Less Stress: Reduce Phone Calls

I have to answer the phone in my class because the office uses it as a means of getting in touch with the teacher instead of the speaker.  I know a lot of teachers who don't check their email until the end of the day.  They are not used to email in the classrooms but I am.  I gave the parents my email address but not my classroom phone number because I had not learned how to answer the new phone messages.  Also, our voice message system changes our password whenever it wants to.  It irks me.  Besides, when a parent emails me, I have time to cool down from the outlandish accusations the students make all the time.  I can be calmer on email.  I can erase the real comments and then get on with what I need to say.

I totally understand with you on the email issue. I figure if they get mad at me for not answering the phone, I simply use the excuse that I was involved in teaching the children and that I didn't want to break that up (which is true). Because I have ADD, I try to avoid allowing myself to be interrupted so we can all stay on task. A ringing phone does that to me.