bringing parents up
Sep. 23rd, 2011 08:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chaniI happen to have, among my youngest students, the son of a rather famous French actor. The kid is nice, very interested in my class but he keeps speaking out loud before being allowed to, so I have to reprimand him on a regular basis about that bad habit.
Today, at 6 pm was parents-teachers first meeting -- the one I find useless for we don't meet each parent to talk about their child but simply show our faces to a bunch of parents sitting in a classroom and tell them what we expect from the pupils and from their parents (as if it weren't obvious! Kids must work, parents must keep an eye on their children's work) -- and I was pleasantly surprised to see that Mr Actor was there (we have several actors' children and the parents rarely bother, given that they don't really take care of their own kids)...
Unfortunately, while my colleague, who is the "main teacher" of the form, was making an "intro", just before I spoke, I noticed that Mr Actor and two other parents were conspicously using their i-phones (checking messages or something). I even wondered whether they were filming or recording the meeting! But I bet it was just personal business they were taking care of.
They went on "playing with their phones" when I started talking which, of course, annoyed the hell out of me. I was this close to make an unking remark(or something like the students knowing about mobile phones being banned within the classroom!), and I made a point to look at them insistently until they finally put the phones down. By the end I was finished with my show, Mr Actor was looking at me and seemed to listen to what I was saying...
It isn't easy to teach civility and courtesy to pupils when their own parents are just rude.
Today, at 6 pm was parents-teachers first meeting -- the one I find useless for we don't meet each parent to talk about their child but simply show our faces to a bunch of parents sitting in a classroom and tell them what we expect from the pupils and from their parents (as if it weren't obvious! Kids must work, parents must keep an eye on their children's work) -- and I was pleasantly surprised to see that Mr Actor was there (we have several actors' children and the parents rarely bother, given that they don't really take care of their own kids)...
Unfortunately, while my colleague, who is the "main teacher" of the form, was making an "intro", just before I spoke, I noticed that Mr Actor and two other parents were conspicously using their i-phones (checking messages or something). I even wondered whether they were filming or recording the meeting! But I bet it was just personal business they were taking care of.
They went on "playing with their phones" when I started talking which, of course, annoyed the hell out of me. I was this close to make an unking remark(or something like the students knowing about mobile phones being banned within the classroom!), and I made a point to look at them insistently until they finally put the phones down. By the end I was finished with my show, Mr Actor was looking at me and seemed to listen to what I was saying...
It isn't easy to teach civility and courtesy to pupils when their own parents are just rude.