd be going because none of my friends from high school were wanting to go, but Teresa has changed her mind and so I'll be going too. It's three weeks from tonight. The ticket is ridiculously overpriced, but it might be fun to see everybody. I did have a sense that I was missing out on something by not going, so I'm glad that the plan has changed.




And, lastly, I'm a bit discouraged again by the most recent post on the RQ site. I think I'd be fine with anything in the 12-18 month range from LID to referral, but this talk of 24+ months is just awful.

10 Comments:

  • At 12:23 PM, Blogger C's Mom said…

    What a week! I think the teacher blog is an awesome idea. Always, there are going to be people who want more and more...so they can do less and less. They really can rain on your parade. I hope those individuals continue to be outnumbered by the appreciative people who have some understanding.

    As for 24 months....simply not going to believe that one. Nope, not gonna do it.

     
  • At 1:47 PM, Blogger Sugar Cookies And Hope said…

    Ugh! Parent night can be a parent "nightmare"! What I have learned in my 11 years of teaching is that we will never please everyone. You can do the best you can and the most you can, but people will always find fault. I guess it keeps us on our toes. As for the commenting on your blog and the email, our teachers' union advises that no teacher use email to communicate with parents (or their students for that matter) as it could breed trouble. You are doing the right thing. Stick to your guns!

     
  • At 2:23 PM, Blogger Special K said…

    You sound like an awesome teacher. And one who loves her profession. It shows.

    As for 24 mths, I'm with Connie. Not happening.

     
  • At 3:47 PM, Blogger Shelley said…

    I'm with Connie too. In fact, I have to believe that China will pick up momentum and start catching things up a bit. This slowdown cannot be good for business, and I think they will start to realize that people will not stand for it.

    At you're reunion, be prepared to be blown away by how OLD people look. :) One thing I didn't do that I wished I had was to scour my senior yearbook to try to remember faces and names. It was very embarrassing when people would come up and hug me ...happy as heck to see me ...but I didn't have a clue as to who they were. I hate hurting people's feelings but there is one woman that I will never forget (now) because we were evidently close in school, but I couldn't place her face with a name for the life of me. Ugghh!

    Anyway, have fun.

    Shell

    P.S. - Isn't BTSN always like that? There are always a few that make it miserable for everyone. Especially the poor teacher. This year at Gillian's, there was a woman who vigorously nodded her head to every point the teacher made in her presentation, and every once in a while punctuated her agreement with a huge, audible grunt. Afterward, as we were walking out of the school, my lovely hubby chose to ask me in a loud voice, "Hey, did you catch that lady who was grunting in class?" Guess who was walking right behind us.

    I could have just clobbered him. :)

     
  • At 5:06 PM, Blogger Abby's Mom said…

    I refuse to believe that rumor!!!

     
  • At 5:30 PM, Blogger dawn said…

    With regard to the RQ rumour: will someone please stop this rollercoaster, my emotions can't take much more of this :(
    Hopefully the next rumour will have us smiling and gleeful again.....PLEASE.

     
  • At 5:36 PM, Blogger ~Kristen said…

    Big difference from my BTSN!!! Have a great time at your reunion.

    That rumor is just unbelievable, not even going to think about it.

     
  • At 6:20 PM, Blogger t~ said…

    I ditto Connie's comments!

    Love the blog idea, especially for parents to look at, sometimes we parents are just clueless to what needs to be done.

    Hand over ears, eyes shut.....not believing the 24 month rumor. I do believe it will go up more, but not to 24 months.

     
  • At 6:54 PM, Blogger Paulette said…

    I think I'm going to stop going to RQ site if there is talk like that I don't want to read it any more. I was bumed out all day :(

     
  • At 5:55 AM, Blogger Donna said…

    I can't believe the 24 month rumor is true either...that's one rumor from one agency.

    Hang in there!

     

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