Question out to the void - Is it wrong to pester a teacher to make sure homework has been turned in?
I am not a “helicopter” parent. Im the first to let teachers know my kid is no angel while I hand them my email address and cell number. I know I will get calls about homework (and other stuff). But whats happened so far this year chaps my ass.
Background - Found out at parent/teacher conf that child had not been turning in homework (3 out of 28). So after 6 weeks of school, said child is pretty much failing. And I just find out about this during the conf.
Im not understanding - why the 6 week wait to let the parents know of these types of issues? I had been in contact with the teacher on other items and lack of homework was never brought up.
Now Im pestering the child, asking every day if homework is turned in and checking room and backpack for verification. But I feel that can only go so far.
After I emailed the teacher last week, to check on turned in homework, they responded by emailing parents letting us know that several were asking about homework and requested we speak to our children about the need to get homework turned in on time and with their names added.
From his frustrated sounding response – it sounds like there were MANY parents blasted with the “little to no homework has been turned in so far this year” message
WTF?
As far as Im concerned, he dug the hole he is in by not letting parents know of the situation earlier. Especially if there are many of us.
So I will continue to pester both the child and his hapless teacher from now till the end of the school year.
And that’s just with one kid. The older one has even better ones! His teachers are losing homework!! Can you believe that? I have strongly suggested on the larger projects he date when he turned it in, in his planner AND have the teachers sign as well. Just so he has backup for when the next project is “lost” (I added the quotes as one of the teachers “found” the “lost” projects, worth 150 points)
GAH!
I would keep on it. My daughter's teacher hasn't been sending back homework, test, anything. So I don't know how she is doing in Spelling (wish is a pain for both my daughter and I). So, I don't know if we need to start the quizzing on Tuesday instead of Thursday like the teacher assigns. I tell its frustrating.
ReplyDeleteI hope things will get better in the future.
I have had this happen too. Grrr! I found it helpful to have the teacher sign the planner at least weekly and I have also been a pest and emailed weekly about stuff not getting turned in. We have also had stuff lost by the teacher. It's really frustrating. I would go to the building principal if it doesn't get resolved and they could help too especially if a number of parents are having this problem-then it doesn't just look like you are alone. Good luck!!!
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, you have to be a pest...they obviously don't get it. We've been pretty lucky but I have friends that aren't so lucky AND they don't keep up with everything. NIGHTMARE.
ReplyDeleteAs a teacher and a parent, I understand your frustration. Fortunately, our school system has edline for parents to check on grades...it is divided into a total breakdown of graded work. That way the parent can email the teacher through edline if she/he has any questions concerning missing homework. It eliminates the frustration on the part of the parent. I am a high school teacher and feel strongly about student responsibility over homework so I strongly encourage them to check edline once a week for any discrepancies.
ReplyDeleteHope your situation improves soon!
I just want to be clear- I'm not teacher bashing at all. They have a lot on their plates too and I know things slip through the cracks and get lost etc. I totally sympathize with their position too. I want my kids to be responsible but they need to know that the parents and teachers care about their success and when a parent shows up for a conference and emails a teacher asking about work not turned in I would like to know a teacher is noticing and lets me know. That way the kids know it matters and we are a team. As far as the edline setup-we have something like that in our district but it is not complete and severely lacking in real time information so it's not a reliable source for me unfortunately- for the most part I have found that teachers like to keep in touch through email with me, it's quick and easy and keeps everyone on the same page.
ReplyDelete