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Originally Posted by Sainters7
Probably depends what district you're talking about as well (and the grade level). My girlfriend's sister teaches elementary in St. Albert, which I've heard teacher acquaintances there refer to as the "helicopter parent capitol of Alberta", it sounds like there's usually at least one per class they teach. She was telling me over Christmas about one mom that semester who was actively trying to get her fired over some minor thing. Sounds a little crazy there.
Also depends on what you mean by "difficult". Like bad altercations with parents, or even just friendly but higher maintenance situations where you're having to email them every day to keep them up to speed with their kid's performance/behavior? Said she spends about an hour a day emailing with different parents.
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I don't know her situation so I can't really comment on it but that sounds pretty outrageous. I would try to never put myself in the position where something even close to that would be expected of me.
I make it really clear to parents, colleagues, and whomever else that my priority is working with kids to grow their capacity to learn. I'll try my best to make room for other things that come up but if something that is not directly related to children's learning gets in the way of that priority, it may not get done. If I have to choose between e-mailing parents for an hour a day or planning lessons/actually teaching kids - sorry parents, ain't happening.
Not really related to what you're saying but more about the thread in general, I commit about 9-9.5 hours a day during the week to teaching. I feel that's more than enough time to plan, teach, mark, and get a comprehensive grasp on what my students know and how I can help them. Some teachers may feel that's too much, some may feel it's too little. I feel I can do my job pretty well in 9 hours a day. Would I be a more effective teacher if I worked 12 hours a day and 6 on weekends? Maybe. Would I be miserable and probably not love my job as much? Definitely. I think kids learn best from teachers who love teaching them.
I try really hard to get everything done at school, I try not to bring work home except for report card time. I see both ends of the spectrum, teachers burning the midnight oil and putting in 70 hour weeks, and teachers who do half that. I don't want to be either of those people.