My class has three teachers; the main guy teaches 3 days/week, and then we have women on each of the other two days. That's how it's been since I started at the school. Also, even if it took me a while to warm up to the teachers, I ended up really liking all of them. Until now.
Liking isn't the right word. This one particular woman means well, but she never clicked with me or the class. Perhaps her questions and her vocabulary are a little bit above our ability, or she treats us a little bit too much like children...It's hard to say why, but she just rubbed me and the class the wrong way. I tried, (really) to get past my personal issues and work with her, because there were time in the past that I rallied the class around other teachers they didn't like. But not this time.
Yesterday, she said it was her last class of the quarter, and it was after a particularly non-participatory lesson on the students' part. I was really down with a cold, and probably shouldn't have even been there, so my brain wasn't working and I was trying to be invisible. I felt bad, like we were ending on bad terms. I think she felt strange about it too. We all said goodbye and thanks, but there wasn't a lot of enthusiasm there. It was awkward.
Once before class we were talking and she said I was very quiet person, it seemed. This surprised me, as I might be the most extroverted person in the whole school. But I realized in her class maybe I don't contribute too much, so I told her that I wasn't quiet by nature, maybe class is just a little difficult lately. She said that the whole class was really quiet, and I told her I thought that since two new students who speak really well entered, maybe everyone else is a little shy. Just trying to be nice.
Well, she seemed shocked at my sense of perception. Basically, "wow, you really notice a lot about the class, that's really amazing!!". Maybe just a little over the top.
I think that summarizes my issue with her. Her compliments. Strange, right? But who wants, "wow, you really aren't stupid!"
In case I am misreading her, which I may be, I always bite my tongue and smile. I've had one or two other teacher that seemed this way at the beginning, so I check my ego, and they realize I am not a tool, that I just sound like one in Japanese.
Someone told me once that emotional reactions happen, it's whether I act on them or not that's important. Sometimes it's hard to just be nice.