I am reposting this from NB board because I realized this
might be a better forum:

This is going to be a bit lengthy...
Let me preface this by saying I am in my fifth year of
teaching ELA in a suburban high school. Generally, although
I question if I can do it for 30 years, I love my job, do
well at it, and this year received my "pick" of what I want
to teach because the school views me as a good teacher. I
view myself as someone who works hard toward becoming a good
teacher (I think it is always a work in progress, so I
wouldn't necessarily say I am already there yet), gives a
lot toward school outside of the school day (grading and
prep work), cares as lot about my students as individuals,
goes in most weekends, etc.

Friday after class one of my students stopped to talk to me.
She is a student I don't know as well as others because
she's quieter (though not shy), although I have made many
attempts at connecting with her over the first two months.
She told me, in a nutshell, that she views my class as busy
work, that she's not learning anything, and that I never ask
her how various works of literature that we study make her
feel. She also said our pace is way too fast. Then she
said I play favorites with students I know from having
previously taught them (being a smaller school, I taught
about half of the students in her class at one point or
another for another class).

I was horrified, but thanked her for her opinion, asked her
for ideas about how she thought it might work better for
her, reiterated to her how much I appreciated and valued
that she came to me with her concerns, etc. She wasn't
disrespectful, but she was rather defiant and emphatic about
her opinions. She also finished up the conversation by
saying how much better all of her other English teachers had
been.

Needless to say, this weekend has been one of
soul-searching, where I have been trying to ask myself tough
questions: do I give busy work (except when I have a
substitute)? do I show more attention to kids I know
previously? Etc., etc. I cried quite a bit, too, but I
take criticism a bit harshly so that's to be expected.

I truly think I prepare my students well. I receive e-mails
several times a year from former students now in
college/military/etc. that let me know how much my class
meant to them. I do assign more work than most teachers,
and this includes more written work, more group work, etc.
In other words, it's not just a class based on discussion.
I find discussion harder to assess/organize so everyone's an
equal partner, etc., so if I am doing a discussion, often I
formulate it into small groups Socratic style with close
readings involved. For instance, for our previous novel we
did this with each group splitting up chapters to look for
nuances in the language. When I asked her about this
activity, she said, "That was JUST one chapter!!" and rolled
her eyes. In terms of favorites, I don't think I play
favorites. Oftentimes I will watch more closely kids I
think are falling through the cracks, either due to family,
social, or academic trouble. But I do this by asking them
questions in the hallway, or talking to them during the
school day but not during my class, if this makes sense.
The only example I can think of that she may have
misinterpreted was when I gave a hypothetical example of
Jane Doe, a student in my class from last year. I basically
said if Jane didn't do this and this and this (in terms of
major class projects), she probably wouldn't mathematically
be able to pass for the year. I used Jane as an example
because there was no way she would ever not do this and this
and this, and also because I knew she wouldn't be bothered
by me using her as an example since I've known her for years.

Anyway, I've been kept up at night with this, I haven't been
eating, and I've been freaking out, in a nutshell. Has this
ever happened to anyone else? Should I reconsider my
profession? Help!?

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