Parents are power revisited

Today, I received a couple of gifts from my students. One gift was a box of white chocolate and peanut bars. Since I cannot eat chocolate, I am going to re-gift this to Priscilla. Just don't tell her. ;) The other gift was a card with a candy cane taped to the envelope. Both great gifts, but I really liked the card since it was more personalized.

These two items brightened my mood for the day. I wasn't bummed out over the fact that I subbed for someone today, so I had no prep and I had to observe presentations until 5 o'clock tonight. There was another noteworthy event that occurred today.

During class, I told one student who didn't turn in her SBP that she should stay after school and work on it. She is on the verge of passing. If she were to do well enough on the project, she won't have to repeat the first semester of Algebra I next year. Sure enough, she didn't show up so I called her mom. Her mom was aware of her failing grade, but she wasn't aware that her daughter could have stayed after school and make it up. She told me she would drive her to school immediately.

When I saw her there, working on the computer, she was not happy AT ALL. She had on her best I'm-in-a-bad-mood-face. It was funny. I helped her a little bit in between presentations. At the end, she made sure I had received her e-mail and that I was satisfied with the work.

Anyways, I almost forgot how powerful parents can be in helping you to get students to turn in their work. I know of one teacher that makes it a weekly routine to contact parents. I think I ought to try a little more and call home more often.