Conference Booster Shots

My first parent teacher conferences ever.....and I am exhausted. The day started with my first parent at 11:30 asking their son why he is not doing his work...great I'm sure this is how the day will go. Oh and by the way the parent was a teacher. Yeah maybe you should have your son do his work instead of asking him why he's not doing it. Why aren't you making him do it at home genius?? Next meeting lasted for 40 minutes. For some reason the parent couldn't grasp that their student was being lazy and it wasn't the TEACHER'S fault (maybe you shouldn't have told your son it was ok if he didn't get good grades, then maybe he would actually do his work). I was hoping the day did not continue this way. The next few parents were nice and it was smooth sailing. Then....he came in...the father of one of my students who never does his work. He proceeded to throw papers at us and call us incompetent teachers, and ended with a meeting in the principals office trying to get us fired. Wow, maybe if you put that energy into getting your son to do his work, maybe you wouldn't have to waste all that energy yelling at us...just a thought...Of course the principal bent to his will since he is prominent on the PTA (way to back up your teachers..) and gave him several "compromises" that no one else would get. My blood is boiling just thinking about it now...Despite the horrific conferences that took place throughout the day, there is a bright side. I had multiple parents thank us (well they directed it to my teacher) for the challenging work we have been giving them (well that I have been giving them). They said they are glad their students are actually doing work that has substance and they really appreciate the higher order learning that is taking place in class. Some parents even asked that we give their students more work to supplement at home! Oh, and the whole time parents are giving these compliments, my teacher is eating it up with a spoon, even though she hasn't taught a thing since early September. In other words, they should be thanking me. It's ok though, I will take in the compliments and celebrate in silence because those parents affirmed any doubts I had about my abilities as a teacher. Thank you for giving my confidence a booster shot.