On September 12th, our school will hold what we call “Back to School Night,” or what other schools have dubbed “Meet the Teachers Night.” Whatever your school calls it, it’s a very fun and casual way for teachers and parents to meet one another. Yet for others, this is a nerve-wracking event – especially for teachers. Believe it or not, though teachers are incredibly comfortable leading a class of 30 students throughout a day, multiple times a day, some hesitantly look at their classroom filled with their parents and need a bit of a pep talk. Here’s a simple guide for you to follow for that event:
- Arrive to the event punctually – Things happen at home, getting a babysitter isn’t easy, and one of the best things parents are good at is being reactive. However, there are still parents who take this evening for granted and arrive whenever they want. With security tightening at schools, doors now get locked and some officers won’t let you in. Plan on getting there 15 minutes early and you won’t have these problems.
- Realize that your time with each teacher is limited – At our school, the whole event is just 1.5 hours, and each class is only 16 minutes. That’s a quick cycle to meet more than 200 parents, so please…
- Arrive to my class punctually – I begin my introduction and presentation as soon as the bell rings to begin our mini-class. Your child is a very important addition to my class, and I expect them to arrive on time. Since I have less time with you, I expect that of you even more.
- If you have specific questions about your child, please make an appointment or send me an email – I can’t afford to answer every parent’s question, so I often don’t answer many at all for the sake of not slighting anybody. That’s why I give out my business card, show parents my website, and offer them the ability to have a phone, video, or personal conference to address their concerns for their specific child.
- Don’t make us responsible for your child’s failures, both present and past – no teacher can forget this cartoon; I hope you don’t, either. Yet some parents still enter the school with a vendetta for a specific teacher. Please don’t do that. We don’t want to see you escorted in handcuffs (I’ve already seen it happen during one of these events and hope to never see it again!)
- Most teachers don’t even need to be there – In fact, our contract has no stipulations about our Back to School Night. Our teachers volunteer to be here on their own accord. With that said, please help us keep the event positive and productive.
- I regard all my students as special – Please don’t expect special treatment for your child. I will follow their 504 plan, IEP, or GIEP and help them in every which way I can, but I do that for all my students.
- I don’t know your child that well yet – Most of these events occur in the first 2-3 weeks of school, so it’s very difficult for me to make recommendations or suggestions based upon the behaviors and observations I’ve made thus far.
- I’m concerned about this year, not next – When I used to teach 8th grade, parents would ignore my previous recommendation and go straight for the big question – “Do you think my child can hack it in AP World History next year?” I always diffused that question quickly by saying the above coupled with “my concern is this year, and we’ll talk about next year in May.”
- Pay attention to what I don’t say and won’t answer – At our school district, many of the administrators and school board members ask us to not mention specifics to parents. One of these examples includes class sizes. I now have between 29 and 36 students in all my classes this year, and the district doesn’t want me to talk about that.
- Don’t ask personal questions – I’ve had parents ask things from whether I had a girlfriend to what political party I belong to. I have always reminded them that our common goal in this classroom is their child, not my personal life, and that I’m professional enough to divorce one from the other. Hopefully they have since done the same.
- Thank you – I make it a huge point to thank the parents that come to visit. They, too, aren’t required to be there, but they make it a point to be. You would think that it’d be a given to be involved in their kids’ lives, but the students I have the most problems with are often because the parents aren’t involved in their children’s lives. The more a parent is involved, the more I can build a relationship with them, and the more we cooperate, the better the education and hopefully life outcome will be for that child.
