I am freaking out a little
Right before I left, I read an email from my principal who was letting me know that a few parents had requested a meeting to address "some concerns" about me. All I know is that these are parents of 3rd graders. Even though my principal told me not to get too worried, I couldn't help but start feeling anxious. While I was going over some of the possible "concerns", I started wondering if I did cross the line somewhere.
Possible issues:
The graphing unit-it was hard, very hard. I pushed the students to complete it and one of the teachers told me that one of her students cried. Twice. I felt terrible at the time and now I realize that the kids are too young to do something like this and next year, the 3rd grade class will all be about basic computing skills.
Classroom behavior-one class has been acting up a lot more than usual. Twice in two (or three) weeks, we didn't get anything completed because they wouldn't settle down enough. I did lose my temper, but I didn't go crazy and start screaming at them or anything. I raised my voice and honestly told them that we had a lot of fun things planned (true) that we didn't get to do because they wouldn't settle down (true). Also, they can't behave great one week and behave badly the next (very true).
Grades-I didn't think anyone did that badly last quarter, and I don't have any grades yet for this quarter, so I would be surprised to learn that this is what the parents want to address. If so, why didn't they come see me during conferences at report card pick-up?
All in all, I know I'm not the perfect teacher and that, as a human being, I'm flawed. The parents can't control whether I keep my job or not, but I don't know what to think and I admit, I'm not just freaking out, I'm scared.
If anyone's had an experience like this, I'd appreciate some input, but please, no criticism. I know what happens in my classes better than others and believe me, I'm stressing myself out thinking about what happened these past few weeks in these particular classes.
