This is my February blog:
Today I came to school feeling somewhat aggrevated by the last couple nights of conferences. I always have high hopes going into conferences that I will see the students I want to see, connect with parents, address concerns from all parties, and make intervention action plans. However, this is not how it goes down.
Of the approximately 20 students with a D or an F, I met with 4 of them. With intervention conferences, the teachers have previously contacted parents, letters have been sent home, yet still we don't see many of them. Open conferences consisted of meetings with families where the students are doing great and I have little to no concern (which is great - don't get me wrong).
I really like having the parent contact whether the conference is positive or negative. It gives me the opportunity to connect. It is great to deliver happy news, and it is comforting knowing the student and parents know my concerns. However, I am aggrevated that I just spent two nights away from my family, and the results will not be seen. I didn't meet with most families where my concern is the greatest.
I know there are several factors that play into this, including working parents (oftentimes several jobs) and just aren't available, parent who really do not care, students who do not care, students who do care, but can't seem to find success in many of their classes, students who are not in the right learning setting (best fit) and much more I'm sure.
How do the rest of you handle this feeling of failure?
Would you do anything in addition to what has already been done to make contact?
What other factors do you see playing into this problem?
I also struggle with this. The parents that you really NEED to see are never the ones who show up. I used to be mad about this, but after our first conferences of the year I decided its not worth the emotions or loss of sleep. At our second conferences of the year this year, I had less of a turn out than the first one. I did get to see a lot more of my 'trouble' students with parents which was great.
ReplyDeleteI found out that a few of my students have been lying to their parents and claiming they are staying after getting help from me. It was nice to be able to speak face to face with the parent about these lies. After conferences I had so many students coming in for help, it caused me to be at school not only extra early, but extra late as well. I wish students would continue to come in for help, but I know it will slowly stop happening since conferences are now done for the year.
Any thoughts on how to encourage students to continue stopping in for help and not just the first 2 weeks after conferences to make their parents happy?