Got me, got me workin day and night!

I have officially been a high school CTAE teacher for eight weeks now. I must confess that I am still trying to fit into the never-ending pile of papers, emails, phone calls and "other" items that accompany this new profession. During my eighth week of employment, I had the opportunity to participate in my very first Parent-Teacher Conference. I thought that I should feel anxious about this first opportunity to share with the parents how their students were performing--or in some cases, not performing. I wondered if I would be the target of scrutiny or blame. The day continued to progress and I realized that I had not had the opportunity to allow the anxiety, that was looming in the back of my mind, to completely overtake me. Not because I am cool, calm and collect (although it's true) but rather because my day and the bell to bell activities had simply not allowed for it. I placed the signup sheet by the door as instructed and waited patiently for my first parental interaction.
The first parent arrived and I quickly recognized her as the mother of one of my students that stays afterschool nearly every day. This particular student had experienced significant difficulty in my class at the beginning of the year. She did not succumb to the difficulty that she experienced but rather challenged the difficulty by staying afterschool to complete assignments and taking the opportunity for further clarification, if necessary. I have expressed to this student on numerous occasions how pleased I was at her perseverance and dedication to improving her overall performance. In turn, she expressed that she was shock herself with the substantial improvement she experienced in the classroom and her overall grade. While seated with her mother, I shared much of this interaction with her and took the opportunity to tell her how proud I was of her performance. It was then that her mother told me, "I want to thank you for caring and taking the time to answer the questions afterschool and for allowing her into your classroom even on the days that you don't offer tutorial. She loves your class. I just want to thank you for all that you do". I nearly cried. She set the tone and every parent that entered my classroom that night seamed to share the same sentiment. I left that night feeling as though I may have been a catalyst for change in some of those students but the real change comes from the individual that has the strength to endure the hardships that accompany those changes. I am a teacher and I left that night feeling like a queen.