Conferences

The thing I like best about conference time is that it gives me a chance to focus on the students in my class who rarely get their fair share of my attention. I spend 90% of my day redirecting the same 4 kids over and over. They need to be reminded of the rules, they didn't hear the directions I just gave, they want a drink, a break, an extra copy of the homework, and so on. Meanwhile, there are 22 students who manage to get through the day with minimal assistance from me. I try to touch base with each of my kiddos every day, but I'm not always as good at that as I would like to be. Meeting with the parents, one on one, gives me a chance to really notice how helpful, diligent, cooperative, or just plain nice most of my kids are.

My second favorite part about conferences is hearing variations of these words: "My son/daughter just LOVES being in your class. She/he is so excited to get to school each day!" Parent-teacher communication tends to focus on the problems, and the parents who feel this way rarely see a need to get in touch with me. (This goes the other way too. I don't like spending my evening on the phone, so I tend not to call the parents of the well-behaved.) If the next two days go like last night did, I might be set with a store of compliments that will last me through the end of the year!