P.T.A.

Not just any Sunday, this morning I had to get up early for P.T.A.
Understandably, I was a nervous wreck as I got dressed and prepared to leave for school.
The truth is, once P.T.A. started, I was so busy, I forgot to be nervous.
The parents came in, one after another, and I spent 3 hours talking nonstop. It was tiring though. My co and I were shocked at a lot of the mothers. A lot of them were not American, and most of them looked nothing like their daughters. Some mothers walked in and asked me to guess who's mother they were. I'm so bad at it, and I made a couple of mistakes.
C.O.'s mother was very sweet, I know her from down the block, and it was nice meeting her. She said that C.O. was finding school very hard because she felt she had to compare to her older siblings who are immensely talented.
I really pushed pursuing E.S.'s writing talent with her mother. She is such a great girl, and has so many talents, I hoped her mother knew she had what to be proud of.
One mother told me that her daughter, S.J. was a little upset about other girls getting an easier test. I explained to her mother that I'd rather have her daughter get a 75 with regular test, than a 95 with an easier one. After all, in life, no one hands you easy tests.
E.T. and Y.T.'s mother was very nice, but I felt that she compared her children a little. I asked her to tell me who Y.T.'s friends were,, and she couldn't tell me. I felt a little bit like she thought her daughters were taking care of each other and that they didn't need anyone else. We spoke for a while, and we decided that we would look into the friends issue.
S.F.F. mom was so nice, and I completely see where S.F.F. is coming from. Her mother didn't seem the type to stress on marks, she even said that she didn't do well in school either. I told her that as long as S.F.F. did her best, that's all I wanted. She didn't have to be 100 student, she had to try to do what she could.
B.G.'s mother was a PANIC! Right away, I was able to see where this kid gets her personality from. She was so funny and spunky, (Israeli) and now I totally she why B.G. doesn't try hard in school. No Pressure!
It was nice to meet S.G.L's mother in person, (instead of just over the phone all the time) and we went through some notes S.G.L. wrote to me on her tests.
D.T. mother was nice, and she kept telling all the teachers to challenge her daughter. She was so happy with the workload.
B.E.D.'s mother didn't come, and neither did R.R.'s. I sort of expected that to happen, but I would have liked to meet them.
T.K.'s mother was the nicest lady and we discussed how smart she is, and how I especially loved the sunglasses thing she pulled in class. I also encouraged her to save all of T.K.'s writings as she is a great writer.
T.J.'s mother was very nice and a little concerned for her daughter. All she wanted to know was if her daughter was a neb. Her younger daughter was much spunkier and she hoped that her daughter wasn't considered "nebby" by the other girls. I assured her that in elementary school where marks meant everything, not every child had a place, but I guaranteed that as soon as she got to high school, she would shine. High school offers much more extra curricular to the students and most girls end up finding their own niche.
A.L.'s mother and I had a long talk about her friendship with R.R. We both liked the friendship, but I wanted A.L. to have more friends. Both her mother and I were worried that the friendship might seem a exclusive, and A.L. should try and make that effort to get to know more girls and maybe spend less time with R.R. She also mentioned that she would like A.L. to switch classes, and I guess I'll have to look into that.
G.S.'s mother was a little shock, but very pleasant. I found I had someone to talk to in her, and she encouraged me to talk to her daughter about her being a leader in the class and reaching her full potential.
M.R.'s mother was the CUTEST lady in the entire world! She looked so young and sweet, and she was dressed, well, not to kill, but spunky and adorable! She was so cute and funny, and we just spoke about how mature and adorable her daughter is. I also mentioned to her that I figured S.G.L. was taking advantage of M.R. and asking her to study with her. Mrs. R. said that was true. I told her not to allow it, M.R. had to use her time for herself first, and then do chesed. S.G.L. needed a tutor and M.R. couldn't' t do it on her own. Mrs. R. agreed with me 100%.
M.L.'s mother was such a shock! She was this cutie Israeli lady with a short cropped sheitel. She was so understanding when I told her that I felt that M.L. was acting a little less mature than she usually was. I associated it to her being friends with C.O. and her mother said that it had happened before. I told her mother that I wasn't going to encourage breaking the friendship, but I just wanted M.L. to be aware of her image. Her mother assured me that M.L. was a mature, understanding girl, and that she would take whatever I said and really listen to it. So we agreed to speak to M.L.
In 7b, the mothers were just as nice and adorable.
C.K.'s mother was exciting to meet. I had spoken to her over the phone a couple of times, and she was very nice in person. We spoke about how well her daughter was suddenly doing. I had marked a history and literature test. She got a 90 on history, and a 95 on literature. (Compared to her last history test where she got a 61, this was amazing!) Mrs. K. also told me that her daughter requested that she tell only me that there was a problem with the personal hygiene of some girls in the class. I already knew this, and something had to be done, I would definitely have to look into talking to the class...How embarrassing!
C.S.A.'s mother is the high school principal, and she was the sweetest, most unprincipaly lady you have ever met. Of course I gave her all the compliments, and then came the topic of C.S.A. getting very stressed during tests. I have to speak to her about letting go a little.
L.K.'s mother was nothing like her. She was very serious, and down to earth. I told her about her daughter's failing to hand in several assignments, and we agreed to work on that together.
F.G.'s mother was exactly what I expected. Short, round, and her face looked just like F.G.'s. I told her a little about F.G. needing a lot of attention, and she totally knew what I was saying. I stressed that right now I was giving her a lot of positive attention, but it was only after a bumpy road.
T.K. had such a wonderful mother. We went through her friendship with R.H., which I felt was very competitive. I told her that I refuse to break up friendships, The girls have to do that on their own. I just wanted her to be aware that there is a lot of competition between the two. I also mentioned an incident that had happened last week where I spoke strictly to T.K. just so that the entire class should stop what they were doing wrong. T.K. was my scapegoat and I apologized. The mother was so thrilled that I apologized to her daughter, she was extremely impressed. :)
H.W.'s mother and I both agreed that H.W. definitely had more potential than she cared to show, and we both wanted to make sure that it was going to be used. She's a great student, I just think she can be the best. I also waited to know who her friends were. She's the type of girl who's quite content to stay home and read a book all night, she doesn't try to invest in friendships. I was slightly worried and pointed it out to the mother who said she would encourage H.W. to go out more.
I already knew F.F's mother from the copy room in school, and she was one of the first who came to see me. It was a relief to see her in the beginning, because I was so nervous. I discussed with her the possibility of her daughter being too good in the way she helped the rest of the class. Every other mother said that her daughter was friends with F.F., C.S.A., and C.C.K. It's almost funny (if it weren't so pathetic) how these mother's have no clue. Every insecure girl considers the 3 smartest, nicest girls in the class her best friend. I told Mrs. F. to make sure that F.F. knew how to say "no" to some girls who needed help.
E.F.G.'s mother was so convinced that her daughter was perfect, she didn't bother asking about her. She just went on an on about other things. She did say something very beautiful though. "A teacher has to pretend that one of the girls in the class is the kings daughter. Her only problem is, she doesn't know who it is." I thought that was very nice.
C.C.K.'s mother was my most major shock!!! She looked nothing like the sweet girl that sat in the front row of my class. Her mother definitely knew what a great daughter she had, but we also had to talk about how good she is. I need her to realize that she is not a professional tutor, and that she shouldn't do chesed before she took care of herself.
L.O.'s mother was another shock. She was a short little old lady with a hearing aid of all things! she seemed so fragile and old, that I felt bad telling her that I had a slight problem with her daughter. I managed to gloss it over by saying that she was so special because she was G.O. and that now the class looked up to her, and she had to realize that everything she did was being watched by everyone in the class. So that went ok.
C.S.'s mother also works in the school, so I already knew her, and she has the sweetest daughter, so she was a pleasure to talk to.
R.S.'s mother reminded me of someone I knew. She looked like R.S. and she seemed very nervous. I assured her that she had a great girl, and she just needs to space in a little in class. She warned me that R.S. has a low tolerance level, I already knew that, but I didn't say anything, and let her do the talking.
I very much wanted to meet R.H.'s mother. She came, but she didn't wait around for me. I want ed to discuss a lot with her, namely the fact that quite a few mothers had mentioned that their daughters were friends with R.H. and they all felt that it was competitive. I felt that R.H. needed her friends to make her feel good about herself, but she wasn't doing that for them. Instead she used them as a stepping stool to get higher. I didn't look at her in a bad way, it's a normal thing for seventh graders, but it's not healthy.
M.L.'s mother knew exactly who her daughter was, and she discussed a tutor for her. I told her that I was so proud of her daughter for trying hard even though she didn't always do so well. The mother walked out beaming.
The mother of M.P. was concerned at the way her daughter was coping with the workload. 7th grade is a lot of work, and her daughter, usually a laid back girl sometimes felt she couldn't breathe under the stress. I told her that I wasn't happy with the amount of work the girls had to get, and that I personally tried to give as little homework as possible. I told her to tell her daughter to pick 3 subjects to work hard on and sort of slack off a little on the others if she felt she couldn't do everything.
The principal walked in in the middle of one of the mothers and asked us to hurry up, because there were other people waiting their turn. The mothers hate her too.
This thing was supposed to be from 10 to 12, but I walked out of there at 1:15.
I came home zonked, and went straight to bed. I had a ton of things to do, but I pushed them all off. This job sure takes a lot out of me.