"Student Led Conferences"

[elfs]

One of the duties of a parent toward the end of any school quarter is the dreaded parent-student conference. The district has recently turned toward something else, though: the student-led conference. This amounts to going to Yamaraashi-chan's school to learn what we already know, since, according to the paperwork we received, we will be led to each of her classrooms where the student will discuss with us what she is doing and show us samples of her work.

In big, bold letters on the right hand side of the sheet, we are told in no uncertain terms that we will not have an opportunity to have an in-depth conversation with the teacher about Yamaraashi-chan's progress or failings.

Well, screw that. That's exactly what Omaha and I did, with a number of the teachers-- the science teacher, the math teacher, and the writing teacher, specifically. The health and exercise teacher even seemed eager and completely blew the time limit, mostly because even he recognizes Yamaraashi-chan's tendency to let her friends take advantage of her. We talked briefly about the things we have talked about, and I realized that while I've talked to Yamaraashi-chan about most of the dangers of teenagerhood, I haven't mentioned smoking much mostly because nobody I hang out with smokes much.

As it is, her grades are fabulous, except in math, but she's jumped two grades since last year so she's struggling. She has trouble turning her work in on time, and she rarely speaks up in any class. I find all that disappointing, but I've promised to work with her on the mathematics, hopefully bypassing all the feel-good bullshit that my states (yes, sadly) has chosen to adopt.

I actually asked one of the teachers what the whole point was. She said that since it's a required event, for a depressingly large number of parents it's the first time they've ever asked their kid, "Why don't you do your homework?"

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/_candide_/]

Danica McKellar: "Math Doesn't Suck: How to Survive Middle-School Math without Losing Your Mind or Breaking a Nail"

I'm getting it for my niecelings as soon as they're out of elementary school.

[lionman.livejournal.com]

Student-Led-Conferences aren't terribly useful for parents who are engaged with their children. They turn out to be the same conversation you have with them at dinner every night. The unfortunate problem is, as you point out, that's usually not the case with most parents and students. :-(