Do you attend your teenagers' parent-teacher conferences? (activity, play, children)

[lisdol]

Is the IB school a charter school or a regular school? I ask because if it were a charter school, maybe you could bring up the idea to the administration of making attending conferences with a teacher a requirement if your child is performing below a certain cut-off level?

Its a shame that a school with a program some parents would probably be overjoyed to get their kids into has kids that are not doing well and parents that aren't responding to your calls and emails.

[maciesmom]

I would guess that in a public school, parent-teacher conferences being offered is required. It is unforturnate but not surprising that the parents of the floundering students have not responded. That attitude probably has a lot to do with why those kids are in trouble to begin with. It's a vicious cycle.

[HighlandsGal]

Originally Posted by lisdol

Is the IB school a charter school or a regular school? I ask because if it were a charter school, maybe you could bring up the idea to the administration of making attending conferences with a teacher a requirement if your child is performing below a certain cut-off level?

Its a shame that a school with a program some parents would probably be overjoyed to get their kids into has kids that are not doing well and parents that aren't responding to your calls and emails.

Nope, it is an IB school with both MYP and DP programs.

[twins4lynn]

Originally Posted by HighlandsGal

So parents of teenagers I ask you........do you attend parent teacher conferences? Why or why not? Does it make a difference what the subject is or if your child is failing?

The schools my children attended did not schedule parent/teacher conferences for all students after the elementary school level (although you could request a conference if necessary or if you had concerns in middle school). I did attend all conferences in elementary school (and did not request a conference in middle school as I did not feel one was necessary). My kids are now in high school now and if parent/teacher conferences were scheduled I would not attend for either my son or daughter as they are both doing fine academically.

[DubbleT]

Are the parents given any choice as to what time they are scheduled for? When my kids were young I sometimes was assigned some ridiculous time like 4pm when I would still be at work. I would blow those off, figuring if my kid was doing well I didn't need to be taking time away from work to hear about it, and if there was a problem I figured the teacher would find another opportunity to let me know.
Somewhere along the way the system was changed. Parents were given the chance to list their first three preferences out of a choice of six or seven available times. I'm sure that made a lot more work for whoever scheduled the conferences, but it made it a whole lot easier to for me, as a working parent, to choose a time I could actually attend.
By the time my kids got to HS the conferences were optional unless a teacher specifically requested one. The few times I got one of those I made sure I went!

[FarNorthDallas]

At the high school level our school has Meet the Teacher night where you follow your kid's schedule and spend 10 minutes in each class. The teachers have no idea who the parents are sitting before them as the kids aren't invited. The teachers give a little speech. The parents sign in, so the teachers can look back and see which kids had parents there. I like going because I like putting a face with a name. But it's not Meet the Parents night, so the teachers don't meet individual parents. It's also all done in English would excludes 20% of the parents, so they aren't there.

The conference with the counselor is just assigned to you and you can either show up if you can get there or you're SOL if you can't be there at your one assigned time. Talk about a hoop to jump through!

I have friends - affluent, involved parents of good involved kids - and they do not attend conferences at the high school level. It's pointless when the teachers have 180-200 kids each. Do the teachers even learn their kids' names? My son says his teachers don't even know who he is. What's the point of a one-on-one conference? The grades are online.

When my son was in private school through 8th grade and the teachers had far fewer students each, the conferences were really productive.

[HighlandsGal]

Yes, I do know all of my students' names (although I wouldn't be surprised if not every teacher does)

We had two nights scheduled, and it is first come, first serve (no assigned times):

Thursday from 4-8 pm
Monday from 3:30-6:30 pm

Parents have had these dates and times since back to school night in August....which is identical to FarNorthDallas's Meet the Teacher night.

My point is, I guess, is if your child is struggling and failing classes, why don't you attend the conferences or at least contact the appropriate teacher(s)?? Drives me nuts.......

..........my conference times have been going for an hour now and I haven't had on parent visit, call, or email.

[Momma_bear]

Originally Posted by FarNorthDallas

At the high school level our school has Meet the Teacher night where you follow your kid's schedule and spend 10 minutes in each class. The teachers have no idea who the parents are sitting before them as the kids aren't invited. The teachers give a little speech. The parents sign in, so the teachers can look back and see which kids had parents there. I like going because I like putting a face with a name. But it's not Meet the Parents night, so the teachers don't meet individual parents. It's also all done in English would excludes 20% of the parents, so they aren't there.

The conference with the counselor is just assigned to you and you can either show up if you can get there or you're SOL if you can't be there at your one assigned time. Talk about a hoop to jump through!

I have friends - affluent, involved parents of good involved kids - and they do not attend conferences at the high school level. It's pointless when the teachers have 180-200 kids each. Do the teachers even learn their kids' names? My son says his teachers don't even know who he is. What's the point of a one-on-one conference? The grades are online.

When my son was in private school through 8th grade and the teachers had far fewer students each, the conferences were really productive.

I have 210 students this year and I know all of their names. It is a big project and I ask each student about a thousand times what their name is until I start to remember. It does take a few weeks to learn all their names.

[Momma_bear]

Originally Posted by HighlandsGal

Yes, I do know all of my students' names (although I wouldn't be surprised if not every teacher does)

We had two nights scheduled, and it is first come, first serve (no assigned times):

Thursday from 4-8 pm
Monday from 3:30-6:30 pm

Parents have had these dates and times since back to school night in August....which is identical to FarNorthDallas's Meet the Teacher night.

My point is, I guess, is if your child is struggling and failing classes, why don't you attend the conferences or at least contact the appropriate teacher(s)?? Drives me nuts.......

..........my conference times have been going for an hour now and I haven't had on parent visit, call, or email.

Those are tough times for people who work.

[Hopes]

If the teacher scheduled an actual conference with me, I would definitely show up.

However, I would NOT attend curriculum night, where all parents attend and move through the school according to the student's schedule.

Curriculum nights are an absolute waste of time---especially for parents of high school students.