I was paging through my calendar this week and noticed that there is only about a week and a half until the quarter/1st grading period ends! Where has all the time gone?!?
Knowing this brought mixed feelings. First, relief that I have survived the first quarter of the school year (and I'm still employed!). However, this fast-approaching deadline brought a sense of panic because I know that I have a number of students who are currently failing my class and there are a number of parents who are uninformed.
I never want to see a student fail my class and I completely understand that students have a lot going on with their lives outside of school. For instance, at a recent tennis match, one of our players' parents was telling me that her daughter (who is on the honor roll) is so busy with after school, sports, activities, and music, that it is not uncommon for her to be up doing homework until about 11:30 or midnight!
I also understand that it's not just the honor students who have a lot of activities on their nightly plate. I know of at least four of my students who are experiencing parents who are going through a divorce and are having some very difficult home issues. I know that as a teacher I probably should not say this, but these students are dealing with problems that are a little bit more important than learning about the difference between a Puritan and a Separatist.
To ease the panic, I drove to school this morning (Saturday), blared AC/DC's "Highway to Hell" on the radio (kidding!!) and started from the top of my gradebook and called every parent of students who were receiving a "D" or lower. I ended up calling about 12-13 parents on a Saturday morning, and to be honest, I was pretty scared throughout the entire ordeal.
What surprised me the most about calling these parents is that not a single parent was upset at me. In fact, (most) were extremely thankful that I took time out of my weekend to call them and provide them with an update about their child, and expressed relief to know that there was still time for them to raise their grade. One parent even called me on a cell phone to tell me that she and her child were in the car on their way to the middle school so she could get her social studies book, and wanted me to let them in if the door was locked (I let them in 5 min later). It made me feel good that these parents actually had my side on this whole ordeal.
There are two parent calls that stuck out during this Saturday morning. One good, one bad...
The bad parent was initially glad that I had called. However, she started getting upset with me that I had not called her sooner in the school year so her child could work harder to obtain a grade higher than a D or a C. I calmly told her that I understood her viewpoint, however we were working on group projects for the first half of the quarter and that my class did not start doing daily work until 3 weeks ago. The parent then continued to provide me with her thoughts about how most teachers don't call until it's too late and that she really dislikes how that situation is handled on a school-wide basis. Thankfully, the five years of "Culvers' Customer Service" that I have under my belt began to kick-in, and I told her that if she had a problem with the way her other teachers handle things that she should consult administration and quickly ended the conversation without blowing a gasket (I never thought I would say this, but if I could, I would thank the many rude and obnoxious Culvers' customers that I have dealt with over the years for providing me with the patience and ability to deal with "tough" parents).
The phone call that positively stuck out in my mind was the mother of a young girl in one of my classes. The mother started sharing her frustrations with raising a 13 year old daughter and how she is struggling to decide whether to let her child be independent and fail on her own, or pressure her into working harder on her school work. "However," she told me, "my daughter has told me absolutely nothing but good things about social studies and she just adores you as a teacher. She comes home everyday and shares the fun and exciting activities you are doing and what you have planned for the week. She really enjoys being in your class and you are definitely one of her favorite teachers, so I'm sure hearing that she's failing you will cause her to step up her progress."
The mom's comments made all of those long, and sometimes painful hours of lesson planning definitely worthwhile, and we'll see how not only her student, but all of these students respond in the coming weeks.
Also, we had our last day of tennis last Thursday, so you will be reading a few more blog entries than I have been posting lately. I appreciate you for still reading this! There will be many more stories to come, I'm sure.
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