At the end of every school year, I survey my students.

I always say it is so they can help me become a better teacher (and it does) but I'm beginning to think that it does more harm to my self-esteem than good.

Despite the fact that almost all the comments I received were fantastic:
"You helped me understand so much this year."
"I will miss you."
"You encouraged me to do my best."

There's that small percentage of comments that just cut me like a knife.
"You didn't respect me and I felt like you picked on me for no reason."
"Stop repeating yourself and treating us like we're stupid."
"You knew I struggled on my assessments and did nothing to help me."
"Your class was a waste of time."

And while I know exactly which student made each comment and could rebut each of the comments above, they make me feel awful. For a student to leave my classroom not feeling respected by me just hurts so bad. No way around it.


The only thing I can say now is I will try my best to be better. I will make every effort (not that I didn't try before) to control my attitude so I don't seem so exasperated with my students.

So ready for summer break.