I hated parent-teacher conferences when I was a kid. I'd always dread when my parents returned home with the inevitable 'he's not applying himself' mantra. I convinced myself it was a catch-all phrase teachers applied to anyone who wasn't getting a B or better. I was an OK student in high school, and oddly enough improved in post-secondary when I did start applying myself.
So now if feels a bit weird to be on the other end of the conversation as a parent, hearing about my kids' progress from their teachers. It's an interesting process, to say the least.
Appointments are arranged, five minutes at a time, over a period of a couple of hours. That in itself is enough to strike fear into a parent. I feel like I've been cast back to my first day of high school, into the recurring nightmare of not being able to find the classroom in time. And I'm not alone.
The hallways are filled with parents, confusion in their eyes, desperately searching for room number 115 or 208 or the library. If they are lucky, they have more than five minutes between appointments. Lost, not enough time and the last teacher was running a little behind. It's Grade 8 all over again...
Even when you find the room, thanks to dozens of volunteer students pointing me in the right direction, you wait in the hallway until you are summoned by the teacher to enter the classroom. This time it didn't get my palms sweating too much, as it was a somewhat common occurrence in my past.
Finally, it's my turn. Hey, she's on schedule!
It's like an educational speed date. Many faces, five minutes at a time. But instead of the usual date banter, you're discussing a myriad of school subjects - math, social studies, science. Thankfully, the chemistry teacher is talking about grades and assignments, not chemistry. And the French teacher speaks English! She didn't when I was in school.
I'm sure it's strange for the teachers as well. It's a parade of people who look slightly familiar, especially after being associated with the student's name. Some conversations are easy: "good grades, nice to have them in my class."
Some are likely a bit more uncomfortable. They are, of course, talking about your child.
The thing that is most striking is how much the teachers care about our children's education. They are willing to have the tough conversations because, with parent support, there is still time to improve the student's grades. They are passionate about what they teach, and truly want to see our kids succeed.
It can't always be an easy job, since everything they have accomplished moves on in June and they have to start all over again in September. It's a little like renovating a room, and just when you are finished you have to tear it down and start over again.
Negotiations between the province and the BCTF will be starting up again in the coming weeks, and we'll hear all the usual rhetoric that we have heard so much of in the past, all around doing what is best for the students. But I'll know who really puts students first. I've met them all, five minutes at a time.
