Dear current and former teachers:

I've got a question for you... How do you get over/deal with the following situation:

A student makes a bad decision.

You try to correct the student's behavior, implementing an appropriate punishment.

The parent attacks you - "How dare you!?! My child doesn't deserve this treatment!"

I find it extremely difficult to deal with and I wind up taking it very personally. What it says to me is that the parents see me as the bad teacher and/or think I'm out to get their kid...

How could I do my job if I didn't love my students?

How could I possibly do my job if I wasn't absolutely committed to trying to educate my students to be safe and responsible technology users and all-around good people?

I go to a Middle School 200+ days a year. I'm surrounded by almost 300 pre-teens and teens who have raging hormones, varied home lives and backgrounds, and attitudes galore.

I listen to their stories. I cry at the indignities of their lives. I see the adults they will be and I pray for their futures.

I see them in the grocery store. I see them at the post office. I see them two hours away in Denver at a Target.

They shout "Hey Ms. E!" and run up to me wherever I am.

I do a good job and I care about my students.

And then I have parents questioning my commitment to teaching, my decision making, and the way I run my classroom.

Maybe the parents are just being defensive because they know their child made a bad decision and they feel ultimately responsible.

Whatever the reason.... How do I deal with it? How do I keep it from feeling personal?

Fun new discovery - a blog that finds links to a variety of free e-books. I've started using the Kindle App on my phone and the Overdrive App through my local library. I love free books!

Books on the Knob

Relief from the heat

I'm back in Colorado after a month in Texas where they were having record breaking temperatures and it was over a hundred degrees every day.

Yuck.

Today's top temperature was 80 degrees and it felt gooooood.

Now back to the boxes and boxes... have to finish unpacking before I go back to work!