She hate me.

Drew has had a pretty interesting school year so far. For starters, this is the first year that school has been even remotely hard for him.  He's a very bright kid, he sees the answer before the question is usually formed, but this year its taking a little more work, and that frustrates him.  But the biggest thing is that for the first time maybe ever, he has a sub par teacher.

I've always championed him in schools, I knew early on that he was going to be 1) exceptionally bright and 2) a hard kid to teach. His teacher in kindergarten, while we lived in California, was quite possibly the best teacher I've ever come in contact with. She knew how to work with him, she knew how to get his attention, she knew how to keep him interested. His first, second and third grade teachers since moving back to Kansas have all been even-keeled, unflappable, and excellent teachers.  And then we arrived at fourth grade.

His teacher this year is unorganized, emotional, and dingy. She is close to retirement.  She yells, she forgets, she mis-grades. But, lucky for us, she LOVES the kid. She loves him but he drives her crazy - because she is so unorganized and ditzy, and he is a kid who naturally, instinctively pushes buttons. But she thinks he's adorable and she can see how smart he is - she holds him to a higher standard. He thinks she's a scatterbrained ditz who leans on him too hard.  He has to realize she leans on him because she knows he can do better. Theirs is a weird relationship. But it's okay with me, in general.

There hasn't been much I can do this year except try and stay on top of the paperwork and make sure his papers are graded correctly. I email her when she needs to know something, and I know she gets that information, but she rarely emails me back. I'm not sure she knows how.

Drew came home from school on Monday telling me, again, that his teacher hates him. She yells at me, he said. She makes me redo my work, he said. She picks on me, he said.  I hhmmmed and awwwed over him and let it go. He is still off the charts bright, he is making all As. Having an imperfect teacher won't set him back academically. If the most important thing the kid learns in fourth grade is how to work with a bad teacher, then I think we are doing okay. Its a skill that has to be learned before you get to college and the power-tripping, tenured professors there anyway. 

Then he said, "and she can't even start the laptop projector. She always makes me do it." Wait, what?

Apparently, she is technically challenged (not a shock,) and can never get the smartboard projector to work correctly. So every day she clucks around with it for a few minutes while the kids roll their eyes and make spitballs behind her back, and then she says "Drew! Come up here and fix the computer." And he does. And for some reason, it irritates him, he thinks she's picking on him.

I said, "Uh, buddy, does she let anyone else touch her computer?" No. "So you're the only one who ever gets to?" Yes. "So, you mean you're the only one she trusts to fix it?"

Uh...

"Do you really think if she hated you, she'd trust you to fix the computer?"  

Bing! Illumination. I love that kid.