School was suspended today. Instead, we had a Parent-Teacher Meeting. I am super shagged. I engaged with parents non-stop from 8am to 4pm, excluding my lunch break. What’s more, I had to multitask by recording down briefly the points of discussion for every student on Google Docs.
If I zoom out from the task, I can feel my heartstrings pulled by today’s outcome. Every student was accompanied by his or her parent who loved their child. Every individual was a gem in his or her family.
However, this doesn’t mean that some of my students’ parents needn’t improve on their parenting skills. One parent said repetitively that his son lacks focus and takes too long to finish a task. I looked at his son and cringed inwardly, feeling bad for him. Another parent flat-out commented that his daughter is lazy at times. What a way to make her feel small! These two parents serve as mirrors for me to avoid doing to my children the things they have been doing to their kids.
Part of the reason why I’m feeling so tired now is that I was employing my diplomatic skills to the greatest effect. It was exhausting about how I should convey my truth and give negative feedback for my students in the least harmful way. My brain is fried now.
On another note, I’m quite proud of the way I thought ahead and distributed homework to my students yesterday. The homework wasn’t onerous as it just involved my student interviewing someone in his or her family about his or her food preferences. As I ‘chased’ for my homework, I was subtly informed the parents that I am the serious kind who cares enough about his students to dish out homework lol.