"Are you nervous?" The head teacher asked me yesterday.
"No way!"
"It's a really big deal, so we all have to be perfect."
"It'll be great!"(my best winning smile, what my grandmother would call a "shit-eating-grin")
"I'm really nervous."
"Hm."
PTC's. Parent Teacher Conferences. In the states that might mean that Little Johnny's mother is coming in to talk about a low test or a behavior issue. I had one in Charlotte after I caught a kid crushing a half-eaten Tootsie-Pop into the cover of his textbook. That one went well. He didn't have to lick it off the book's spine like I (psychically) suggested, but I was able to explain the situation to the parent. By the end of the meeting she was on my side of the table and asking me what "corrective action" might be appropriate (5 page essay).
At Korea's Center for Talented Youth (KCTY), a PTC is very different. I think P/BSDSTI/SDS might be a more appropriate acronym, because what happened today was less like what I experienced in Charlotte, a Parent Teacher Conference, and more like a Parents/Boss Stare-Down and Subsequent Teacher Interrogation/Speed-Dating Session. See, P/BSDSTI/SDS isn't such a mouthful when you see the long version.
And it's a good thing I wasn't nervous, because I would have found myself in a smoking kill-zone if things had gone south.
I hope you caught the "s" in Parents, because I want to be clear that all of them were there. All of the moms anyway. That's right, all the moms in Korea. And my school director (which sounds decidedly more intense than principal).
The PTC comes in two stages and the first is a parent observation of our class in session. Luckily, I only have one of these things and it's for my kindergarten reading class.
So the scene is this: My ten kindergartners (the Swans), their ten mothers, my school director, and I are crammed into my tiny classroom. Then I teach my lesson while the parents and my boss watch. The teachers reading this probably won't think much of all that. It's weird to have outsiders in your classroom, and it can make the tenuous order you've worked the past few months to create a little wonky, but most teachers get observed all the time -- especially rookie teachers. I've been observed countless times over the past two years in Charlotte by admins, peers and parents all, although I will admit that I've never had quite this many eyeballs on my lesson at once, or so close together.
The kids know the drill. I had a few minutes to go over my schedule with them. Even had time to write an agenda on the board with a timetable. It was a real locker-room pep talk moment. And really, our goals are pretty much the same. I want to look competent. They want to look competent. For me, that means having a sense of showmanship and control throughout a well-planned lesson that's fun and that the kid's respond to -- showing that the classroom I'm running is one that is facilitating growth and excitement. The moms are looking for all that, don't forget: these are paying customers. I've been told many times that Bundang is the second wealthiest region in Korea, and that these are demanding, educated, wealthy folk. For the kids, competent means not being surprised or overexcited by the lesson and acting the fool in front of mom. So I wrote the agenda for both of us, and went over it twice.
Part one went well. It was a lot like putting on a play. The kids are great -- that helped a lot. They were weird, but pretty calm when they needed to be. The second half of my lesson was a game, and they were equal parts cute and adept, which is what photo snapping moms in the back of the room wanted to see.
Part two was a little more difficult.
Next the moms, some who spoke English and many who did not, came in to have more traditional conferences. All of them. Back to back to ten. With only ten kids, and having taught the class for two months or so now, it wasn't hard to give the details that they asked for, or even suggest improvement plans. A Korean teacher at the school translated during the conferences. It was pretty intense having all the meetings in row (it took around two hours to get through them all), and I know I've been playing all this up, but it wasn't bad. Truthfully, it was really nice to get to know the kids' moms.
I've heard a lot about the parents in Korea, or more specifically the moms. And that's how they (the powers that be at my school) refer to them: "the moms". "The moms" will want to see this. "The moms" have asked about this homework assignment. Before coming over I read blogs about "the moms" screaming spit-fly into English teachers' faces. My moms were nothing like that. They were all reasonable, concerned parents. Cool folk. Now given, I gave a good lesson, the kids behaved well and seem to like me, this is the first time the parents have met me, and I had nothing but good things to say about their kids. Maybe I just got lucky. Maybe they'll turn on me. Maybe I'll get another class, and have the observation from hell one day, but as for today, it went well.
Of course at KCTY every day is an observation.
Working at a private academy, and in consumer-education in general, continues to be an eye-opening experience and there are a lot of differences between this and public ed (obviously), but the parents are the same. They want the best. These folks may be able to pay a little more for the best than some of my parents in Charlotte, but the motivation is the same.
"No way!"
"It's a really big deal, so we all have to be perfect."
"It'll be great!"(my best winning smile, what my grandmother would call a "shit-eating-grin")
"I'm really nervous."
"Hm."
PTC's. Parent Teacher Conferences. In the states that might mean that Little Johnny's mother is coming in to talk about a low test or a behavior issue. I had one in Charlotte after I caught a kid crushing a half-eaten Tootsie-Pop into the cover of his textbook. That one went well. He didn't have to lick it off the book's spine like I (psychically) suggested, but I was able to explain the situation to the parent. By the end of the meeting she was on my side of the table and asking me what "corrective action" might be appropriate (5 page essay).
 |
| Lolz |
At Korea's Center for Talented Youth (KCTY), a PTC is very different. I think P/BSDSTI/SDS might be a more appropriate acronym, because what happened today was less like what I experienced in Charlotte, a Parent Teacher Conference, and more like a Parents/Boss Stare-Down and Subsequent Teacher Interrogation/Speed-Dating Session. See, P/BSDSTI/SDS isn't such a mouthful when you see the long version.
And it's a good thing I wasn't nervous, because I would have found myself in a smoking kill-zone if things had gone south.
I hope you caught the "s" in Parents, because I want to be clear that all of them were there. All of the moms anyway. That's right, all the moms in Korea. And my school director (which sounds decidedly more intense than principal).
The PTC comes in two stages and the first is a parent observation of our class in session. Luckily, I only have one of these things and it's for my kindergarten reading class.
So the scene is this: My ten kindergartners (the Swans), their ten mothers, my school director, and I are crammed into my tiny classroom. Then I teach my lesson while the parents and my boss watch. The teachers reading this probably won't think much of all that. It's weird to have outsiders in your classroom, and it can make the tenuous order you've worked the past few months to create a little wonky, but most teachers get observed all the time -- especially rookie teachers. I've been observed countless times over the past two years in Charlotte by admins, peers and parents all, although I will admit that I've never had quite this many eyeballs on my lesson at once, or so close together.
The kids know the drill. I had a few minutes to go over my schedule with them. Even had time to write an agenda on the board with a timetable. It was a real locker-room pep talk moment. And really, our goals are pretty much the same. I want to look competent. They want to look competent. For me, that means having a sense of showmanship and control throughout a well-planned lesson that's fun and that the kid's respond to -- showing that the classroom I'm running is one that is facilitating growth and excitement. The moms are looking for all that, don't forget: these are paying customers. I've been told many times that Bundang is the second wealthiest region in Korea, and that these are demanding, educated, wealthy folk. For the kids, competent means not being surprised or overexcited by the lesson and acting the fool in front of mom. So I wrote the agenda for both of us, and went over it twice.
Part one went well. It was a lot like putting on a play. The kids are great -- that helped a lot. They were weird, but pretty calm when they needed to be. The second half of my lesson was a game, and they were equal parts cute and adept, which is what photo snapping moms in the back of the room wanted to see.
Part two was a little more difficult.
Next the moms, some who spoke English and many who did not, came in to have more traditional conferences. All of them. Back to back to ten. With only ten kids, and having taught the class for two months or so now, it wasn't hard to give the details that they asked for, or even suggest improvement plans. A Korean teacher at the school translated during the conferences. It was pretty intense having all the meetings in row (it took around two hours to get through them all), and I know I've been playing all this up, but it wasn't bad. Truthfully, it was really nice to get to know the kids' moms.
I've heard a lot about the parents in Korea, or more specifically the moms. And that's how they (the powers that be at my school) refer to them: "the moms". "The moms" will want to see this. "The moms" have asked about this homework assignment. Before coming over I read blogs about "the moms" screaming spit-fly into English teachers' faces. My moms were nothing like that. They were all reasonable, concerned parents. Cool folk. Now given, I gave a good lesson, the kids behaved well and seem to like me, this is the first time the parents have met me, and I had nothing but good things to say about their kids. Maybe I just got lucky. Maybe they'll turn on me. Maybe I'll get another class, and have the observation from hell one day, but as for today, it went well.
Of course at KCTY every day is an observation.
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| Still getting used to that |
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