The school’s annual Back-to-School Night is set to take place tomorrow, Thursday, September 3 at 6:45 p.m. Parents will follow the same schedule that their children follow every day, except with 10-minute classes and 5-minute passing periods.
During each period, teachers give a short presentation to parents, including an introduction of themselves and a summary of the goals of the class. Most teachers quickly brush over the subjects their students will be studying throughout the year. Some, especially science teachers, include demonstrations of lab activities that their students will perform.
“I’m going to start by introducing myself and making sure [the parents] know that I’m a regular human being who’s completely reasonable,” science teacher Adam Randall said. “Then I’m going to gloss over some course materials and techniques their children will have access to throughout the year.”
Some resources that Randall plans to mention are the course’s textbook and the website that he designed, LAphysics.com
“My main goal is to talk for the entire ten minutes,” Randall said. “I want to maximize the flow of information from me to the parents and minimize the time they have to just sit around.”
Many teachers this year are trying to make sure that parents feel comfortable. Starting this year, most teachers are incorporating several types of multimedia into their presentations as a supplement to what they say.
“I want them to get a sense of me as a teacher,” English teacher Galen Rosenberg said. “I think it’s important that they know what their student will experience in my class. It will help them get comfortable with me.”
Rosenberg plans on using a PowerPoint with “basic information” to accompany his presentation.
“I didn’t want to use anything too glitzy or complicated, just something simple to get the point across,” he said.
The school hosts the event each year as a way for parents to get to know their children’s schedule and teachers.
Clubs also use Back-to-School Night as a chance to recruit new members and fundraise by selling food and other products. Club sales will begin at 6.
