Parents' Evening
Apr 29, 2021 20:24:24 GMT
Post by WDB on Apr 29, 2021 20:24:24 GMT
We've all discovered things during the Apocalypse that we hope we'll never have to do again once it's over. And a few other things that are actually much better in the New Way of Working.
And this, I discovered last night at the very last one I'll ever have to do, is one of the good ones. Parents' Evening at any school is a noisy, chaotic horror. There aren't enough chairs to sit on while you wait for your five-minute slot. And then there aren't enough chairs to sit on when it's finally your turn in front of Mrs Miggins. And everything runs late because some parents (and some teachers) have no idea of keeping it brief. And you're stuck for two hours in a cuboidal space with no sound deadening, and you go home with ears ringing from the din and throat raw from trying to compete with it. It's awful. Gawd only knows how teachers must hate it.
Only now it's not allowed. So instead we did it online, on what is evidently a video conference platform carefully customised for schools' purposes. And it works superbly. Each five-minute slot began bang on time, and each teacher was clearly well briefed on the need to have their remarks ready from the off. There was a timer bar at the top of the screen, that began in Benign Blue and changed through Get On With It Yellow to Time's Up Red, and the session cut off after precisely 300 seconds. And each time, we felt we'd got the information we were there to hear, and had a chance to respond and discuss, but not to digress. Perfect. It should happen this way for ever.
And this, I discovered last night at the very last one I'll ever have to do, is one of the good ones. Parents' Evening at any school is a noisy, chaotic horror. There aren't enough chairs to sit on while you wait for your five-minute slot. And then there aren't enough chairs to sit on when it's finally your turn in front of Mrs Miggins. And everything runs late because some parents (and some teachers) have no idea of keeping it brief. And you're stuck for two hours in a cuboidal space with no sound deadening, and you go home with ears ringing from the din and throat raw from trying to compete with it. It's awful. Gawd only knows how teachers must hate it.
Only now it's not allowed. So instead we did it online, on what is evidently a video conference platform carefully customised for schools' purposes. And it works superbly. Each five-minute slot began bang on time, and each teacher was clearly well briefed on the need to have their remarks ready from the off. There was a timer bar at the top of the screen, that began in Benign Blue and changed through Get On With It Yellow to Time's Up Red, and the session cut off after precisely 300 seconds. And each time, we felt we'd got the information we were there to hear, and had a chance to respond and discuss, but not to digress. Perfect. It should happen this way for ever.
