Originally Posted by
Seavanna
EDIT: I see that you are in Canada and so I do not know if the education system is as terrible there as it is here in the US, but my final suggestion on how to win her over will probably still help you. :)
Let me start with this: I am totally on your side that this woman is being the b-word, but I want to try and help you salvage this situation, so I am going to give you advice as a teacher who knows what teaching is like and knows how students get on teachers' good sides.
Teaching is a very, very difficult job. When you are in school it seems like it just happens like magic, but in fact it is a ton of work. I work 12 hour days during the school year. This teacher may have four different classes she's teaching, may have three kids to take care of, may be up to her eyeballs with work... While it does not constitute good organization, it is not unheard of for teachers to lose emails. I get about thirty to forty emails a day during the school year from students, administration, and parents.
Teachers are also required to teach certain things in certain ways due to national legislation and administrative requirements. It is often very frustrating for teachers that they have to teach this way, and often the kids hate on them for it when, really, they would LOVE to teach something else in another way. This makes for a very high stress job, and when so many students lie and cheat, it is very difficult to pick out the good from the bad--because the majority of our students are NOT good students and they usually cannot be trusted. So my first suggestion: DON'T take this personally. She is probably just jaded out of her mind from all the BAD kids she's had in class and no longer trusts ANYONE. She may be dealing with half a dozen kids cheating at this very moment, and you were just unlucky enough to contact her during this time.
Also, the teacher probably does not have complete control over allowing you to test in a different manner. Allowing a student extra time, a different testing setting, or an alternative assignment is something called an "accommodation." Accommodations must be granted by a board that consists of the student, the student's parents, the counselor, a special education teacher, and a diagnostician. Sometimes teachers can give accommodations to people who have not gone through this process, but often it is not allowed. Pearlie Mae suggested contacting your assistant principal, and if this is a big enough problem then I suggest you do that, at least once school starts. Once you are granted this accommodation, NO teacher can deny you that right.
Pearlie Mae also mentioned that teachers are not royalty, and that is more true than she knows. Teachers are at the bottom of the heap. Principals are TERRIFIED of upsetting parents and teachers take the flack for EVERYTHING. If a student fails because they did NO work, the teacher gets in trouble for it. If a student misbehaves, the teacher gets marked down for not having better control. If a parent wants a parent-teacher conference, the principal WILL take the word of the student over the teacher simply to please the parent. That means that while you may see this teacher as cruel and controlling, she is actually looking over her shoulder every moment. If she makes one wrong move and the administration doesn't like it, then her job could be on the line. In other words, you may feel like she is accusing you of lying, while in her mind she is just covering her ass--if she allows YOU a test accomodation and NOT another student, well, guess what? Another parent might get mad and her job might be on the line. Most likely she just wants to be 100% sure that you are telling the truth before she offers you any extra help that another student may no get.
Also, realize that as teachers we really ARE lied to ALL the time. You may have never cheated, but on every single assignment I give in a school year, somebody cheats. The bigger the assignment, the more students cheat. It is NOT right for teachers to accuse students who have a good record, but sometimes it happens because we are just that jaded.
Overall, just do your very best to imagine yourself in her place. Imagine that you have tons of classes to teach, students that flagrantly cheat and lie, principals breathing down your necks, legislative rules that strangle your ability to teach, and pissed off parents just waiting for you to make a wrong move. It in NO WAY makes it right for her to treat you this way, but it is a good reason not to take it personally.
I suggest you request a telephone conference with her and start out showing sympathy to her viewpoint. State that you understand that a lot of kids cheat, but that you are not that kind of student. Tell her that you love to learn, but tests are very difficult for you. Let her know that if there is nothing she can do to help you in this instance because of certain rules that you understand, but that you would really appreciate her help. (This kind of acknowledgement makes teachers bend rules!) It may make you want to scream to have to be nice to her when you are so angry, but this IS how you win teachers over to your side. We receive almost no sympathy or compassion. My students wrote "YOU'RE A SHITTY TEACHER AND A BITCH" on my personal bookcase this year, and every time I see it I ache, because I really was just doing my best to teach them when I had pretty much no power at all thanks to administration.
Once again, I really feel for you--it is a horrible situation and I am not defending your teacher. I am just giving you advice I think will really make the difference. A little compassion goes a long way to teachers.
