Nice parent feedback

@NJChicaa (115993)
United States
November 29, 2022 5:08pm CST
I find myself sending several parent emails that are negative because their students refuse to do work and may potentially not graduate. I send them out early and often to the seniors I have who are failing. In one class alone I have 5 seniors with a ZERO average because they haven't even attempted like 5 assignments. Somewhere along the way I read a book that said that for every negative phone call you make you should make a positive one. Fast forward 20 years and I don't make phone calls. I sent progress reports as required but I also am very available via email. Still last night I sent out like 8 negative emails about seniors who were on track to not graduate. I did send out a positive one, though. This was the response: It warms my heart to receive this feedback. You are a special part of (student)’s day. He doesn’t say much about his other classes, but I often hear about yours. Yes, he does mention the disrespect (it’s not only your class!), but he loves to talk about the content. As I drive him to the gym yesterday he talked about your lesson and said, “NJChicaa is great because she gives real life examples.” Direct quote. He talked about the tetanus/knife incident. You ARE making a difference. (Student) enjoys the content and values your ability to share your knowledge in a meaningful way. This will propel me to get up tomorrow. For the past several years I've felt like I've just been wasting my time. It is good to know that at least a few of them are actually taking in what I'm putting out there.
8 people like this
7 responses
@just4him (306177)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
30 Nov 22
That's great feedback!
3 people like this
@LindaOHio (156159)
• United States
30 Nov 22
It's great that someone took the time to give you positive feedback. Otherwise you'd feel like you were teaching to an empty classroom.
3 people like this
@marguicha (215407)
• Chile
29 Nov 22
Iam so happy! And I know exactly how you feel as I used to be a professor at the university. I mostly thought that nobody cared about what I said or did but once in a while (not too often) a feedback gave me a reason to go on.
2 people like this
@RasmaSandra (73407)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
30 Nov 22
I sure hope the parents are ready to motivate their kids, Best of luck to you,
2 people like this
@kobesbuddy (74553)
• East Tawas, Michigan
30 Nov 22
Just remember this. Because a student chooses to NOT listen or learn, your teaching abilities and your willingness to be an exceptional example, has not be marred. They made their OWN personal decision to fail, you did everything possible to help that student learn.
2 people like this
@RubyHawk (99425)
• Atlanta, Georgia
29 Nov 22
I have a friend who teaches and she says her students expect to graduate without doing the work. Nothing she can say or do motivates them.
2 people like this
• Indonesia
30 Nov 22
That seems like a very good piece of feedback.
1 person likes this