Teachers: What has been your best, worst, and weirdest experience w/ students and parents?

Question

Teachers: What has been your best, worst, and weirdest experience w/ students and parents?

Answer 1

Weirdest: I've had a parent call me on my cell - how they got that number, who knows?  I've had a parent send me a love letter (yes seiously) to my school and my principal read it and pulled me aside. I was really young at the time - early 20's and he was in his mid 30's.

Worst: I've had parents go straight to the superintendent to complain about an issue without brining it up to me first. This same woman claimed I was picking on her son and regardless of what I said to him  or nice act I did, she turned it around and made it malicious. This same parent faxed my principal letters daily for weeks claiming all these ridiculous things.  This same woman couldn't have single handedly caused me to quit - but thank goodness I didn't.

Best: My parents were extremely supportive and volunteered in my class daily which resulted in management of many independent programs that I wouldn't have been able to do without their help.  They give super cool gifts. One mom brought me dinner enough for 3 days from a local thai restaurant during parent conference week.

Answer 2

I'm not a teacher, but someof these comments are pretty weird and funny etc.... But i had fun reading them!!!

GREAT QUESTION

Answer 3

Best:  Tough one - there are so many wonderful things that happen in my teaching career!  I think it was when my advisory class in our middle school made arrangements for a large group team meeting as a surprise on my birthday and threw a little birthday party for me complete with a skit and singing.  I cried!

Worst:  Attending the funeral of one of my students this summer after she died following a long battle with a rare heart condition.  It's so hard to let go of one of your students.  Even though we, as well as she, knew she was on borrowed time and every day was a blessing, it was still a shock and the loss was and is tremendous.  When we go back to school this fall it will be hard not to see her gentle smile.

Weirdest:  When a student accidentally leaned his temple into a just sharpened pencil and impaled himself with it just below his temporal artery.  We had to send for medical assistance to have it removed for fear that he had pierced his artery!  He was so calm and collected, sitting there chatting about NASCAR with me while we waited, his pencil hanging from his head...!  We even posed for a picture together while we waited!

Thanks for the fun question to answer.

Answer 4

I once had a student who would come to class dressed as Mother Teresa. He was Jewish, which made it weirder. I asked him why and  he said it made him feel good. The administration had to stop it when it started to catch on and other students began wearing costumes that made them feel good. The only other one I remember in my classes was Mighty Mouse.

Answer 5

Best: Having a student tell me that she really needed to talk with an adult because of a personal problem she was having and I was able to direct her to some help and "keep tabs" on her during the year to make sure she remained safe. We still remain in contact even though she graduated from high school!

Worst: Having a parent tell me that their son didn't need to do homework, nor did he have time to do it, because he was spending all of his time training because he was going to play pro-football. When I told them he wouldn't be able to play jr. high football because he was failing my class, you should have seen the fireworks start! It was not pretty!

Weirdest: I assigned a report and a student brought in this great report. I sent it home with a note to her parents saying how happy I was because it was by far her best work of the semester.  Then I got a note back from her mother thanking me for the compliment because she had done it for her!  

Answer 6

I told a mom that her son was a master debater.  I started laughing.  They didn't think it was funny. (He was 10th grade.)

Answer 7

Best- I teach first grade.  I had one student who came in to my room hating school as a result of a bad kindergarten experience, as did his parents.  He had a wonderful 1st grade year, loved school, loved learning and his parents were ecstatic.

Worst-I had a kid hit me.

Weirdest- When I first started teaching I had a class with all IEP kids.  Everything from severely mentally retarded, autistic, severe learning disabilities, oppositional defiance disorder, mixed with children who were gifted.  All of them had such dynamic personalities I probably could have written a book on it all.

Answer 8

Worst:  A parent verbally attacking a 9-year-old student (not her child) in the parking lot after school, then turning on me.

Weirdest:  The time I accidentally said "teeny weeny" in reference to the print in my teacher's edition.  It happened to be while we were discussing the urinary system.  The boys started cracking up.  I was clueless for a minute.  Also, the time the seam in the front of my pants split (eye level to students sitting at their desks).  

Best:  Seeing kids improve.  Getting birthday cards/emails from students years after I had them in class.

Answer 9

Strange: I am a piano teacher and some of my students are very young.  I had a 7-year old girl who was very bright, but a little emotional.  Well, she came to her lesson one day and was acting very difficult.  I asked the father to leave because sometimes she acts up during the lesson to get to him.  The father left, and she started crying.  She told me she was stressed out from all the things going on in her life: piano, karate, extra school programs, and to top it off they were moving and she didn't want to make new friends.  I was heartbroken.  I don't think a 7-year-old should ever feel that way.  I can understand being scared about moving, but a stressed-out 7 year old?  

Answer 10

I had a student that was very disrespectful to me. She would sing out loud while I was trying to teach. I called home and talked to her parent about this behavior, and instead of saying, "Thank you I will take care of it." , she asked "What was she singing?" I said, "Excuse me?" because i didn't think I had heard correctly. She wanted to know what the girl was singing as if it made any difference. The whole point was that t the girl was interrupting my class.