It is time for parent/teacher conferences. I have never really liked or enjoyed these as a parent. There's always this weird energy and mild paranoia, even though generally reports have gone well enough for me with my kids. Still... there's always this worry that maybe the teacher is going to turn out to be some kind of evil tyrant who will be able to make me feel as small as I did in the first grade when I blurted out some inappropriate remark.

And it's not that much better being on the other side of the table. I mean, for most of my students my comments are positive and happy and we're all looking forward to continuing our work for the year, but there are a few for whom the outlook isn't so rosy. As always. I worry that if a student is doing poorly in my class, that means I'm a crummy teacher, and the parents will assume that and will go tell the director and the board and all that, and I'll be out on the street, penniless and homeless...