Earlier this year, I had a couple of run-ins with my son's teacher.  She is a veteran teacher who has been teaching in parochial schools for decades and I felt that she antiquated and was placing emphasis on areas of my son's academic development that I did not consider to be overly important, namely penmanship.  Since I am a teacher, I suppose some of it had to do with my own ego about being younger and more up to date on the latest teaching practices. I actually went back and forth with her a few times expressing my concerns over her teaching practices and her responses were somewhat dismissive which only further infuriated me.  Eventually, I even spoke to the Principal and generally made an ass of myself.  The reason I say this is that I have actually grown to respect and appreciate this teacher as the year has progressed.  This post is basically the written version of me "eating crow." My demise probably began during parent teacher conferences last Fall.  I sat in the … [Read more...]