Oooh, Boy.

Today was horrid.
I spoke to G.S. about all her potential, and basically what her mother and I had spoken about at P.T.A. She didn't really seem very receptive, and I think she only heard what she wanted top hear, that I thought she was great. I have a feeling she went and told al her friends already. Oh well.
I had to talk to the principal about making a presentation with my class, and the small details it entailed. Last year, the class had made a wax museum and I felt that a wax museum wasn't going to bring out all the talent my students had to offer.
I had seen B.E.D. last night, and she was actually smiling during that dance. I wanted to be able to recreate that, and see her smiling more.
My co and I had come up with an exciting theme for our production, "Don't judge a book by it's cover."
The production is really about literature, and this was perfect. We also had the normal 7th grade problem, stereotyping. This topic is really what the class needs. The more we came up with, the more "wax museum" we cut out. By the time we were finished thinking, we had renamed it a production, and basically were wondering if we could eliminate the wax altogether.
Well, my co had gone to talk to the principal about something else, and the principal had brought up the wax museum. My co had mentioned that she really wanted more than just to cover the girls in vaseline and have them stand like dummies. The principal wasn't only not open to the idea, she was adamantly against it.
I knew I had what to deal with when I went over to her.
The truth is, I didn't really want to talk to her today, I figured it could wait until tomorrow. But of course, no such luck. The principal came over to me and asked to see me after school.
I went in to her, and she sat me down to talk. The first thing she went through was the wax museum. Right away I spoke up and told her that I didn't like the idea. She kept arguing that it worked out well last year, so why not do it again. I forced her to listen to herself and I told her that it was she who always told me to bring out the best in my students. I told her that this was the way I was going to do it.
So she tells me, "Well, you have less than 3 weeks to get this done, that's why I thought a wax museum would be best."
I asked her if she was serious, and she said that she was.
I put my foot down then and there. I told her that I was the one doing this, not her, and she should kindly not push her demands on my time. I was going to make my production, and I was going to do it when I was ready.
Well, the principal just pushed me off by saying that my co, her, and I would have to meet to discuss this.
Then she went on to the real reason she called me in. She told me that when she was in my class on yesterday (for an hour and a half) she had noticed that I sometimes contradicted myself. I was surprised, and I asked her to tell me where she had seen this. She stumbled a little, and she really had no answer.
She said that she had written it down somewhere, and she didn't quite remember what it was that I had said. She explained that I was a natural born teacher, a jewel, and she just wanted to polish me.
I told her nice and clearly, "I'm so grateful for everything you're doing, but calling me in here right now is only wasting my time. I didn't feel there was anything wrong with my lesson, but I see you did. I would gladly go look back at what you're telling me, but you can't even point out where I really went wrong. You basically accomplished nothing except making me feel bad. I would love to listen to whatever you have to tell me, but don't try to 'polish' me if you have nothing to show me".
I think she got the hint.
I left school fuming.