Parent-Teacher Conferences, Day 2

Thursday evening (after double checking) I spoke with parents of 32 kids + 1 a bit earlier, in two and a half hours. But the night is always heavier, right? Friday afternoon, same pace. In two hours, 27 conferences.

Most common messages:

• child is doing great
• child needs to do more homework
• child should come to tutoring

But that does no justice to what happened. The conferences were personal. I really know how each kid is doing in my class. I was surprised how infrequently I went to the grade sheets. There was an overall very positive, very respectful tone, in both directions. Not universal, but close enough. Even where there were ‘issues’ the meetings did not feel adversarial. And in most cases there was a clear sense that teacher and parent were working together for the best interest of the child. I walked away feeling that a lot of good, useful communication had taken place. But after 60 conferences in two days, I was exhausted.