Reflections on Parent-Teacher Conferences

Random observations:
* My African sons are respectful and hard working. Their teachers wish all their students were as eager to learn.
* They have learned to ask questions, which is not necessarily encouraged in their own cultures. I am very proud of them for this!
* They recognize the good teachers as the ones who expect the most from their students and keep order in class. Hmm. They also recognize the lazy ones as the ones who show movies frequently and who pretend that uncorrected worksheets are good reference material for quizzes. Hmm.
* They are well liked and were greeted by many of the students and parents we saw at the conferences. (Thanks to Cross Country, Football, and Church youth group)
* They are dealing with many cultural differences that we don't even know about. Last week, Dennis was so pleased and surprised to learn that he didn't have to start over on a paper he was writing because all of the corrections could be made right on the computer! (He had asked me to type it.) What else is he thinking that I can't imagine?
* The teachers that are hard for them to understand are the same way for me! You should have seen me leaning forward and concentrating hard on comprehending what the Chemistry teacher was saying!
* Parent-teacher conferences went very well. We are looking forward now to the next season, which of course is.........basketball! Every day brings new surprises. Today I learned that they both have been thinking that the milk we drink (skim) must come from sick cows because it tastes almost like water!!!!