DHS changed the format of Open House this year. Last year, parents met with teachers via Google Meet, but this year, teachers created a video for parents to watch at their own leisure. Videos were emailed and posted on  Google Classroom.

The videos were made to mimic what would normally happen in an in person meeting such as answering questions and going over  the syllabus; however, this new format overlooked one of the key aspects of Open House – parents formally meeting their child’s teachers. The beginning of the videos themselves were introductions about the teachers for the parents to get to know them and the rest of the video was an explanation on what the students will do in class, how the class is taught, and what topics  will be covered. Many of the teachers also included a digital syllabus for the parents and students.

Sophomore Sarina Johnson explained that her mother saw the videos via email and said that the videos were “pointless, [because she] wanted them to be more interactive.”  She wasn’t able to ask specific questions, and find out as much as she wanted too.

According to Sophomore Thalha Tabish, “ It’s not interactive and parents aren’t able to ask questions.” 

From a student perspective the videos might seem decent enough, but for a parent who has no clue about anything going on in the classroom, not much clarification was provided by these videos.

This seems to be a recurring problem with many students and parents, and being able to ask questions is, in a way, the whole reason for  Open House, so not having that ability really litims how much help a video can help.

A common problem that both parents and students alike seemed to have was with the video’s lack of interaction. Especially since the whole idea of the Open House was to check on how a parent’s child is doing in school in terms of grades and behavior, along with other things a parent may be wondering about.

Sophomore Chynna Layese said “they’re just going over stuff from the syllabus and you could just read that already.” 

However, this was the safest way to do things since DHS has a large student population. It also took up less time for both parents and the teachers, since they didn’t have to work around it and could watch the videos at any time.

As we can see the videos were easier for both sides since neither the parents nor the teachers had to go to school late at night and. Layese also pointed this out: “there’s really is no point in going all the way to school for something you can just read.”

The Open House format this year was very different in terms of communication and relevance since not many people watched the videos and the videos themselves weren’t able to answer some specific questions parents might have. Although safer, and as helpful as it could’ve been, this new format doesn’t seem as available to parents and students as it could’ve been.