Do you ever feel like you can't do anything right at work?

[Anonymous]

I teach 7th grade, and I got this message from a parent. It was sent through a message website, not my email.

For context, no, I don't only have kids sit and read all day long. They move around a lot doing graffiti walls and lock box activities. But this girl just doesn't like English class. I get it, it's not most people's cup of tea, but I feel like the dad here is completely missing the point.

Sometimes I just wonder why I even bother trying to do anything at all lol

[JohnDon9]

Well teaching is as hard as it gets , its now when i have my friends who are teachers that i have a lot more respect for what they are , you have the power to shape the future so you shouldn't feel bad about it, we are human beings afterall , no student is bad its the way you teach , i always hated grammar but hey , there are ways you could improvise what matters is how you could make your students more interested , i used to barely get grades in programming but now that i developed interest i am learning it without a teacher because of the fun involved not because of something that is forced upon me just to get good grades , every child is special and as a teacher if you cater towards their interest , they would learn more, hope it helps 😊

[Anonymous]

Remember that the dad doesn’t know what you do. That’s not your fault and that’s not his fault. All he knows is what his daughter told him.

So you respond politely and you give context.

Dear mr notsobright,

in my class we do do all these different things. Turns out your daughter has difficulty focusing where other students do not. I’d love to talk about what we can do to help your daughter adjust to the same requirements all of the other students achieve. Please feel free to come by and speak with me so we can work together to make your daughter successful without taking away from the rest of the class.

best,

Ms Teacher