"Neighborhood Elementary School calling..."
or
"Neighborhood Middle School calling..."
They call me a lot. It's not to hire me or to ask my advice on grammar. They do call to tell me:
my child thinks he's going to throw up,
my child thinks he's going to faint,
my child feels "shaky"
my child missed the bus,
my child made a mistake in judgment.
Here was last week's call,
Teacher: Your child is missing an assignment and final grades are due at 3:00.
Caution: I will look for it here.
Teacher: It's worth 100 points. I don't know what to do.
Caution: Okay, that would devastate her grade. We'll find it. I promise!
Teacher: Let me know if you find it. This is a serious problem. Did I mention that final grades are due at 3:00??!!
When the call ended, I felt so bubbly and joyous I almost couldn't contain it all.
The house was searched. Nothing. The backpack was searched. Nothing. The "No name paper' box in the classroom was searched. Nothing.
My child was in a panic. I was in a panic. There was ample yelling and crying and blaming. It was a lovely mother/daughter bonding time. All my child knew was that she had turned the assignment in one month previously. Then again, she's thought that before.
I sent an email to the teacher saying the paper was not here, but that my child said it had been submitted.
One very long day later came the return email,
"Sorry to panic you. The assignment was found here. She did quite well."
I am tired of not being happy when I look at caller i.d. and see that a school is calling.
So here's my solution to that problem. I think that every teacher should be required to call each student's parents once a year to say,
"Your child is nice."
or
"Your child has worked really hard this week and deserves some ice cream."
or
" I'm glad your child is in my class this year."
I know the teachers will say they don't have the time, but here's another suggestion. You know how my kids watch lots of movies during school? (One every two weeks - even on days that are sunny and 70 degrees???) Don't stop watching them. Instead, when you push that play button on the dvd player, pick up the phone and starting dialing. When I answer with trepidation in my voice, say,
"No, he's not sick, injured, in trouble or missing something. What he does happen to be is one great kid."
18 comments:
I'd like to nominate the english arts teacher that lets his student teacher do ALL of the teaching while he's God-knows-where. I think since he's probably so articulate that he should be the school to parent feel good caller.
Don't you just love our school system!
And to think - I need a master degree to push that VCR button in my county (to teach) and a bachelors just to sub (cause - I probably wouldn't be able to find the VCR button).
Hang in there - maybe you'll get that call!
Can you imagine how happy a call like that would make the parents and consequently the students? Of course, i'm not sure my parents were ever called my teachers when i was in school. Phew!
I don't get the movie watching aspect of learning. The kids around here do that too. Now if it was a documentary that would most assuredly put them to sleep, I could understand the educational value but watching Finding Nemo, I don't understand.
I feel left out. My kids school never calls me, unless they need volunteers or fund raising. If someone is missing work, they just get a big fat zero. I am going to complain. Will you back me up????
It's so different today. Our teachers never called home to our parents - they just waited until everybody got home and then chewed about us over the back fence.
I have to agree with you! We get our caller ID on the TV when we are watching...it's nice, we don't have to interupt a good movie to pick up when "You Know Who" calls.
I can't believe how much the schools have changed, or maybe it's the difference between the schools where you are and the ones in California. My kids' teachers never, ever called me to let me know anything! Maybe I am grateful for that...
That would be great. Wonderful. We're being bombarded by flu here and everyday my kids tell me about how many candies they were given in school. GRRRR!!
so glad the paper was found by the teacher and she called back and told you so; I bet that caused both you and daughter to sigh a sigh of relief
I'm with you about the teachers just calling to say something nice about your child; that is a great idea! I've gotten too many of the other types of calls so I totally understand how nice it would be to hear someone say something nice about them for a change; wouldn't take that long either to initiate such a call
betty
yeah....
What a great idea. And I would have felt all bubbly, too. Not.
I'm still waiting for replys to last weeks emails. I wont get started!
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When I was a teacher, I made a point of making positive phone calls--at least three times a month.
I taught middle school and when a kid got one of those calls, it was just a beautiful thing. The parents started the conversation with dread, and ended it almost singing.
It was one of the best parts of my job.
OMG I hate when the phone rings and I see "Neighborhood High School" It's that "Oh s**t" feeling that suddenly takes over. However, I have gotten a few calls that start with "Mrs Momx2, this is your childs teacher. Don't worry, it's nothing bad. I just wanted to call to tell you.... SOMETHING GOOD"
I totally agree with your suggestion about teachers calling when there is good to report. But I would still dread the call.
If I never got a teacher's email again, I'd feel like I'd won the national lottery (except there isn't one). Grrr.
I hate that sick feeling I get when The School comes up on the caller ID. Your solution is good.
Another solution would be to take the phone off the hook.
hahaha
That ii worrisome and annoying! At our school (where P goes and I teach) we're required to call each student's parents with GOOD NEWS at least once a month. It really does help. Kind of softens the blow when you call with bad news too. That helps.
This is an excellent suggestion. Teachers should call with good news sometimes if they want to build a good relationship with their students and the parents. I think there are some wise teachers who actually do this. I do it with my Sunday Class kids. At least that call was a false alarm, bet that teacher really felt stupid when she found the paper after troubling you about it.
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