Parent Teacher Conferences

So parent teacher conferences were today...and boy do I have stories.

The way PTC's work here is that the school assigns a time for the parent to come in for 15 minutes and that is the time we have to discuss how the child is doing and what not. Well my first appointment was at 8:00 with Taldil's parents. Now I knew that her dad was the chief of Koror (The state we live in) but her mom is the one that always comes in to drop her off and pick her up and what not so I just figured she would be the one to come for the conferences. Anyways, long story short...THE CHIEF shows up at my door 2 hours after his appointment with a big long story as to why he's so late and that his daughter didn't tell him anything about the appointment until it was too late and on and on. First of all...THE CHIEF JUST WALKED INTO MY CLASSROOM...do I bow, shake his hand, look him in the eye, what do I do? Anyways, after 15 minutes of him telling me stories about his life and me laughing and us not discussing his daughters grades at all, he gave me 2 contact numbers, said call whenever you need anything, stood up, shook my hand, mentioned his name again (which I think was to solidify any doubts that I may have had that he is indeed the chief) and left. Glad he's a nice guy.

Most of my other appointments for the day went very well. One mom had me cracking up because right when she walked in she said "my son hates to study and all he wants to do is watch television and he's just so emotional all the time and I truly apologize." Cute lady.

Genesis'(my problem child) dad came in and before even looking at the grades said "you know, my son has an attitude problem and I don't mind if when he gets out of line if you just spank him." HAHA! All I could do was chuckle. It still makes me laugh as I am writing this. He then gave me 4 numbers to reach him at. 4!

All was well up until one mother came in. It was like a tornado came in behind her because all she could do was complain about the school and the teachers and how I assign homework. She kept telling me to Tell Nelson (the principal) about this this and this and I just kept thinking you go tell him yourself! She was not happy to put it nicely. She saw her son's grades and said "I will not accept these B's until I know that my child is getting the best education possible and that his teachers are trying their hardest." Side note..YOUR CHILD HAS A'S AND B+'S!! THAT IS NOT BAD!! she continued by saying "I would like to have a copy of your lesson plans to verify what he is learning and so that I know what my child is learning. I will be coming in to observe your teaching skills next week." WHAT?! She also had a lot of beef about the math grade and I told her that I don't teach math, that teacher is in the library if you would like to talk with her. To which she said "I'm sick of hearing you all tell me that you don't teach a certain subject. This is a conference. His teachers should all be here at once so I can talk to them." She just kept going on and on like that. Totally outrageous stuff. I didn't really say anything because I didn't feel like I had anything nice to say and my mom and dad always taught me that if I can't say anything nice then don't say anything at all. :-D

After discussing this whole ordeal with Nelson I found out that this is not the first time she has done something like this and that last year was even worse, especially with the math teacher who is the same person as last year. That makes me feel a bit better. :-D

So in the end, I have met the chief, laughed hysterically with parents, been chewed out by a crazy mother, and I'm still alive to tell about it! Monday is coming quickly though so I pray that all will continue to be well. My spirits will not be crushed!

Until next time...love to all! :-D