High School Hustle: Teacher, can you spare three minutes?
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Every time I arrive at an overcrowded school corridor to sign up for a three-minute parent teacher conference, I have the same thought: There must be a better way.
There are too many names on the sign-up list. The parents are anxious and antsy. It’s always too hot and crowded, and I immediately start feeling sorry for the teachers, besieged by questions.
With one child in middle school and another in high school, I am officially a veteran of New York City public school parent teacher conferences. I’ve developed a few survival strategies.
If possible, I take a personal or vacation day and attend the afternoon session in an effort to avoid ridiculous evening lines.Even so, I can’t beat the system.
It helps to divide the list between two parents or guardians (more would be even better, but even two is luxury). In large schools, you need a floor plan. A book and a bottle of water is a good idea. You need enormous patience and persistence, along with a list of priorities and specific questions.
It’s a good idea to sign up in multiple classrooms all at once, as long as you don’t mind racing up and down stairs and corridors while waiting to see if your name is called. You should always find out who the toughest grader is, as lines will always be longest. The teacher I mostly wanted to see this year was booked up within the first 10 minutes.
I sometimes wonder if the effort is worthwhile.
Always, it is. Not just because I might learn that a child has failed to turn in homework assignments or is too talkative (or quiet) in class. I get to ask and think about the kind of education I want my children to have. I leave with insights about how teaching and learning – the heart of what should be happening in school – are valued.
Research tells us that teacher quality is the single most important factor influencing educational outcomes. How do you measure teacher quality? The answer can’t be revealed within a three-minute conference, but you can learn a lot.
I was thrilled to hear a social studies teacher discuss his enthusiasm for Ancient Greece. I enjoyed hearing an English teacher explain why certain books were chosen and how 9th-graders struggle with Sophocles, spelling, and sentence structure. I heard another teacher’s philosophy about how children acquire language.
Over the years, I’ve heard the same child described as extremely quiet, or loud and disruptive. Sometimes I’m certain the teacher is talking about another child, not mine. Once, I asked if the teacher honestly knew my child’s name.
This fall was my first as a high school parent. During the visit, I tried to imagine what it must be like to be a freshman in a giant New York City high school, negotiating six sprawling floors in the four minutes between bells — all the while toting as much as 20 pounds (I actually weighed it) in an overstuffed backpack.
Because there is an awkward high school student inside all of us, I remembered the distraction of hormones - a time when catching the eye of the cute boy or girl next to you and hoping a zit would disappear by the weekend - seemed more urgent than quadratic equations or the life of a cell.
During every conference, I question how teachers keep track of so many students. Some may have six or more classes, each with as many as 34 students. Could they possibly have something specific, insightful, or helpful to say about each one?
More often than not, I have been surprised to hear the answer is yes, although the quality of the feedback varies with the experience and enthusiasm level of the teacher. Some may be watching the clock, but I’ve generally found most to be gracious and patient, in many cases waiting long past conferences have officially ended to accommodate all the parents.
So is there a better way? Insideschools would like to hear thoughts and suggestions on how parent teacher conferences might be structured differently, especially in very large schools. What works?
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I’m finding that through email I’m gaining the most insight. I was able to contact one of my child’s teacher’s that way and really helped to smooth things along (yes, mine is the quiet one). at the beginning of the year. In addition, I always encourage teachers to call on my child, who doesn’t often raise hand. Also, on back to school night I always try to say kind words to the teacher, even if it’s brief. I understand that they’re busy, that it’s a long day for them, and they’re seeing so many parents.
Comment by Mom 2 Middle Schooler — November 2, 2009 @ 2:14 pm
As always, an insightful column by Ms. Willen! Parent-teacher conferences are hard for both parents and teachers, and I’m not even talking about the actual conversations. I mean rather the logistics — for parents, how to navigate a large and unfamiliar building quickly; for teachers, how to keep parents moving, without seeming rude, so a huge line doesn’t build up.
Having done parent-teacher conferences for a number of years, I can tell you they’re exhausting for teachers. At my school, we would have a half-day of instruction and then do five hours of conferences — from 2:30-7:30 pm. We’d repeat this the following week. Each semester we offered two such afternoons/evenings. In a typical year, I’d teach 6th, 7th, 9th, 10th and 12th grade English — in addition to advising the newspaper and yearbook. Being able to converse intelligently with parents about a 6th grade student one minute and a 12th grader the next is far from easy. As 7:30 pm approached each time, I’d feel a fatigue I knew only from climbing mountains or biking long, long distances.
If you do the math, you see that five hours of conferences leaves but two minutes per parent/kid (assuming the standard workload of ca. 6 classes with 25 students each). If you hold two such days instead of one, you can bump it up to four minutes. And of course not all parents show, so it’s feasible to squeeze in five or six minutes with a teacher. Which, if you ask me, is still ridiculous. I certainly have more than five or six minutes of feedback to give every parent of every child I teach. There’s so much to cover: attitude, attendance, homework, tests, overall strengths and weaknesses, ability to work with classmates, and the child’s dreams for the future (college/job/etc.).
Sadly, the parents whose children are struggling the most are often those who don’t show up at parent-teacher conferences.
My preferred solution to the problems Willen highlights is to be in regular contact with parents throughout the year, such that I’m not seeing or speaking with them for the first time at a parent-teacher conference. If I’m concerned about a student falling behind, I pick up the phone or send an email. Most parents appreciate this. If a student does amazing work, I send a note home.
Of course, it’s not feasible for teachers to be in contact with every parent about every missed class or missing assignment, but many teachers try their best. And teachers, in my experience, typically respond well to parents who show interest in their children’s learning. If I know that you as a parent are deeply invested in whether your child succeeds or fails, I’m more likely to pick up the phone or send an email when a concern arises. If instead experience has taught me that my phone call or email will go unreturned/unread, then I’m naturally less likely to reach out. This is not an ideal situation, of course, but it’s often the reality — a way we teachers find to cope.
One thing that would make the situation more bearable is for schools and districts to give greater thought to “Total Student Load,” or the number of students a teacher teaches. Those familiar with the work of the late Ted Sizer might recall that he advocated for a TSL of about 80 students per teacher — a radical departure from most schools, where teachers typically have 150-200 students for whom they are responsible.
For those interested in this question, I suggest William G. Ouchi’s column in _Ed Week_ entitled “Accept No Substitutes for Real Decentralization”: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2009/11/04/10ouchi_ep.h29.html
Comment by Justin Snider — November 2, 2009 @ 3:08 pm
Why not just call/email the teacher and request a meeting at another time? Although this requires more work for multiple teachers, some of us have trouble dealing with the stress of the hallway waits. Even with afternoon open-school, if the teachers are overbooked, there’s a lot of wasted time and teachers who are never seen.
Comment by Sherry — November 3, 2009 @ 2:32 pm
My son’s high school used to use the same procedure that Liz describes: parents running around to sign up (if lucky)for five minute conferences on the day of the conference. The procedure changed, a few years back, to students, during or after class, signing up parents with teachers for conferences. The teachers have the master list and students are given a sheet where they can record five class conferences and next to it the time of each conference, teacher’s name and room number. I have my son leave at least ten minutes between conferences so I can get around or have breathing room if a previous teacher is running late. While this procedure does not ensure my son will get an appointment with a teacher, nor give more than the five minutes of allotted time, it does make the whole experience much more pleasant (at least for the parents if not the teacher). One year they even had students playing classical music in the hallways while we waited. While I am definitely interested in meeting with teachers where my child might not be fond of the class, I am also happy to meet with teachers where I know he is doing well, as I also appreciate getting positive feedback. If for some reason, my son is not able to schedule a conference with a particular teacher I wanted to see, or I need more than the allotted five minutes, I contact the teacher directly for more feedback. Overall I’ve been pleased with how well most of the teachers know him despite the large number of students they teach.
Comment by Robin Aronow — November 3, 2009 @ 3:53 pm
Through experience I think that the teachers should send out the grades for tests and homeworks a few weeks before the end of the marking period. This way the 3 minutes do not have to be simply informational and you could move on to the whys and hows of it all. It also helps the parents keep the kids on track if they know the classwork situation along the way instead of waiting until it is too late. This can be eaily done with computer records. Some schools already have this system in place. I think all parents should push for this and make a system like this manditory in each school.
Comment by Rebecca — November 3, 2009 @ 3:56 pm
Both of my children’s teachers sent home a sign-up sheet for parents to choose time slots(or indicate that they couldn’t make it during those times) about a week in advance. Since I couldn’t attend, both teachers contacted me (via email and a written note) to arrange a different meeting time. It worked out very well since I was able to meet each of the teachers for about 20 min a week later and in a more relaxed atmosphere. It’s important for parents to make the extra effort to have some personal contact with the teachers about their child’s academic and social progress.
Comment by Nicky — November 3, 2009 @ 4:36 pm
School of the Future has SOLVED this problem! Parents choose a one hour time slot during the conference period. When you get to the school for your time slot, you sign in. When your name comes up, you walk into a large room where ALL of your child’s teachers are. You then go from one teacher to the next until you complete the circuit of ALL your kids’ teachers. A bell is rung every 5 min so parents stop talking and move onto the next teacher. Having just gone through he format you mention with my second child having recently stared HS, I am about to BEG that school to take on this format as well. IT WORKS!
Comment by Vivian — November 3, 2009 @ 6:44 pm
It is not a good idea to sign up in multiple classrooms. I am a teacher who spends as much time as possible with each parent. Last week I had People who sign uo, leave and then show up in the room expect to be called as soon as they come back. Other parents who have been waiting patiently think they are being skipped over. They get angry or annoyed. They are right. They have waited and deserve to be called first.
Comment by Sid Kivanoski — November 4, 2009 @ 9:02 am
Gotham Professional Arts Academy has implemented an electronic system (”snapgrades”) whereby you can regularly monitor the progress of your high school student. Specifically, they are issued a letter and number grade, as well as the status of assignments given. Both the student and parent have access to this system. This is extremely helpful.
Also, all of the teachers have my contact information (telephone number and email address) and are advised to use it if my child is out of order.
Lines of communication are open with all the teachers, who are very committed to the students/parents at Gotham.
Comment by Denise Pilgrim — November 4, 2009 @ 12:44 pm
As a parent with child in High School, I would prefer the teachers to e-mail me with any concerns. That is a true way of communicating without any stress of waiting to talk to each other. I think all during the school year teachers and parents should be contacted by e-mail.
Comment by Annie — November 4, 2009 @ 2:30 pm