So when someone points out your flaws and they are right....

I had an interesting discussion with a teacher this week. All of the things that I already know are my weaknesses were brought up and spewed at me with quite a bit of personal vitriol thrown in for good measure. I left that meeting feeling like some of the items were true and many were not and were simply personal attacks. It reminded me of working at the hotel complaint department when people would lash out at you personally for something that had happened at a hotel. I will say it is so much easier to take over the phone than in person. The things that I know were not true were not able to be defended because the teacher I was talking to was yelling (in volume, and tone) at me and did not want to talk together or have dialogue but rather a place to vent.
I thought for a while that the things that hurt the worst were the ones that were true but have since come to find that the things that hurt the worst were the things this person accused me of that were not true. The things that may have some truth to them are things that I have committed to improve on and am excited to rectify. The things that were a personal attack on me but untrue were hurtful in the aspect that a perception of me, that is incorrect, does exist and there is little that I can do to change that perception.
All of this in mind I know that the job that I do is valuable and that many people that I work with and for are extremely supportive and that a portion of the poor perception is caused by the person who is creating their own incorrect perception.

At the end of last year I was yelled at by a parent that I was the cause of her son's troubles and that I had necessitated his institutionalization for suicide watch. The vitriol that she brought was negated quickly in my mind and heart by what I know I had done for this student.

Sometimes when I think about our interactions as parents and teachers I think it is impossible to be on the same page when you are not in the same book.