TEACHING CONFUSION

Teaching Confusion

I’m toast. This is my second 12 hour work day in a row. Parent-Teacher conferences from the end of school yesterday at 4:20 until 8:00 pm last night. Parent-Teacher conferences from 8:30 am today until 8:00 pm tonight. It’s 4:45 pm, the second day.

I just had a parent teacher conference and couldn’t even remember who the kid was. I know her name. I know she is a good student, but I just couldn’t place her face. Seven months into the school year. I’ve stumbled my way through those types of parent-teacher conferences in the beginning of the school years, but never this far in. To top it off, her parents asked me more pointed questions than any other parents. I look at my grade book to identify the string of As next to her name. They ask, “How is her writing? How is her participation? How is her reading comprehension? How is she socially? How is her speaking ability? How does she do on oral presentations? All things I should be able to answer at this point and for most students, I can. But for some reason, I have lost the ability to form thoughts.

I stumble through my words, referring frequently to the graded essay I have on file for her. “An A student, a few grammatical issues. Makes all necessary corrections with little guidance. Hard worker. Pleasant.” Uhh… “Socially… she seems to get along with her peers. She works well in groups. Well individually. “ mmm… My thoughts finally form: Please leave now. Not that you are not great parents but I’m sucking right now and feeling like I want to sink into my chair or crawl under my desk and nibble on my hair. “Yes, a very hard worker. I like her a lot.”

It ended well. They said they were so glad I was her teacher and they felt so lucky. Their daughter said she loves my class and learns a lot. Upon reflection, everything I said was true. Thank God.