Curriculum Night
Thursday night was Curriculum Night at my school. It's a time for the parents to come in and meet the teacher, see the classroom, etc. The fourth grade teacher's presentations were from 7:30-8:00 pm. They stagger each grade level so parents can attend more than one presentation if they have more than 1 kid in the class.
I do a Powerpoint presentation from my laptop that outlines my expectations (communication, assignments, behavior, etc), talks about the curriculum, tells about routines (homework, volunteering, days we have gym, art, music, etc.). I have the kids create cute guides for their parents called "What you should know about 4th grade" and they leave them on their desks for the parents to see. I have the parents create something similar for the kids to leave on their desks so that when the kids come in the next day, they have something to look at from their parents.
I have another Powerpoint presentation going on auto-pilot at my regular computer in my classroom library that shows pictures of the kids working at their desks and cute quotes from them about school and 4th grade. It flashes pics and quotes throughout the night.
Well, wouldn't you know, at about 7:00 pm, when the 3rd grade teachers were just wrapping up their talks and the parents were doing to the auditorium to hear from the principal, THE POWER WENT OUT! I freaked out for a minute, but then tried to calm down. I had copied my presentation on paper for every parent, so if worse came to worse, I could just speak from that. But it was pitch black in my classroom! The only lights were the emergency generator lights in the hallway. I didn't know what we were supposed to do.
The power stayed out for about 25 minutes. I was freaking. No-one had come by to say what to do! So, when the lights finally came back on, I scrambled to re start and set up my two computers as parents started coming in.
Thankfully, the night was a hit! I got such a good feeling from all parents. Really, all! I have one dad who is a doctor, who said he could come in with medical equipment when I teach health and he would let the kids use it. Stuff like a microscope you put in your ear that projects a picture of your eardrum on a computer screen! Cool!
And a mother from India that really wants to come in for an hour and teach the class about the festivals of India. She said she's been doing it every year since her child has been in school, and in her words, "I'll take care of everything, activity, materials, snack. You can just relax for an hour or so!" Ummm, sure!
I don't know how I got off so easy. Another teacher said that when she was explaining the Social Studies curriculum and telling how we study North America by learning the regions of the US, then studying Canada and Mexico, one irate parent got red in the face and started spouting off in front of everyone how "Social Studies should only be the study of the US" and how "Mexico and Canada aren't important and why are we studying them when we could be using that time to learn more about our own country". She said he ranted for almost 10 minutes in the middle of her presentation and threw her way off schedule. She also said it was so funny that she was biting the inside of her lip to keep from bursing out in laughter.
I'll take my night over that one anytime!
I do a Powerpoint presentation from my laptop that outlines my expectations (communication, assignments, behavior, etc), talks about the curriculum, tells about routines (homework, volunteering, days we have gym, art, music, etc.). I have the kids create cute guides for their parents called "What you should know about 4th grade" and they leave them on their desks for the parents to see. I have the parents create something similar for the kids to leave on their desks so that when the kids come in the next day, they have something to look at from their parents.
I have another Powerpoint presentation going on auto-pilot at my regular computer in my classroom library that shows pictures of the kids working at their desks and cute quotes from them about school and 4th grade. It flashes pics and quotes throughout the night.
Well, wouldn't you know, at about 7:00 pm, when the 3rd grade teachers were just wrapping up their talks and the parents were doing to the auditorium to hear from the principal, THE POWER WENT OUT! I freaked out for a minute, but then tried to calm down. I had copied my presentation on paper for every parent, so if worse came to worse, I could just speak from that. But it was pitch black in my classroom! The only lights were the emergency generator lights in the hallway. I didn't know what we were supposed to do.
The power stayed out for about 25 minutes. I was freaking. No-one had come by to say what to do! So, when the lights finally came back on, I scrambled to re start and set up my two computers as parents started coming in.
Thankfully, the night was a hit! I got such a good feeling from all parents. Really, all! I have one dad who is a doctor, who said he could come in with medical equipment when I teach health and he would let the kids use it. Stuff like a microscope you put in your ear that projects a picture of your eardrum on a computer screen! Cool!
And a mother from India that really wants to come in for an hour and teach the class about the festivals of India. She said she's been doing it every year since her child has been in school, and in her words, "I'll take care of everything, activity, materials, snack. You can just relax for an hour or so!" Ummm, sure!
I don't know how I got off so easy. Another teacher said that when she was explaining the Social Studies curriculum and telling how we study North America by learning the regions of the US, then studying Canada and Mexico, one irate parent got red in the face and started spouting off in front of everyone how "Social Studies should only be the study of the US" and how "Mexico and Canada aren't important and why are we studying them when we could be using that time to learn more about our own country". She said he ranted for almost 10 minutes in the middle of her presentation and threw her way off schedule. She also said it was so funny that she was biting the inside of her lip to keep from bursing out in laughter.
I'll take my night over that one anytime!