Parent Speak Day.

Many parents feel obliged to come and see the teacher of their child even if for a paltry five minutes and even if it isn't really necessary. Two days for this marathon activity are set aside each semester at Paulinum. The three-hour block is cut into five-minute slots with a couple of breaks for the teacher scheduled. Kids sign-up for slots in advance and the teacher can study the sheet and puzzle-out who is going to show-up. A full time teacher has anywhere from eight to twelve different classes to keep track of. In order to not appear too incompetent, I made myself seating charts decorated with individual photos of my students. In addition I made sure that I had arrived at a "sonstige Mitarbeit" grade for each child in advance of the parents' coming. Basically this grade encompasses everything besides the mandated test scores: oral participation in class, quizzes, homework, and study habits. Teachers here don't work with a point system and therefore there is more room to maneuver. Around mid-semester, students start asking what this grade is. I put it off as long as I can because the whole prospect of figuring this frightens me. Most teachers use it to determine a grade if and when a student's test scores are on the edge between two grades. Back to the parents: this allowed me to communicate to parents that students had failed to hand in various assignments or weren't doing their homework or were more focused on their classmates than on the material taught. I had one parent inform me that according to her child I hadn't actually taught the material properly, having just read through it. She hadn't considered that her child might have been focused elsewhere when the material was presented in different ways repeatedly over a period of weeks. Both fortunately and unfortunately five minutes is a very short length for a conference. For the parents of the good students, five minutes is too long and for the parents of the struggling students (who mostly don't come), it is too short. So what was the really fun aspect to this? First, I was assigned to a chemistry room for which my key didn't work. That got me off to a great start with a parent who was going to lose at least two of her five minutes while I figured out what to do. The littlest visitors I had were two pupils selling UNICEF cards. They walked away with 14 of my Euros. During the breaks I could catch a whiff of the waffles being prepared and sold a floor and a corridor away. The hallways weren't heated and if you really wanted to know what the temperature was outside, all you had to do was walk into the bathroom where the windows are always open. Although a few parents who had signed up failed to appear, others showed up unannounced to replace them. As my watch struck 6pm and it appeared that no one else was going to come, I turned out the lights and shut the door. It was then that I was met by the mother of two pupils, one in grade 7 French and one in grade 9 English. What else was I to do but to graciously return to my post. We took care of business and I once again was glad that I had been privileged to raise two sons but that I could go home at night to a quiet household. As one of the colleagues had said, the smile pasted on your face becomes plastic after a while and oh, were we all tired that evening! This coming week we get to do it again, on a different day of the week and for slightly adjusted hours so that all parents will have a chance to come and see what we look like. I can't wait!