06 February 2007

Time is getting away from me...

Here it is Tuesday already and I haven't written anything this week. So here goes:

I am getting into a routine at school, knowing the kids better everyday, and was able to meet some parents last night. We had parent-teacher conferences and I needed to sit in on at least some of them. We were at the school for 12 hours yesterday. Long day! I got some good face time with parents, though. It was good experience to see how to intereact with parents who are pissed that their child is failing your class. Some parents were good, i.e. ready to do something with the student, and others came in on the defensive. My cooperating teacher and the geography teacher were both really calm and expert at calming the parents down. It was not a surprise that some parents get a different story than what is actually happening at school. I don't understand student's thought process when they lie to their parents. I guess they think there won't ever come a day of reckoning, and for many it never does. It's so sad to see troubled kids who know their parents/guardians will never make the effort to come to the school and find out why their kids are doing poorly in school.

I heard a great quote last night by the geography teacher concerning parents and kids. It was "Kids mirror parents just as a dog mirrors it's owner." That is so true! It makes me laugh. Now I could never tell Mrs. Smith that because she might think I were calling her daughter a bitch. While I might think that is how her kid acts, I could never say it. :) Parents (myself included) don't take a comparison between their child and an animal very well.

So, now I am not only learning how to deal with kids, I am learning what to do with parents as well. It's great knowledge to have and I hope I can retain some for future reference. Kids in the classroom are one thing, but parents? There is nothing you can do for them except talk. Many hear you, but not a few never hear what you are saying because they are too busy thinking about what they are going to say in return.

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