I don't wanna miss a thing
Big day tomorrow . . . Parent-Teacher Conferences!
The students don't have school, and we have conferences from noon to 8:00 pm. (And then we have Friday off!) The parents have signed up online ahead of time for their time slots, so there is no waiting in line for them, which seems like a smart system. This is a different kind of community, so I am curious to see how the conferences go. But I do not have too many trouble students, so I do not foresee any problems.
So in honor of the conferences tomorrow, let's flashback in time to the best parent interaction I have ever had as a teacher:
In the fall of 1999 (the year is important to the story), I got a call from a parent who was concerned about her son's grade (an F). Her son--let's call him Mike (since that was his name)--had stopped turning in work, and as a consequence, his grade had plummeted. Mike's mom wanted my help; she was hoping that I might be able to talk some sense into her son. She explained the situation: "My ex-husband is crazy. He is a religious nut, and he is tainting Mike's mind."
At this point I was quite certain that I would not have anything to offer her son in the way of help, but Mom continued: "Anyway, the reason Mike has stopped doing his work is that his father has convinced him that Armageddon will be upon us at Y2K, so since the world is ending on New Year's, Mike does not feel the need to do any homework."
I was silent for a while. And then I said, "I am not sure what I can do for you or Mike, but I will tell you that if Mike and his dad are wrong and the world does not actually end, I am not making any exceptions to my late policy."
offered up to the world by CoachDub @ 8:15 PM
9 comments
9 Comments:
Wow that is one tough teacher!
Mr. W, I'm sure you've heard the word from Brainerd. It seemed a little hard to believe at first, but the more I think about it, the less unexpected it should have been. And the more I think about that, the more distant I feel from my hometown.
guardians of the blue and white, brainerd high
Yeah, I almost blogged about it, but I cannot process it yet. I cannot fathom such stupidity. I never wanted to say "I'm glad I left when I did" but . . .
WHAT WHAT HAPPENED
Wait let me guess: the referendum didn't pass. The team will become the Trojan Warriors next year. Fordyce killed a man.
Just imagine if the world would've ended though. Egg. On. Your. Face.
hey so my brother wrote an ap lang paper and sent it to me to "edit" (decoded: rewrite) and it was HORRIBLE and he misused both "correct" and "facilitate" in his thesis statement and i said ok jackson, why did you do that, and he said, "oh my teacher wrote my thesis statement."
after i screamed in rage and threw things for about 5 minutes, i spent 4 hours on the computer fixing his paper (but actually some of that was talking about star wars novels over messenger with jackson).
o sad.
My little sister won all-conference doubles honors as a sophomore and now they're cutting the girls' tennis program...
WAIT! WHAT!! they are cutting girls tennis. . . oh man. . . i am now scared.
True story. Matt Groen told me I was an idiot for not stocking canned foods and a large water supply in my basement in preparation for Y2K.
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