Meet the Teacher Night

On Tuesday and Thursday last week from 3:30 - 6:30 pm I had "Meet the Teacher Night".  I didn't really  know what to expect.  At home it's pretty informal.  We open our classrooms for an hour or so one evening in the first month of school and parents are invited to come in, look around the room , and meet me.  It's a very informal affair but it seems to work quite well for our school community.  But as soon as notices were send home to parents a  I knew things were going to be different.  Here's my run down of "Meet the Teacher" at Footscray North Primary.

1. Notices were sent home asking parents to chose their preferred  time and day for meet the teacher night.  Filled in notices were return to me or directly to the office.

2.  The assistant principal began arranging teacher's schedules for fifteen minute time slots for parents with requests.  She became ill and the office manager took over the job.

3. A few days before the scheduled nights I was given notices to give to my students telling them of their meeting time with me.

4. Parents who never returned their forms were called, and if communication on the phone didn't occur notices were sent home telling them when they were to meet with me.

5. Lunch on the first day of the meetings I am given my list of parents coming to see me.  I also see that there are notices in my box (or pigeon hole as it's referred to here).  I quickly read over our prep-2 overview letter and ask what I'm suppose to do with it, along with an internet form, and a media form.  The office managed is surprised I don't know what to do with it.  (This isn't surprising to me at all as I am so out of the loop despite asking tons of questions.  The typical response I get is "don't worry it's not a big deal".) She quickly explains it to me.

6. School is out and I head to the hall (gym) because that is where all meet the teacher meetings take place.  I walk into see a gym filled with tables and chairs and a sign at each table.  I find my table .  There is  a nice cold bottle of water waiting for me.

7. 3:30 - First parent doesn't show up but 4:00 parent is there and so they jump the cue .  I introduce myself, ask if they have any questions, and we chat a bit and then I get on to my jobs.  I carefully go over each section of the overview  as well as talk about the internet use form and the media from.  It's over quickly and the next parent steps up.  This process repeated over and over again until 6:30 pm.  I was able to sneak out for a quick toilet break but beyond that I sat at my table, (worked on my planning) and waited for parents to arrive.  In a couple of cases I needed the use of an interpreter and I quickly found them sitting at a table in the middle of the gym.  Most of the parents that were told when to come (ie they didn't ask for a time) didn't show up.  In addition some of the parents that asked for a time and were assigned a time didn't show up.  

8. On Thursday the entire process was repeated again but this time I was told about the SNACKS for the teachers around the corner in a small kitchen.  I was able to enjoy the snacks - cheese, crackers, dip, fruit etc and I wish I had known about them on the first night.

So if you're someone that works with me you can see it was far more formal than any "Meet the Teacher" we've ever had.  These were not meant to be "Parent Teacher " interviews although I must admit they felt a lot more like them than "Meet the Teacher".  Now I'm curious to see what "Parent Teacher Interviews" will look like.  Hopefully there will be snacks then too!

Overall it was a really pleasant experience though as I typically enjoy meeting and talking with the parents of my students.  You can learn a lot about their children from this.

Happy just about Spring Break my BC teaching friends.  My fall end of term break isn't until the beginning of April.