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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]If I had a dime for every parent who treated me like cr#^, I'd have retired by now...
So tired of the micro-managing, the second-guessing, the nit-picking, etc.  What is the point of it?

I know the dcurbanmomers are likely going to tear me to shred with their snarky remarks on this, but let me just say:

I am a teacher at a close-in public school.  I work hard and produce good results.  My students enjoy coming to school.  I communicate regularly with parents (positive and negative when necessary).  I give freely of my time before and after school.  
I am in my mid-thirties with over 10 years of teaching experience behind me, but not too old to be burnt out (despite the title of my thread)...yet I have found (being new the area) that the parents here cause me great stress.
-I have no problem with parents who are strong advocates for their child.
-I have no problem with parents who question a strategy, method, etc.
-I don't even mind your questioning a grade.

What I have a problem with is:
-Skewed expectations of your child's abilities (want them in a higher group than they are capable)
-The expectation of special treatment without valid reason
-Constantly wanting to alter the way I do things and sending in things you find on teacherspayteachers that I should try!!!!!
-Constant criticism
-Down-talking me to colleagues

What is it that makes parents so crazy?  Do they really think they are helping their child with this behavior?  I don't have kids of my own.  Help me understand?????

[/quote]

I am a parent at a close-in public school.  We have experienced teachers that called our "DC" "not that bright" and said that DC's problem was "lack of motivation" and not the unchallenging teaching environment.  But, I suppose you call that "skewed expectations".  (Although, the IQ testing did bear our parental view out and showed that YOUR view was wrong.)

We asked for an IEP and "special instruction" to help our gifted child with a learning disability.  You said that our child didn't have a learning disability and that our DC just needed to "take more pride and ownership in his work."  I suppose you thought we had an "expectation of treatment without a valid reason."  After we had our testing updated (at a cost of thousands of dollars), the testing showed that our DC does indeed have a learning disability and needs special instruction and accommodations in a few areas.  You, however, refuse to provide it.  (I think because you think that you are already a "good teacher" and don't actually know more than one way to teach the material.)

We tried to provide suggestions about alternative ways to present material to our DC.  Some of it came from publicly available teacher websites, because we wanted you to see that you could actually spend a few minutes online and find these resources yourself.  Some of it came from educational websites about "best practices."  I suppose you thought we were "constantly trying to alter the way you do things."  Yes, we were.  That is the point of special instruction -- to alter the way of teaching so that the student can have access to the material.

Finally, we gave up and left your school.  When neighborhood parents approach us and tell us they miss us and ask why we left, we are honest.   We had a very bad year with our last teacher.  The teacher and the school couldn't meet the very basic needs of our child, and so we left.  When we are honest about *our* experience, we start to hear about the bad experiences that other students had with you.  I suppose, if this got back to you, that  you thought we were criticizing and down-talking you.  Perhaps we were, but we spent months trying to work in a positive way with you, spent thousands of dollars we didn't have to identify our child for the IEP and for tutors to provide instruction you were unwilling or unable to provide.  Good word of mouth is earned.  (By contrast, when people ask us about the teacher DC had the year before you and the year after you, we sing their praises.  They were GREAT teachers -- willing to treat us as partners, willing to alter instruction, and saw our DC as capable.)

Now that DC is in a new school, testing shows that he has made more progress in three months than he made in the entire last year with you.  He is very happy and loves school again.

The last line of your post is very revealing.  You say you don't have kids of your own.  Teachers don't have to have kids to be good teachers.  But, it sure helps.  You may know more about education than your student's parents, but isn't it a bit presumptuous of you to assume that you know more about their kids than they do?[/quote]

Bravo, PP.   You said really well what many of us have experienced.  It's killing me that I can't afford to get my kid out of this environment.[/quote]

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