Each trimester, six weeks in, it happens. Whether in-person or online, students have those moments where they hold their breath as their teacher speaks about their progress so far in the class. If bad class behavior and grades dare to be mentioned, students suffer the consequences of that sharp parental glare, spelling out the dire message, “we’ll talk about this later.“
Although conferences can be hectic for students, they can be just as, if not even more, stressful for teachers. The COVID-19 pandemic spawned a new digital age, which means most parents choose to attend conferences on Google Meet from the comfort of their own home. Meanwhile, teachers have to spend long days in the classroom to fulfill the meeting requests.
“It’s the fact they go so late, and that there’s two back-to-back late nights,” history teacher Mackenzie Roman said. “By Thursday at eight o’clock, I’m exhausted, and then I have to go to school on Friday and teach.”
Although conferences typically only last about 5 minutes, some teachers stay late talking to parents up until 9 p.m, according to Roman.
Those long nights aren’t the only thing teachers have to work with to make these conferences successful. It takes more steps than that to make those quick meetings a useful swap of information from parent to teacher, and the first area is where some difficulty can set in.
“Sometimes parents misunderstand what it’s like to be a teacher day-to-day,” recently hired math teacher Matthew George continued, “insisting that their children are little angels when I see a different story in the classroom.”
Teachers often have to work around strict parents who only want the best for their kids, and lenient parents who are certain their kids are good without actually checking. Being too positive and giving the wrong idea or being too honest and landing kids in trouble is a hard balance to strike.
Having been students once themselves, teachers understand the difficulty of a negative conference and attempt to make things less harsh and stressful for the newer generations. Even the strictest of teachers have been in students’ shoes when it comes to conferences.
“I was terrified. Post-conference, I was always in trouble,” George said. “I try to be as honest as possible, but also as positive as I can, even when I’m giving feedback that’s not necessarily positive.”
In a survey of 100 students conducted during their lunch periods, it was found that 68% of respondents felt an elevated amount of stress when conferences came around.
“I always get a little tense when conferences roll around, even if I know I’ve been doing well,” said senior Joe McFarlen.
But recently, not all teachers believe this nerve-wracking sentiment of conferences should be fortified.
Roman said, “I find it to be a positive experience because students are doing well, even if it’s not super-positive, it’s always helpful to talk to people to help them with their kids. Your parents are looking out for you, so even if it’s a bad report, it’s still a conversation on ways to help you succeed.”
