Hi Ben,
I wanted to give a report about how yesterday’s Open House went. Overall, it was a time to show off my French 1s freewrites with some supportive parents. However, harsh opinions were not too far away. I had a one particular parent who was adamant about me having to teach students skills like greetings as well as having them write list of vocabulary words. This parent went so far as to say that she has been talking to other parents and saying that the majority of the students want “something like this.” While this knocked me down some, I kept my cool and blew them off by saying “yeah, I’ll add something.” Later however, I just showered other students with praise about their 20 minute freewrites and how these students are already demonstrating 2nd even 3/4th year writing skills. This makes it so worth it. My question to the PLC is: “How do you deal with disgruntled parents about their expectations of how you should teach your class?”
While the hurt is gone, I know that I must be prepared next time. My reaction is to give love to students with even more CI.