SEP's

So I just finished up parent teacher conferences (and by just, I mean like two weeks ago . . . . hey, better late than never!) for the last time with this group of students. (Imagine a huge sigh of relief at this point.) I think that in a lot of cases, SEP would be more appropriately called, "Self Esteem Pulverizing" conferences. Whether it's for the kids or for the teacher can change from conference to conference. This year, unfortunately, most of the self-esteem destruction was directed at myself. However, at the final SEP's of the year, it seemed to change. Of course, there were still a few delusional parents that seem to think I am the root of all their problems. But, I was able to give a couple of parents a good report about the improvements their student has made since the last conference. There's just something really great about being able to tell a parent that your anger management student has been able to control his anger more in class, and when he does storm out, he makes a good choice and storms to the office. How depressing is it when that is the "highlight" of good news at SEP's? Fortunately, I don't have to have formal SEP's with this group of kids again this year. If I can just survive the last 74 days, 16 hours, 2 minutes, and 35 seconds . . . .