So, they do this week (5 whole LONG days) here where parents are allowed to just "pop-in" and visit their child's class. It sounds fun, interesting, like a golden opportunity, but the truth is it's just a nuisance! First of all, kids just don't act the same with adults around, so getting anything accomplished is really challenging. It also isn't giving the parents a true sense of what goes on everyday at school. Secondly, it's just so unpredictable I'm not sure how a teacher even plans for this. I was on the volunteer list anyway today, so I know some classes had no visitors and others had three or four parents just milling around, not even minding their own business. If you're going to "observe", then just observe. Don't poke your nose in the lesson, read all the student's journals or ask lots of questions. Just sit in the back of the room quietly and observe! Finally, it's really unnerving for teachers. If it were one day or assigned times I probably wouldn't think much of it. Truthfully, 5 full open days of visitation is just outrageous. Let's be real - it's just not necessary!
Em's teacher this morning said to me (and she's a veteran teacher with years and years of experience), "All day I wonder to myself, 'Did I spell the word was wrong on the board??'" We both had a good laugh after that!
2 comments:
Five days of unstructured interruption does not sound reasonable to me, either!
Yup - it's really kind of unnecessary.
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