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Parent-Teacher Conferences...



Not to long ago, our high school had parent-teacher conferences. As
usual, most of the conferences went very well, except for a couple. One of
them really made me worry. The parent sat down and start sobbing. In the
mother's own words, she was worried whether or not her daughter was going to
do well in my class. She feared that her daughter would take her life if she
didn't do well in my class. No pressure, huh?
The other parent was upset that her daughter was not doing well in my
class. Previous to the conferences, I have talked to some of the other
teachers about this individual student. I had learned that she was failing
ALL of her other classes, as well as mine. She was not turning in her work,
no projects/reports, and was disruptive in all of her other classes. The
mother even gave me a book on how to be a better teacher! I was offended.
Granted, I do believe we all have areas to improve in and I'm constantly
taking classes, trading ideas with other teachers, and going to workshops. To
have a parent tell me that I'm not doing my job really bothered me. Deep
down, I knew that I'm doing whatever I can do at the present time and hoping
that I can improve upon myself later on. I've even had some of my past
students take the state chemistry and physics exam (I'm not sure what the
exact name is) and had most of my students do very well in it. I even had one
student who was one of my "slower" learners place 8th in the Region. I'm not
sure what to think.
Does anyone have advice, especially for the first problem? Anything
anyone is willing to share?

Dwight
Ashland, OH