Report Card time, a.k.a. YUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!

I wish that teachers never had to give report cards. I really do. It's time consuming and irritating, to be topped only by the day-long marathon they call Parent/Teacher(/Student) conferences. Blech. Calculating grades is time consuming and I hate doing it, therefore I don't do it unless I have to or I'm asked by a student what grade they're currently earning (or not earning).

It's depressing, too. Unfortunately it's living proof that they aren't getting it. While that's not always the fault of the teacher, it's still really depressing. Annoyingly so, in fact. You, as an educator, have to come face to face with the fact that no matter what you did, no matter how many hours you spent with the child, you still didn't 'do it' and they still didn't 'get it'. Ugh. Who needs that?

For someone in my position, Parent/Teacher conferences are always awkward and annoying. You're an 'extra' teacher and many parents don't even bother to try and meet you at the beginning of the year. However, the ones you do end up meeting are usually pretty pissed at you once they show up--typically at conferences. 9 times out of 10 parents come to me wanting a darn good explanation as to why Jr. didn't get a decent grade. Once I show them the proof in the numbers, they either turn the tables on Jr. and demand they take responsibility for their grades, or they're still pissed at me and essentially demand I change their child's grade. (Those are typically the parents who always, always believe the child over the teacher and usually believe the teacher is in fact 'picking on' their child for whatever reason.)

In the past I've just let the parents come to me, but the ones who SHOULD don't always come. On occassion you get the parent who is confused as to why their child received a B--shouldn't they be getting an A in this subject? It's supposed to be easy, right? This quarter, I am requesting to meet with certain parents and students. If anything it will keep me a little busier during the 7-hour conference marathon, and I'll really be able to talk to the parents whose children I'm concerned for. However, just because they're scheduled doesn't mean they'll show up. I'm not sure which will be more annoying--being blown off by the schedule, or just being ignored all afternoon. I guess I'll find out.

Inservices

Why is it that the inservices you actually want to attend are typically more helpful and useful than those you're mandated to attend? Blech. I just found out we've got a post-school year inservice to attend. AFTER the school year's over. WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT? LAME. I'm wicked pissed about it already; don't be surprised if my ire increases as the day approaches.

I don't know how or why my boss expects that from a staff that, in my opinion, is hardworking enough. On top of that, there's a summer program that's run by another teacher plus we're talking about holding summer school this year. That takes away a valuable planning day for both summer school and the summer camp program we do. Given how we all feel about the program as it is, I can already see my colleagues moaning and groaning during the last week of school. It's one thing for teachers to voluntarily attend PD seminars and inservices over the summer, but it's another to take even part of it away.

I know...I know. It's part of the contract we sign. Technically, my principal owns us from August 15th to June 15th. BUT, few principals will prescribe to that and literally own their teachers. I don't know why we just can't find a way to work it in before the end of June.

Thanks to my brother-in-law and his fiance, I have an 'out' for one of those inservice days that are already scheduled for June. God bless that wedding! ;-) I'm not holding my breath...I'm going to gloat about it all summer and karma will come back and bite me on the buttcheek to remind me that I'll probably have to show up a few days before I leave to make sure everything in my lab is set up for the inservice. Not that THAT means very much...I made sure everything was set up today and there were still issues that one of the women in charge blamed me for. Hey, if I didn't do something right, I'll take the blame. But the issue we were having was with their website and programs, not our computers and software.

Anyway, it's the weekend, so I'm getting myself off the interwebs and going to watch a movie or do something unproductive.