Teachers duties

In article ,
Penny Gaines wrote:
Beth Gallagher wrote in :

This just goes to show that a teacher -- even one trying really hard --
will never please all the parents all the time. I would LOVE the chance to
speak one-on-one to a teacher at the start of the school year. Our
district offers no such opportunity; it's only group occasions (back to
school night is really it, actually). I LOVE phone calls from teachers. I
wish it would be standard operating procedure for teachers to call parents
at least once between conferences just to report how things seem to be
going in general.

I think my "problem" would be that just getting a call out of the blue,
at a time when things might be hectic in the house, would "squander"
the opportunity to have a quality one-on-one talk with the teacher --
if this is intended to be more than a generic "nice to meet you" thing
that could also be accomplished at a back to school night, I would want
to be sure to take the opportunity to make up a checklist of points I
might want to address, and tomake sure that I'd be free to give the
teacher my full attention for those 10 minutes or whatever.

The idea of being rung up by a teacher seems really odd to me,
but would it work if the teacher sent home a letter with a specified
time for parents to ring up, such as between 5pm and 7pm on Wed 5th
September? I don't know how that would fit into your scheme of things.


Some kind of pre-arranged thing like this would make sense to me.


--Robyn (mommy to Ryan 9/93 and Matthew 6/96 and Evan 3/01)

In article , Robyn Kozierok says...

In article ,
Penny Gaines wrote:
Beth Gallagher wrote in :

This just goes to show that a teacher -- even one trying really hard --
will never please all the parents all the time. I would LOVE the chance to
speak one-on-one to a teacher at the start of the school year. Our
district offers no such opportunity; it's only group occasions (back to
school night is really it, actually). I LOVE phone calls from teachers. I
wish it would be standard operating procedure for teachers to call parents
at least once between conferences just to report how things seem to be
going in general.

I think my "problem" would be that just getting a call out of the blue,
at a time when things might be hectic in the house, would "squander"
the opportunity to have a quality one-on-one talk with the teacher --
if this is intended to be more than a generic "nice to meet you" thing
that could also be accomplished at a back to school night, I would want
to be sure to take the opportunity to make up a checklist of points I
might want to address, and tomake sure that I'd be free to give the
teacher my full attention for those 10 minutes or whatever.

The idea of being rung up by a teacher seems really odd to me,
but would it work if the teacher sent home a letter with a specified
time for parents to ring up, such as between 5pm and 7pm on Wed 5th
September? I don't know how that would fit into your scheme of things.

I *would* appreciate a get-to-know-you call from my son's teacher, even a cold
call.

I find the 'back to school nights' or 'parents nights' to be iffy in terms of
real communication with the teacher. Sure, he or she can hand out materials
regarding expectations, and I can see the classroom. And all that is very good.
But as far as me discussion my son and any particulars with the teacher, I'm
competing for attention with other parents trying to do the same. Even if we do
talk about particulars, for a lot of teachers it becomes a blur. Same for a 5-7
prearranged period. It'd be like trying to call in to a radio show. The
teacher could arrange individual times, but how does one arrange a call, other
than calling to begin with? ( or snail mail or slow and unreliable
note-passing, etc. )

I agree that a cold call can be disruptive or less useful than an arranged one,
but that's true of *any* call, and hardly any calls are pre-arranged. I'm not a
phone person either, but at least such a call offers something I'm interested in
accomplishing. It's not like a telemarketer or even a friend just wanting to
pass some time.

Although I think that, from a practical standpoint, a teacher planning on cold
calls may find him or herself giving it up sooner or later due to people not
being home, little kids answering and dawdling about getting the parent then an
older sib hanging up, etc. - the kind of stuff that made phone calling a hassle
when I did it sometimes for organizing Cub Scout events. For last-minute
stuff, we would do phone chains where each person has no more than 4 or 5 calls.
It takes about 10 calls over three nights sometimes to make those 4 or 5
connections...

But I sure would hate to actually discourage a teacher from making the calls he
or she is taking the intiative to make!

Cheers,
Banty

In article , Banty wrote:
I *would* appreciate a get-to-know-you call from my son's teacher, even a cold
call.

I find the 'back to school nights' or 'parents nights' to be iffy in terms of
real communication with the teacher. Sure, he or she can hand out materials
regarding expectations, and I can see the classroom. And all that is very good.

The back-to-school nights or parent potlucks are mainly a chance for
the parents to meet each other, so that they can recognize the parents
of their kids in other contexts. As community-building events, they
are very useful, but it can be hard for single-parent families to
arrange babysitting for such events. Better is to do whole-family
potlucks, where the kids and their siblings come as well as the parents.
My son's bilingual 2nd grade class did this (together with the other
bilingual 2nd grade class), and it was one of the best-attended parent
events I've seen. Families that often could not make other events
showed up.

But as far as me discussion my son and any particulars with the teacher, I'm
competing for attention with other parents trying to do the same. Even if we do
talk about particulars, for a lot of teachers it becomes a blur. Same for a 5-7
prearranged period. It'd be like trying to call in to a radio show. The
teacher could arrange individual times, but how does one arrange a call, other
than calling to begin with? ( or snail mail or slow and unreliable
note-passing, etc. )

I agree that trying to discuss a single child when there are 10-20
other parents hanging around is neither polite nor productive.


I agree that a cold call can be disruptive or less useful than an arranged one,
but that's true of *any* call, and hardly any calls are pre-arranged. I'm not a
phone person either, but at least such a call offers something I'm interested in
accomplishing. It's not like a telemarketer or even a friend just wanting to
pass some time.

I would not mind being called by the teacher if there had been a note
in the newsletter sent home saying something like "I want to get to
know the parents of my students, so that we can work together to
provide the best education we can. I'll be phoning each family over
the next few weeks to talk about your hopes and expectations for this
school year and any things you think I should know about your child.
If you would rather talk face-to-face, let me know and we can arrange
a time to talk before or after school."


--
Kevin Karplus http://www.soe.ucsc.edu/~karplus
life member (LAB, Adventure Cycling, American Youth Hostels)
Effective Cycling Instructor #218-ck (lapsed)
Professor of Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Santa Cruz
Undergraduate and Graduate Director, Bioinformatics
Affiliations for identification only.

Hi -

Both my children's Kindergarten and 1st grade teachers sent home notes,
early in the school year, explaining that they would be calling each
parent in the class to say hello, let us ask questions, etc. I don't
recall whether this was before or after back to school night (held in
October), but it certainly set the parent-teacher relationship on a good
footing. I appreciated the call.

There's no other good time to chat with teachers unless a parent
actually has time to be on school grounds, either by appt. or on a
regular basis such as picking up at the end of the day. We've always
found the parent-teacher conferences to be a bit rushed, and our school
only does those once a year.

My thoughts only,
--Beth Kevles

http://web.mit.edu/kevles/www/nomilk.html -- a page for the milk-allergic
Disclaimer: Nothing in this message should be construed as medical
advice. Please consult with your own medical practicioner.

NOTE: No email is read at my MIT address. Use the AOL one if you would
like me to reply.

"Kevin Karplus" wrote in message
...
In article , Banty wrote:
I *would* appreciate a get-to-know-you call from my son's teacher, even
a cold
call.

I find the 'back to school nights' or 'parents nights' to be iffy in
terms of
real communication with the teacher. Sure, he or she can hand out
materials
regarding expectations, and I can see the classroom. And all that is
very good.

The back-to-school nights or parent potlucks are mainly a chance for
the parents to meet each other, so that they can recognize the parents
of their kids in other contexts. As community-building events, they
are very useful, but it can be hard for single-parent families to
arrange babysitting for such events. Better is to do whole-family
potlucks, where the kids and their siblings come as well as the parents.
My son's bilingual 2nd grade class did this (together with the other
bilingual 2nd grade class), and it was one of the best-attended parent
events I've seen. Families that often could not make other events
showed up.

What you are describing at our school is called the back to school
barbeque. Back-to-school night is an event near the beginning of
the school year where parents only (no children) are asked to their
children's class room to have the teacher present the year's curriculum.
It is also an opportunity to sign up for classroom volunteers. It is
almost impossible to get one on one time at this event, especially
if you have two students, as grades 1-3 are in the first 45 minutes
and 4-6 are in the second. However, at that time the teacher also
gives out email addresses and her phone numbers (usually classroom
numbers) and times you could get her to discuss your child. She
also will set up individual appointments at that time if necessary.
And teachers conference times, which happen at the first grading
period in November are also set up at that time.

My children's schools have all had an evening like this at the
beginning of the year. When you get to junior high and high
school you also get the thrill of finding all their classrooms.

If your school doesn't have a night like this you might suggest
it.

In article ,
"Cathy Kearns" wrote:

"Kevin Karplus" wrote in message
...
In article , Banty wrote:
I *would* appreciate a get-to-know-you call from my son's teacher, even
a cold
call.

I find the 'back to school nights' or 'parents nights' to be iffy in
terms of
real communication with the teacher. Sure, he or she can hand out
materials
regarding expectations, and I can see the classroom. And all that is
very good.

The back-to-school nights or parent potlucks are mainly a chance for
the parents to meet each other, so that they can recognize the parents
of their kids in other contexts. As community-building events, they
are very useful, but it can be hard for single-parent families to
arrange babysitting for such events. Better is to do whole-family
potlucks, where the kids and their siblings come as well as the parents.
My son's bilingual 2nd grade class did this (together with the other
bilingual 2nd grade class), and it was one of the best-attended parent
events I've seen. Families that often could not make other events
showed up.

What you are describing at our school is called the back to school
barbeque. Back-to-school night is an event near the beginning of
the school year where parents only (no children) are asked to their
children's class room to have the teacher present the year's curriculum.
It is also an opportunity to sign up for classroom volunteers. It is
almost impossible to get one on one time at this event, especially
if you have two students, as grades 1-3 are in the first 45 minutes
and 4-6 are in the second. However, at that time the teacher also
gives out email addresses and her phone numbers (usually classroom
numbers) and times you could get her to discuss your child. She
also will set up individual appointments at that time if necessary.
And teachers conference times, which happen at the first grading
period in November are also set up at that time.

My children's schools have all had an evening like this at the
beginning of the year. When you get to junior high and high
school you also get the thrill of finding all their classrooms.

If your school doesn't have a night like this you might suggest
it.


I was just thinking this week, I never have to go to another one of
those damned things again! It's been especially fun with twins in the
same grade but different classes. Most years, DH and I have been able
to split the duties, but there've been a few that he was out of town for
-- and the memorable year when the high school my oldest was in had
back-to-school night the SAME night as the middle school!

They really don't seem to do anything to accomodate those of us with
several children.

meh
--
Children won't care how much you know until they know how much you care

"dragonlady" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Cathy Kearns" wrote:
What you are describing at our school is called the back to school
barbeque. Back-to-school night is an event near the beginning of
the school year where parents only (no children) are asked to their
children's class room to have the teacher present the year's curriculum.
It is also an opportunity to sign up for classroom volunteers. It is
almost impossible to get one on one time at this event, especially
if you have two students, as grades 1-3 are in the first 45 minutes
and 4-6 are in the second. However, at that time the teacher also
gives out email addresses and her phone numbers (usually classroom
numbers) and times you could get her to discuss your child. She
also will set up individual appointments at that time if necessary.
And teachers conference times, which happen at the first grading
period in November are also set up at that time.

My children's schools have all had an evening like this at the
beginning of the year. When you get to junior high and high
school you also get the thrill of finding all their classrooms.

If your school doesn't have a night like this you might suggest
it.


I was just thinking this week, I never have to go to another one of
those damned things again! It's been especially fun with twins in the
same grade but different classes. Most years, DH and I have been able
to split the duties, but there've been a few that he was out of town for
-- and the memorable year when the high school my oldest was in had
back-to-school night the SAME night as the middle school!

They really don't seem to do anything to accomodate those of us with
several children.

This year the elementary school moved their lower and upper grade
back-to-school nights to ensure they didn't conflict with the junior
high or high school. But wouldn't you know it, there was one family
with twins in kinder and a freshman and senior at the high school. That's a
shame your district doesn't even try, ours trys very hard not to get
conflicts,
they just thought kinder and high school was far enough apart they
would be okay.


meh
--
Children won't care how much you know until they know how much you care

In article ,
"Cathy Kearns" wrote:

"dragonlady" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Cathy Kearns" wrote:
What you are describing at our school is called the back to school
barbeque. Back-to-school night is an event near the beginning of
the school year where parents only (no children) are asked to their
children's class room to have the teacher present the year's curriculum.
It is also an opportunity to sign up for classroom volunteers. It is
almost impossible to get one on one time at this event, especially
if you have two students, as grades 1-3 are in the first 45 minutes
and 4-6 are in the second. However, at that time the teacher also
gives out email addresses and her phone numbers (usually classroom
numbers) and times you could get her to discuss your child. She
also will set up individual appointments at that time if necessary.
And teachers conference times, which happen at the first grading
period in November are also set up at that time.

My children's schools have all had an evening like this at the
beginning of the year. When you get to junior high and high
school you also get the thrill of finding all their classrooms.

If your school doesn't have a night like this you might suggest
it.


I was just thinking this week, I never have to go to another one of
those damned things again! It's been especially fun with twins in the
same grade but different classes. Most years, DH and I have been able
to split the duties, but there've been a few that he was out of town for
-- and the memorable year when the high school my oldest was in had
back-to-school night the SAME night as the middle school!

They really don't seem to do anything to accomodate those of us with
several children.

This year the elementary school moved their lower and upper grade
back-to-school nights to ensure they didn't conflict with the junior
high or high school. But wouldn't you know it, there was one family
with twins in kinder and a freshman and senior at the high school. That's a
shame your district doesn't even try, ours trys very hard not to get
conflicts,
they just thought kinder and high school was far enough apart they
would be okay.


Because of the way the school districts are set up here, it was two
different school districts: one district ran the K-8 system, and a
different district -- different school board, different boundaries, and
everything. The high school district encompassed several of the K-8
districts -- I don't know if there were some K-8 districts that were in
more than one high school district or not. (Some school districts
around here are comprehensive -- K-12 -- some are not.)

meh
--
Children won't care how much you know until they know how much you care

"Cathy Kearns" wrote:


"dragonlady" wrote in message
...


I was just thinking this week, I never have to go to another one of
those damned things again! It's been especially fun with twins in the
same grade but different classes. Most years, DH and I have been able
to split the duties, but there've been a few that he was out of town for
-- and the memorable year when the high school my oldest was in had
back-to-school night the SAME night as the middle school!

They really don't seem to do anything to accomodate those of us with
several children.

This year the elementary school moved their lower and upper grade
back-to-school nights to ensure they didn't conflict with the junior
high or high school. But wouldn't you know it, there was one family
with twins in kinder and a freshman and senior at the high school. That's a
shame your district doesn't even try, ours trys very hard not to get
conflicts,
they just thought kinder and high school was far enough apart they
would be okay.

Usually ours are all on different day/dates. The elementary, middle
and high school are on successive nights of the week. I attended them
all, and there was only one occasion when I remember having 4 on the
same night. One was a pre-school one which wasn't even in the same
school district as the other schools, so ordinarily there would not
have been a conflict. And one was an elementary school and I'm pretty
sure that one was a middle school, and one was a high school.
Although it could be that there was and elementary and two high
schools, as my two older girls were in two different high schools for
a year.

I think the HS, MS and ES that were in the same district had
originally been scheduled on different days, and something like a
hurricane or an election or something mandated that they reschedule.
I actually made it to three of them.

grandma Rosalie