Lord, please help me to change - Judith Couchman

LORD, PLEASE HELP ME TO CHANGEelieve me, when I studied t o become a teacher, nobod ytold m e about parent-teache r conferences . I f college pro -fessors would hav e explained ho w nerve-racking thes e encounter scan be , I might hav e changed m y major.Instead, I became a high-school teacher .Every quarter I chewed m y fingernails pas t recognitio nwhile waitin g for the Firs t parents t o arrive for an appointment .Would they be pleasant? Would they be realistic about their child? Wouldthey believe me if I told them bad news about their student? (W e teacher sworry about thes e conferences, too. )Despite m y fretting, most parent s prove d a delight. Eve nwhen I delivered a less than glowin g report about thei r teenager' sperformance, man y parent s amicabl y discusse d ho w we coul dwork togethe r t o help hi m improve .Only a few parents couldn't believ e thei r chil d performe dless than perfectl y i n school . And thes e parent s produce d m yhacked-down fingernails.I still remember a n encounter wit h Mrs . Smith .That quarter , he r daughte r earne d a string o f "D " and "F "grades on test s and homewor k fo r m y journalism class . Becca sa tglumly throug h eac h session , contributing nothing . Sh e mum -bled or didn't spea k when I talked t o her .So I thought Becc a wa s lucky t o find a "D " ( a barely passin ggrade) o n he r repor t card .Mrs. Smith didn't thin k so .The momen t sh e sa t down, Becca' s mom attacke d m e an dmy "terrible teaching. ""Becca couldn't possibl y deserve a grade lik e this, " she said ,and continued he r complaint .As a young an d inexperience d teacher , I felt tempted t obelieve her . Bu t then I noticed Becca' s report car d sittin g on th etable betwee n us . She ha d receive d "D " and "F " grades i n al l o fher classes .Mrs. Smith couldn't fac e the truth .hy is it so hard t o face the truth ?Probably because th e truth, lik e a mirror, reflects realityand what's less-than-beautiful about ourselves .It's lik e Saturday mornin g whe n I clean house . Sinc e I liv ealone, I don't worr y about wha t I look like . With n o make-u p an d2