Yesterday, we had student conferences from 1:30 pm to 8:30 pm with maybe 30 minutes break all-together. And wow! I have to say, I did not ever perceive just how tiring this process would be! Before, when a professor decided to hold "student conferences", it was good news to the students because that meant having to just go to meet with the professor for 10 minutes or so and sometimes having class cancelled for it. On the other hand, as a teacher, it's a lot more work. Here I was thinking "just talking to students for the whole day will be a piece of cake!" Boy, was I wrong!
I guess I did not realize when you teach, you do not talk for the entire class time and give a chance to students to speak their minds and at times give them time to work on the activities and especially in our classes, give them time to read and write while in class. However, when holding student conferences, it is like talking back to back the same comments sometimes without a break in between each conversation, and wow that is quite exhausting! By the end of the night, when meeting with our last few students, my lead teacher and I were both brain-dead! So, though I still think that student conferences are necessary to hold half-way in the semester to be able to speak to students invidivually, letting them know about their performance in the class, I am now more aware of just how demanding of a process it could be for the teacher.
Damn, being a teacher is so hard sometimes!
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Yikes, that sounds so exhausting! I never thought about about how much brain-power those conferences take up. I will have more compassion for my teachers from now. When I have to wait because they need to get something to drink or use the bathroom, I usually just get crabby, lol.
ReplyDeleteYes! Being a teacher is a lot of work! I hate it when it's looked at differently. Thanks for putting this post up. Sometimes we dont think about how hard a teacher works and how much dedication they put into what they do. Teachers who hold individual conferences show that they value one on one time with students. I think it creates an oppurtunity for deeper learning.
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