Thursday, September 24, 2009

Letters from Home

I've been having problems with A from last year. She's now in 3rd grade and still disrespectful and rude. Yesterday she was rolling her eyes when I asked her to do things and groaning. A refuses to try to read. She just gives up. I give them lots of individual support, but she still refuses to try. On the rare occasion that she makes an effort, she figures out what we're doing. So she is capable. I sent home a note to mom about her eye rolling, groaning, and lack of effort. I told mom that I know she can do the work but just refuses to try. I received a note back from mom today. I thought I'd share (I didn't edit her note) -

I suspect their are conflicts with your personalities. I've met you. You can be a little tart. I will remind A of her responsibilities as a student and a child and I will continue to stress to her that she attends school to Learn however I would Like to stress to you that you could be a little more patient with her and change your tone. She is a very astuele individual, and She can since your dislike for her.

I think I am one of the most patient teachers here. A has been disrespectful to every adult she's come in contact with at our school. Everyone knows who she is because of this. A also had another teacher calling mom yesterday about her behavior with 2 other teachers! She was nice to them on the phone. Last year mom did hang up on a teacher for calling about A though. I showed the principal, assistant principal, and counselor. I wanted to be sure they knew what was going on with this parent. They all read it and laughed. They all know A and know the huge attitude A has. None of them had anything to tell me to fix - I'm glad they know this parent and how I am!

3 comments:

John Deere Mom said...

That letter explains a lot about the daughter...

Sarah said...

Glad you've got the administrative support on this one!!

Pigtailed Teacher said...

Wow, that was one sweet letter! It's the sort of thing I like to share with my non-teacher friends.
Just last week I got a note from a parent asking me to excuse their child for not doing his homework since they had his sister's birthday celebration. Uh, no. If anything, keep the assignment another night and turn it in late, don't turn it in unfinished with a note from daddy (although between you and me, this was the sort of assignment the kid could have finished in the car on the way to school). Anyway, I'm trying to figure out if I should write the parent back or not...what do you think?
-Pigtailed Teacher
www.pigtailedteacher.blogspot.com