Pray for me
I am about to enter the most dangerous combat zone for teachers: parent conferences. And I'm going in without backup, too. I've been through conferences once before, but that was during student teaching and the fabulous Mrs. R. always had my back. Today and tomorrow, I will have to stand up and defend/justify my grades all by myself. Pretty intimidating for a first year teacher, but it's a rite of passage that all educators must experience.
Reports went home yesterday, so we were actually fully prepared for the backlash that hit today. Parents that have showed absolutely no interest in their child's education the last 9 weeks are now suddenly "very concerned" that their child is failing _______'s class (whatever class that happens to be). Luckily, not too many kids failed MY class (and those that did, I have the reasons to back it up), but needless to say, we all walked in this morning to full email boxes and phones that were blinking like Christmas trees.
Wish me luck...I'm goin' in!
5 comments:
Good luck woman!! keep us posted! i am sure it will go better than expected :)...
If we don't see a post by Saturday, I'll drive down with some veteran teachers. We can get you out of anything.
Day 1 update:
&*@^#^#&@(@)!)*#&#&
It wasn't TOO bad--not for me, anyway. Most of the parents' wrath was directed at other teachers.
Yeah...be willing to see your own child's "areas for improvement" without getting too defensive. =-) Even if you don't necessarily agree, always back up the teacher in front of the student. You can hash it out with him/her in private, but if the parent usurps our authority, we have totally lost control of that kid the rest of the year.
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