High School Meet the Teacher

[Liberty Belle]

My son's does and we did go. It was very well-attended. We just moved this past spring and he switched schools. The other school didn't have this and if they did I doubt nearly as many would have attended.

I enjoyed it and think it was very beneficial to the teachers and us parents. I absolutely do not helicopter parent my children, especially my son in high school.

 

[disykat]

Ours was last night. My son is a junior, so most of his classes have just juniors and seniors. One class only had three parents, but the others all had at least 8-10.

I asked the teacher that only had 3 and he said he was surprised because usually his AP classes have more. I have to admit it was kind of nice to get to talk to him one to one.

I do have to comment though - it's absolutely absurd that to say that it is helicopter parenting to go to an open house you are invited to. I can see why a parent might want to skip an open house, but the "I don't want to be a helicopter parent" won't fly in this instance.

 

[kilee]

My son is in HS and we did not go this year. We went last year. It's a small town, he doesn't have a teacher we don't already know. If it were a 1-on-1 conference to discuss his progress, I'd go for sure.

Now the new principal, I'd like to meet him.......but for a whole other reason.

 

[barkley]

i went to dd's (freshman) last week. it was new to me-they did'nt do these when i went to public highschool back in the 70's (not in jr. high either).

i can understand why there might be a low turnout with beyond freshman/sophmore years if other schools are like dd's-

(1) smaller school-only one or 2 teachers at the most for any subject-so if it's the same math teacher year after year it would be the same kind of speil about classroom policy, grading, etc. same goes for spanish and the other foreign languages. i don't know many schools that have more than one teacher who teaches the kind of electives most kids tend to take throughout their highschool years (choir, drama, band, art, or a particular team sport)-so unless there's a dramatic change in policy or procedure it's a very repetative presentation.

(2) extensive/enhanced school use of internet/e-mail for parents.

the school dd goes to uses an excellent secure parent site for students. i can pull up each of dd's classes and see not only her grades but the grade average for any given assignment and tests for her entire class. i can pull up the class expectations (same handout she got), the syllabus and any other "operational" materials the teacher uses. the site keeps track of how often parents access it on their child and if it does'nt get checked every so often it automaticaly triggers a requirement that a student's teacher has to do hard copies of certain progress reports with required parental signatures. the principal not only updates the school website each week, but we get a weekly e-mail that's sent to all parents (got it this afternoon) that re-caps what has occured this week and includes an overview of next week's happenings with a reminder of what's going on through the next calendar month.

with that kind of information at one's fingertips it's realy not entirely necessary to go to an open house once you've met the teachers once.


the one i went to had o.k. attendance, but i did notice that in every class there were several parents that the teacher had to interrupt and stop from asking questions specific to their own children and remind them that this was not 'parent-teacher conferences' (i personaly could'nt fathom begining to ask specific questions about my child-BY NAME-in a group setting).

 

[patsfan101]

I teach at a high school and I am always disappointed at the low turn out. I wish I knew why. It's mandatory that all teachers attend (of course, there are always a few who are sick or whatever) and it is a very long day for us. I wish more parents would go and then would check up on their kids' homework assignments!

 

[KAMLEM]

I admit to skipping parent-teacher conferences on the high school level. I stay aware of his grade at all times. If the grade is bad, it's pretty clear the reason why - not enough studying and homework completion. I don't feel like I need a conference for that.

But yea, I was astounded that there was such a tiny percentage of parents there at the high school last night, you know?

Personally I think it's more important to go to parent-teacher conferences than Meet the Teacher night. The teachers don't even know who's there on Meet the Teacher night. I think it's important to go to the conferences even if it's just to show the teachers that you are involved.

 

[Minniemama350]

I used to teach HS and we had one. EVERYONE came. It was crazy!

 

[torinsmom]

DS is a sophomore. Last year, he was in honors classes and about 50% of the parents were there. He didn't excel, so this year he is in regular classes. There were only 2-6 parents in each class this time! The teachers did a really great job, and were willing to take more questions than last year.

I guess I am a helicopter parent if that is what you call being involved with how my child is doing in class. His teachers seemed happy to meet me and talk with me, since my son is having some trouble right now.

I am a teacher, and I'd much rather have lots of parents there than a few. Nothing like preparing for hours and staying late on a school night to speak to TWO parents. Usually the parents who are already involved come, when they already know what they need to know. I wish we could make parent night mandatory for PARENTS.

Marsha

 

[FinallyBoughtDVC]

WOW! At our high school Back-to-School night (last night), you couldn't move, couldn't find a seat in the classrooms, you could barely walk down the halls! In classes of 20, there were pretty much 40 parents there. You have to go extremely early to even find a place within 1/2 mile to park! We have a very, very competitive high school and parents expect to go and meet teachers, hear about the grading and curriculum and get contact information. What a strange difference - in your school, you could count on one hand the parents who showed up. In our school, I could count on one hand the parents who weren't there (mothers AND fathers).

BTW, from your sig, it doesn't look like we live in completely different parts of the country. We're relatively close!
BTW #2, this is not a private school. It is our township's public high school.

My dh and I were at our son's last night - HUGE turnout - always is. Hallways & classes were jampacked (standing room only in most classes).

 

[a1tinkfans]

I am a teacher at a middle school where we have "Back to School" night just like this and I have around 150 students and I think I had about 10 parents and their students show up. There was no one there....

Bet these are the same parents that say "gee, I didn't know that or Gee, what do you mean Johnny has an issue"??? Sad, really.


I think it is a great opportunity to get a "feel" for your childs teacher and a reference for any later potential conversation. Its always nice to put a face to a name.

I have a sophomore and go next week for back to school night. Last year it was packed, and I have a feeling it will be packed again this year too...it is a LONG night, too long, but we both go anyway...