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Sidwell Feedback for Parents in LS
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Anonymous
| The feedback given to parents during the fall parent teacher meetings was insubstantial in the experience of many (most?) parents. Is this a private school thing in general? A sidwell thing? A quaker thing? |
Anonymous
| Par for the course. Remember that this is the school that for many years sprung a surprise essay on prospective parents during their school visit. Yes, they made parents write an essay about their child ON THE SPOT. |
Anonymous
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What on earth does that have to do with the poster's question? Please don't start that up again. There is an entire thread (probably started by pp) about that already. Enough.
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Anonymous
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If this question is being asked (or ax'd per the other thread) by a current parent, then wouldn't it make sense to ask for more information from the faculty or staff who interact with your child?
If you are a current parent, what does posting this question on an anonymous forum solve? |
Anonymous
| This is not par for the course. I've had parent-teacher conferences that were better than others, but you should be getting feedback about how your child is doing. Otherwise what's the point? My children are at other privates and we've been told specific strengths when things are going well and specific challenges when they aren't. Some years I feel the teachers really get my kids and some years they don't but I always get something out of it. Perhaps this is a Sidwell thing? |
Anonymous
| OP here -- current parent. I guess this was our first time and we did not know quite what to expect. Compared notes with other parents after we got out and this it seems most others had a similar experience and were similarly puzzled as to the reasons why. Posting here as I thought we might hear from parents of students in higher classes who have more experience with the school. |
Anonymous
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Sidwell parent here. I found the parent-teacher conferences at Sidwell just about as substantive as at two other schools where our children have been. A 30-minute discussion with both teachers and a written summary, with lots of specific comments on how DC was doing in various areas, and some suggestions about specific activities we might practice at home to help DC. This is the same we had at the other two schools. Similar format in the Spring. And I think one year we also had one interim conference at our request, which the teachers were happy to arrange. I've always found most of the teachers there pretty easy to reach via email if you have any questions.
I'd definitely suggest that you come to the parent-teacher conference with a ready list of specific questions you want to ask (if you have any). And if you have really serious and specific concerns, ask those questions in advance of the conference to give the teachers time to think about them in advance. That advice is not specific to Sidwell, but just general advice for any parent-teacher conference. I approach those conferences sort of like I approach check-ups with my child's pediatrician -- I always makes sense to have a list of specific questions prepared in advance, so I can make sure to cover everything. |
Anonymous
| 15:00 It's always good advice to come prepared, however, the conference in my mind should really be for the teachers to reflect on THEIR experience with your child not the other way around. They are the ones who are with them for 10 hours a day and should have much more insight into their day to day issues. I think it's great to ask about concerns but really I'm more interested in what they have to say. It annoys me when the teachers just let the parents talk and then respond to that. They are supposed to be the professionals and I much prefer to hear what they think and then respond to that. |
Anonymous
| Yeah, I think its OK to bring questions or concerns but the teachers are the ones who should prepare. I've had conferences for which I brought no questions at all and still got information out of it. It really isn't like a pediatrician's visit. Your child doesn't spend five days a week with the pediatrician. Parents really can't know what's going on in the classroom until the PT conference. They are there to learn that. |
Anonymous
| Was the Sidwell child molester teacher in Lower School or in Upper School? |
Anonymous
Why on Earth does that matter, he hasn't taught there in well over a year. |
Anonymous
Because the 9:30 poster is the same bored knob that posted at 9:24 and 9:26 here -- http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/75/136209.page -- on the other Sidwell thread. He doesn't care about the topic, and is just trolling for controversy. |
Anonymous
| It's relevant since Sidwell hired a child molester to teach children. |
Anonymous
Relevant to a question about lower school parent -teacher conferences? Sorry,not even close. I'm not a Sidwell parent, but, really, enough already. If you're trying to slur the school you are having teh opposite effect and just making yourself look silly. |
Anonymous
| The Fall 'conference notes' are just a summary of the conversation and outline things the child is working on/goals/areas to improve plus things the parents commented on and the teacher - really not a report yet. The February report should be very detailed. I remember our first report (Kindergarten) was 6 pages long! Much was general comments but there was lots of detail. Wait and see what you get in February, don't be too quick to judge yet. If you have concerns though, you should address the teachers. |