Evil Teacher
Apparently, that is me. LOL
Oh the joys of being a teacher. You know, some days, I just wish that none of my kids came with parents, LOL. What an awful thought, I know.
So, here was the main episode today. Sally* asks me yesterday during class if she can come in to take a test she missed. I tell her that I can't stay after school because I have an appointment and will in fact be leaving during 6th period, but that she can come in tomorrow morning.
She comes in this morning during tutorial, around 7:15, and asks to take the test. I say no problem, I grab the quiz from Friday and set her up with the tape recorder for the listening section. She comes back to me with the quiz a minute or two later and tells me that she has already taken this test.
I am confused.
I ask her if she is sure since this is the most recent quiz. She then tells me that it was a test from a week and a half ago when she was on a school related absence.
Being the mean, evil teacher that I am, I have rules. The biggest rule of mine is taught the very first day of class and repeated throughout the first month and sporadically throughout the year. My #1 rule: Three days to make up work missed during an excused absence.
I politely tell Sally that it is too late to make up this test. I remind her that she knew we were having a test on that day and that she knew she was going to be away, so I expected her to make it up the first day back, but she had had three days.
She screams, "this is unacceptable, I am calling my mother." And leaves.
Within 5 minutes, I notice there is a message on my phone. I don't understand why I didn't ring and went immediately to voice mail, but that is fine. Mom leaves a message saying that she can't believe that I expect so much from my students and please call her back immediately.
I call mom.
Mom starts with the nice pleasantries for 30 seconds and then becomes irrate: I obviously have not had my syllabus approved by the school board and she is going to take this up with them, I expect too much from my students, blah blah blah...
I remind her that this rule is clearly laid out in the course syllabus and I would be happy to send home another copy.
"No, I don't need another copy," she tells me.
She tells me, "Sally asked you yesterday if she could make up the test and you had some doctor or dentist appointment or something." (hello??? has she never had to go to the doctor before????????) "She came in early today to take this test." (early?? tutorial starts at 7:05, the "start" time of school, the time she should have been in my room, the time by LAW that school starts...)
I calmly explain to Mom that I am sorry about the confusion. I assumed she wanted to make up the recent quiz or I would have explained this to her yesterday.
Mom tells me, "well you should have asked her which one? she shouldn't have to tell you!" huh??
I don't really remember all that conspired after this point...she was out of control and at one point I just told her,"I think we should meet with the counselor present"
Meeting is Friday morning. (not during tutorial mind you...that would inconvenience her...it is at 8 am..during my plan).
*Note that names have been changed to protect the identity of the student, and to cover my butt. :)
Oh the joys of being a teacher. You know, some days, I just wish that none of my kids came with parents, LOL. What an awful thought, I know.
So, here was the main episode today. Sally* asks me yesterday during class if she can come in to take a test she missed. I tell her that I can't stay after school because I have an appointment and will in fact be leaving during 6th period, but that she can come in tomorrow morning.
She comes in this morning during tutorial, around 7:15, and asks to take the test. I say no problem, I grab the quiz from Friday and set her up with the tape recorder for the listening section. She comes back to me with the quiz a minute or two later and tells me that she has already taken this test.
I am confused.
I ask her if she is sure since this is the most recent quiz. She then tells me that it was a test from a week and a half ago when she was on a school related absence.
Being the mean, evil teacher that I am, I have rules. The biggest rule of mine is taught the very first day of class and repeated throughout the first month and sporadically throughout the year. My #1 rule: Three days to make up work missed during an excused absence.
I politely tell Sally that it is too late to make up this test. I remind her that she knew we were having a test on that day and that she knew she was going to be away, so I expected her to make it up the first day back, but she had had three days.
She screams, "this is unacceptable, I am calling my mother." And leaves.
Within 5 minutes, I notice there is a message on my phone. I don't understand why I didn't ring and went immediately to voice mail, but that is fine. Mom leaves a message saying that she can't believe that I expect so much from my students and please call her back immediately.
I call mom.
Mom starts with the nice pleasantries for 30 seconds and then becomes irrate: I obviously have not had my syllabus approved by the school board and she is going to take this up with them, I expect too much from my students, blah blah blah...
I remind her that this rule is clearly laid out in the course syllabus and I would be happy to send home another copy.
"No, I don't need another copy," she tells me.
She tells me, "Sally asked you yesterday if she could make up the test and you had some doctor or dentist appointment or something." (hello??? has she never had to go to the doctor before????????) "She came in early today to take this test." (early?? tutorial starts at 7:05, the "start" time of school, the time she should have been in my room, the time by LAW that school starts...)
I calmly explain to Mom that I am sorry about the confusion. I assumed she wanted to make up the recent quiz or I would have explained this to her yesterday.
Mom tells me, "well you should have asked her which one? she shouldn't have to tell you!" huh??
I don't really remember all that conspired after this point...she was out of control and at one point I just told her,"I think we should meet with the counselor present"
Meeting is Friday morning. (not during tutorial mind you...that would inconvenience her...it is at 8 am..during my plan).
*Note that names have been changed to protect the identity of the student, and to cover my butt. :)
posted by Katrina | 1/19/2005 07:40:00 PM
7 Comments:
Good for you -- the parents will walk all over you if you let them, and the kids know it. Stick to your rules!
That's stupid. Rules are rules, especially if it's something you've made clear since the first day of class.
We had policies like that in different classes when I was in high school and I never thought it was unreasonable. I did what I had to do to make up my work during the time allowed. I can remember being at school one morning at 6 to make up a calculus test.
Some parents are just like that...overbearing and too involved in the wrong ways. I saw that as well. One day a parent came in to my calculus teacher complaining that her daughter's tests weren't being graded fairly or something like that. The mother had no knowledge of calculus, but thought that our teacher was being too picky for giving partial credit for getting the correct answer, but not having the correct equation/work to arrive at that answer. Which was one of her policies set out at the beginning of the school year. You would think that if the parent had a problem with this, she would have come in as soon as she received the syllabus, not when her daughter received a lower test grade than what the mother thought she should have.
Same with this mother. If she had a problem with the 3 day policy, why didn't she bring it up at the beginning when the syllabus was issued?
Geez...
Don't you just love parents like that???? GRRRRR!!!! And its not like these are little kids...you teach high school right??? They should know better by now. *sigh* but then again, I say that about my 8th graders who are now coming to me saying "But I need to make up my grade and have it be higher!" WHATEVER!!!!!!!
Hope your day gets a little better. Think of it this way, I'll be spending all day on Saturday at school...BLEH!
Well, you can bend the rules a bit. Let her take the test and then give her a zero for not doing it on time. It does not appear the grade is at issue only the time frame. It's a win-win situation. The Mom gets her way and you get some revenge.
I could never teach kids just because of the way parents act.
What? You mean you can't wait until after the test is handed back to the rest of the class, borrow your friends and then write the test! That is so unfair! LOL LOL LOL
Stick to your guns. Hope the parent meeting goes okay. So frustrating!
Hey K, Raven here from SMC-ville. Good for you for sticking to your guns. What a brat! I would have been scared to death to talk to a teacher like that, yet alone complain to my mother. No wonder kids don't accept boundaries. I teach college courses, and they drive me crazy with this stuff, especially if they got away with it in high school. I solve it by having a "no make ups" policy. I let them "drop" their lowest score, so if they miss a test, for ANY reason, they take a zero, and drop it. I'm a meany, aren't I?? But, it's real world stuff....Since I have been working for myself for three years, and have no sick days, guess what??? I never call out sick! That's life, showing up is 90% of it.
Thanks everyone for your support!
I will let you know the ultimate results..didn't hear from the principal today, so maybe it is handled for now?
Raven, I had no idea you taught! How have I missed that? LOL
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