Today after school my principal gave me my new contract for next year. Sweet! So I sign, and then she closes the door and then lets me know that a parent complained to her about me. The parent said that basically that some of my kids feel that no matter how much a child knows, that I know more, because I am the "expert." My boss told the parent, "well, that would make sense," but the parent added that the message was conveyed in a somewhat sarcastic tone by me. So, really not that big a deal, except I have no idea which child expressed this, and when I try and replay events in my days, I cannot single-out one particular instance when this might have occurred.
The problem? If I could fix it, at least through apologizing to the child who felt that way, I would. But because I don't know who it was, all I can do is just be more careful with what I say. What I am most positive about is that while I am sitting here sweating about it, I'm sure that said child hasn't thought of it since it happened. Still, I guess I'm used to receiving feedback that I can actually fix. Tell me that when I said X, Billy felt Y. Or, "on page 34 there is a typo." In both cases I can fix it. But in this case, I can't. Sure, I can keep it in mind for next year, but right now my primary concern is my current class, not my future one. Yes, the year ends on Friday, but hopefully I can end it all on a high note. Maybe I'll just apologize in general, in case there are any bad feelings that I don't know about. I guess that's really all I can do right now.
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