My turn to rant

Sometimes I think being a teacher brings about a hyper-awareness of parenting, future parenting, and how we influence or may influence kids. Then again, it could just be my hormones talking and being irritated by a ridiculous parent.

What happened to the days where when a teacher called home, it was immediately the KID on the radar and NOT the teacher. What happened to the days when the kid didn't do the work, went on a trip, was absent, getting a poor grade, got busted, got a referral, got detention, it was the KID'S responsibility/fault? I dunno about you, but I gotta laugh trying to imagine my parents acting like some of these parents now days. There's NO way my mom would call the teacher asking what the missing assignments were..NO way my dad would come down to the school accusing the teacher of picking on the student. It was always MY BAD. Right or wrong, it was MY responsibility to work the situation out.

So, getting on to what happened today. In class, we've been working on a research paper. This had taken the good part of the month. A student in my class went on a trip for a week, then proceeded to be absent for the next week, didn't do any research/homework while she was on her trip. Dad complained that the teachers weren't doing their jobs because she didn't get any work and upon return her grades were poor. Surprise, surprise, teachers DID give her work, she just didn't do it. One teacher told her that she would have to wait until she got back because it would be NEW concepts that he would have to explain to her. She told her dad that WE DIDN'T GIVE HER ANY WORK. But, I digress, because this was 2 weeks ago...

Today, they are wrapping up their papers, writing and printing. One of the components is a "Sources Used" section. There is info on how it's written with a sample. There's another model of how the notes look and how it's supposed to be written. This is what the girl types:

www.careers.org

That's it. So I tell her, "That's not how you write the sources used. Go look at the outline and the model."

So she comes back with:

http://www.careers.org

Uh, still not how it looks in the model. "Did you even look at the paper? Go back to your seat and look at the papers."

http://www.careers.org.

Really? Now I'm getting really irraz and I tell her sassily, "Really? That's how it looks in the model? Are you even looking at the paper?" I proceed to show her on the paper where to look. The pieces that should be in her notes, what goes where, how to write it and TWO samples are in her packet.

So she fails to look at the model and info twice more. TWICE MORE.

Fast forward to after school. Dad comes in IRATE because I yelled at her in front of class. I didn't talk to her outside. He scolded he ladies in the front office, "Do you even screen the teachers before you hire them?!?" And on and on he went. I'm sorry, was I supposed to take this student outside to tell her to FOLLOW THE DAMN DIRECTIONS ON THE PAPER? Really? First of all, I didn't yell at her. I talked to her sassily and exasperatedly because she was being ridiculous. But really, take her OUTSIDE? C'mon.

And to top it off, she didn't even turn her paper in today.