Blog #4: What clerical and preparation responsibilities have you participated in?

I was able to help the teacher get folders ready for each of her students before parent teacher conference.  She has 2 classes and each class is a different color, blue or green, depending on if they are her morning class or her afternoon class.  I made each student a folder with their name on it and put it in the corresponding colored box, alphabetically.  As I made each students folder I assembled a collection of work they had done in class, as homework, their Chinese work, as well as their reading assessment comparing their new scores to their last.  I liked how she had both scores on the paper because I know as a parent I would want to see how they compared and this way the teacher didn't have to have one more binder to look through.

After parent teacher conference she was excited at how it had all worked out because everything she needed was right there and she didn't feel like she was running around her classroom looking for something to give to the parents.  Everything was at her fingertips.  It was all her idea but I was glad I could help her get it ready, because I was doing it for her the first day of parent teacher conference and I don't know if you she would have been ready with every one's stuff.

It made me realize how important it is to be organized and flexible as a teacher.  The first way this teacher tried to be organized for the first parent teacher conferences of the year she didn't like and still felt like she was wasting her and the parents time looking for things in piles of papers.  So she went came up with other ideas after talking to other teachers and doing some research of her own.  You can't get discouraged just keep pushing through and you will find something that will work for you and your teaching style.