First Parent Feedback

We had Miniature School and I talked and talked about the classes with all the parents. Since most of the students I had last year many of the parents already know the drill about how I have a website (http://www.roycemoreschool.org/teacher/montgomery/index.html) and try to put the information out there about my classes really clearly. So I was able to spend a lot of the time talking about the changes I made this year.

For my history classes, I emphasized the wiki for each class. I showed how it was set up and some of the things that I had uploaded to it so far. The parents seemed interested and pretty supportive. One thing I can not wait for is when our school moves to the new building in a couple of months. We then should have much more reliable web access and laptop carts for classes. I do not think that the parents quite got that I am expecting their kids to contribute to this page. I am going to start with the Seventh Graders and work with them first. I have had them the longest and know them pretty well. That class focuses on Non-Western Culture and I am finding lots of resources to start us off well.

The overall feed back from the math parents was positive. They appreciated the work that I put and said that there students are watching the videos that I have made at my YouTube account (andymoteach). They seemed pretty impressed that I had spent so much time preparing and that I have the first third of the year done and on-line. One thing that was a little bit irritating but helpful was the only criticism that I got. A parent commented to me that I could be more clear when I spoke during the videos. The frustrating part was that this was the parent who I asked to critique the videos after I did my first few. She said that she would but did not get back to me. Oh well, we all have busy lives but I just wish I had gotten her feedback. A couple of parents even said that they learned stuff from my videos where I was teaching math the traditional way with example after example. I really have been emphasizing that most nights the students may have a little homework and also a video or two to watch. I need buy in from the parents so that their kids are on top of this. The kids say it has been useful but I do not know yet how much they are getting out of it. Some are saying it is boring and others are saying it is just right. And I am pretty sure that some kids are not yet watching the videos regularly. I certainly am spending less time in class going over the material and that is allowing me to work more with the students that need the additional help. I am learning that this is a balancing act of how much work to assign and also a trust exercise on how much can I expect a bunch 13 year-olds to follow through when there is not a clear assessment after. For the students who need to the most work I am still trying to figure out how to have them pay the attention they need to. I might have them copy the problems down at so they can follow the steps more closely but I do not know. Their first quiz is on Tuesday so that should be interesting. I have a feeling that I am going to be meeting with a few of my students over lunch or after school the next couple of days.