Shortly after I posted yesterday's comments, I was visited by one of my colleagues for her parent-teacher conference. Since she was unavailable to meet with me because of her own conferences, a quick stop by my room around 6pm resulted in her conference.
First off, it wasn't the best of timing. I was in the process of packing up to leave and she assumed that just because I was in my room that I was available for a conference. Make an appointment please! Whatever, I didn't think it was going to take that long so I sat down with her and started the conference.
It all started out fine - she asked me if he was improving (since I called him a slug on his progress report) and after I finished my first few sentences, it all went to hell. I have never said so little in a parent-teacher conference. She proceeded to make excuses ranging from mono to depression, venting anger about how she has to hide the computer and the phone because of what he does after they go to bed, and finally how her son was being persecuted by the other members of his class for an incident that happened during a school trip (which of course he didn't do...).
????????? WTF ?????????????
I sat there patiently and listened to what she had to say, being the ear that she evidently needed to vent upon, and then asked her if she had any other questions. She politely said no and that was the conference. I kid you not, that was it. I'm still flabergasted on how little I got to say but hey, if it makes her feel better and she thinks it was productive - my job here is done.
We got an article at the beginning of the year about this exact topic. One side of the paper was how to act as a parent if you are a teacher in the same school while the other side was how to treat colleagues if their children are in your class. Maybe she forgot to read the first side...
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