Re: Parent-Teacher Conferences...

[Joseph Bellina <jbellina@saintmarys.edu>]

We have student evaluations in as do many colleges.  The great temptation 
is to take every student comment to heart.  It is easy to relish the 
really nice comments, but that means also dealing with the very harsh 
ones.  On the other hand, like most things, ours is a statistical 
game...the few really good and the few really bad are just that, the 
few.  The majority view is what counts.  Several summers ago at an AAPT 
workshop the presenter said is he could reach 2/3 of the students 2/3 of 
the time then he felt successful.  Sounds like you are doing better than 
that.
The mother on the other hand is clearly frustrated, doesn't know what to 
do and is willing to find a scapegoat.  She needs professional help for 
herself and her child...but you can't tell her that.

It is good to be concerned, as you are, but we also need to keep some 
perspective.

Have a good day.

On Fri, 6 Dec 1996, Dwight Souder wrote:

>         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