Fellow teachers should be able to identify with my latest complaint:
My GATE students have (theoretically) been working on their History Day projects since last July. I have given them pages of notes worth of feedback to students who turned pieces of the project in according to the week by week deadlines they had. I graded all of the projects at the end of November according to the national competition rubric and warned them that if they didn't improve their projects, then that was the grade they'd earn. Almost none of my students made any significant changes. Surprise, surprise, I gave them the grade they had earned. I just got an angry (all caps) e-mail from a parent who complained bitterly that she didn't agree with the B that I gave her daughter. "She gave A+ effort. You should reward her for her effort." Ummm, no! The girl should have taken the page of notes and the month of time to do what I told her to do. Do parents really believe that threatening to go to the principal and superintendent over a B on one assignment will get them anywhere?
