Do You Ever?

Do you ever have those days where you look at your day & night and realize there is just way too much to do and it is virtually impossible to get it all done? I am having one of those days today. Here it is 8:07 and I still have to do lesson plans...I haven't done them in 2 weeks! So I have to do last week so I can do this week. NICE! My own fault, so I can't complain.

Do you ever want to just really tell someone how you feel? I want to tonight, but won't I will be nice and refrain. Tonight I got a phone call (answering machine) and it went something like this: I would like for you to call me tonight, as soon as you get in, it is about the note you sent home about B's failing math grade, I am not sure why she is failing, she does fine here at the house, what is going on, can you tell me why she is failing, can you tell me why she does fine here at the house and is failing math, can you call me right when you get in, can you please explain to me the difference between home and school, she did great last year, she made good grades all year.

This same parent wrote me a note today for the second time asking if I could let her daughter check out books for her science project I assigned last week. They don't have Internet so it would be nice if I could allow her to use resources from school and the book she is using to do this at school. I wrote back AGAIN that there is NO science project, what I sent home last week says STUDY GUIDE at the top and explains that it will take several weeks to cover all the information and as it stated on the study guide (and the note I sent last week) I will announce the test date later and send home a more detailed study guide. Then I told my para pro to make a copy of the note I wrote LAST WEEK responding to the SAME question and then highlight where I answered this question already and then staple it all together including today's response in her daily spiral notebook. So when I got home and got the message above here is what I wanted to say, "I can't tell you why your daughter knows something at home and doesn't know it at school, seems kind of odd to me. Also, your daughter had warning signs of this on the first report card which we discussed at conferences and you agreed that some extra attention would be beneficial. Please understand that I can't call you at a moment's notice, I have a life outside of teaching, I am a mom and wife on top of being a teacher so if you could just be so considerate to give me a day to call you back that would be great, because actually I have a lot going on tonight and none of it involves having a round and round circle talk where I say things you repeat them and then ask me the same freaking question again." Why do I want to say all of that? Because I have gotten several notes from this mom asking the same questions over and over in the same note and then get another within the next few days asking the same question again. She also called me FOUR times on a Saturday within 4 hours and then called two weeks ago 3 times in one night and all three times Nick explained I was AT SCHOOL for a meeting (she lives maybe a half mile away from the school-why didn't she come on down?). That's mean isn't it? But I feel better! :) Oh to blog about it!

I have given out my home phone number for the last 6 years and on occasion will get a phone call, but after this year I will NEVER do this again. Lesson learned. Now it is 8:18 and I need to go be productive so my teaching can be questioned once again...I am starting to think that maybe I shouldn't teach anymore, perhaps I am not good at it.