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Parent Conferences

This week is parent conferences - oh, joy. Actually, they're not bad and most of the time I really want to talk to parents. Unfortunately, the parents who show up are not the ones I really need to talk to... this year I caved and offered extra credit for those who could drag their parents in. I had one student show up for his conference, without parent. It would have been even better if I knew he/she was interested in improving the learning rather than just trying to score pity/brownie points.
 
I had a student come to me and claim that the parent I spoke with now believes that "I hate" this student. I tried to say positive things about the student's personality and intelligence level while strongly recommending that the student just shut up in class. (I tried to say it in more positive terms). The student has a very low grade, is a complete distraction to all the other students and driving me mad... but hate seems a rather strong emotion, doesn't it? This student didn't kill my cat or burn me in effigy, *sheesh*  'cause there aren't many jobs out there for illiterates who don't do anything but keep all other employees from working.

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