I Can Understand ...

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Home : 2004 : October : 13

I Can Understand ...
By Kerry

Your frustrations. When I was new in a district a few years ago, I had this one parent who talked about me. I ended up finding out and actually was very hurt and offended b/c I am a wonderful teacher and was very good to
her daughter, who really liked me and my class. She did things like ask other parents what they thought of me, if they thought I would be asked back, was I too young ( was 26), did it bother anyone their child was placed with the new teacher, things like that. But then she turned around at the end of the year and told my now-husband (then fiance) how sweet I was and how lucky they were

to have had me and what neat things I did with the class. It was very strange. But it made me kind of think that parents are just people too ... they worry about their kids and education and placement and all the things magazine and pediatricians and TV shows tell them they should worry about and be aware of. We're dealing with the masses, it's a "public job" and I think talk comes w/ the territory, like it or not. And whether or not we'll admit it, I think we've all done our share of gossiping about parents. I agree w/ Ellyn about the "US vs THEM" mentality, that it needs to stop, but, it never will. It's part of the job. Oh well.