"Bad Teacher" barks up the wrong tree!!!

[lukenick1]

My 10 yr old 5th grader was publicly humiliated by his teacher. While preparing the classroom for Open House, the teacher was putting the class projects with the grade on their desks to display. My son saw her putting his out on his desk and he said to her "Please don't put that on my desk because I got a bad grade". He got a 44. Her response was "Nope its going right on your desk for your parents to see". What she should have said was, "It's going on your desk for your parents and anyone else who feels inclined to look at it to see how horrible you did"! My son was so upset and ashamed of his grade but yet she completely disregarded his feelings and put it there anyway. When he told me he didn't want to go to Open House I couldn't understand why, and that is when he told me. Believe me, I was on a mission when I got to the school because I couldn't imagine a teacher doing that to him or anyone. Boy was I shocked when I got to the room and saw for myself what she had done. I marched straight to the Principle and demanded my son be removed from her classroom the next morning. What a nasty person........
Thanks for listening!

 

[barkley]

curious-what was principal's response?

 

[smitch425]

My 10 yr old 5th grader was publicly humiliated by his teacher. While preparing the classroom for Open House, the teacher was putting the class projects with the grade on their desks to display. My son saw her putting his out on his desk and he said to her "Please don't put that on my desk because I got a bad grade". He got a 44. Her response was "Nope its going right on your desk for your parents to see". What she should have said was, "It's going on your desk for your parents and anyone else who feels inclined to look at it to see how horrible you did"! My son was so upset and ashamed of his grade but yet she completely disregarded his feelings and put it there anyway. When he told me he didn't want to go to Open House I couldn't understand why, and that is when he told me. Believe me, I was on a mission when I got to the school because I couldn't imagine a teacher doing that to him or anyone. Boy was I shocked when I got to the room and saw for myself what she had done. I marched straight to the Principle and demanded my son be removed from her classroom the next morning. What a nasty person........
Thanks for listening!

As a parent of a 5th grader, I wouldn't have paid any attention to anyone else's desk. I also would have told my kid that if she didn't want to feel embarrassed then she should have gotten a better grade. Fortunately, she is a straight A student so I haven't had to cross that bridge...yet. I hope you got what you wanted, but be prepared...this is only the beginning. Teachers do things like this all of the time. There are a lot of school years left. You are not going to be able to protect them from embarrassment their whole life. They need to be responsible for their own actions, and 5th grade is well past that stage in our house.

 

[lukenick1]

curious-what was principal's response?

The Principle removed him from the class like I requested and said nothing more.........

 

[lukenick1]

As a parent of a 5th grader, I wouldn't have paid any attention to anyone else's desk. I also would have told my kid that if she didn't want to feel embarrassed then she should have gotten a better grade. Fortunately, she is a straight A student so I haven't had to cross that bridge...yet. I hope you got what you wanted, but be prepared...this is only the beginning. Teachers do things like this all of the time. There are a lot of school years left.

My son wasn't the only one with a bad grade....50% of the class had a failing grade. Need I say more........

 

[Coonhound]

I feel badly for your son but at the same time if all the children's work was to be displayed, it doesn't make sense for the children to pick and choose, and then everyone's project is on display except for his.

 

[Holly]

When I was in college one of my professors passed around a sheet with every student's grades typed there for all to see. He did it during every single class.

I found very motivating.

Unless there's some reason why your son's grade was unfairly given, I don't understand what the problem is. If it were one of my kids I'd tell them if they don't like it they better never get a 44 again.

 

[lukenick1]

I may be wrong here but shouldn't grades be kept confidential?

 

[Coonhound]

My son wasn't the only one with a bad grade....50% of the class had a failing grade. Need I say more........

Then don't feel bad. And tell him not to feel bad either. It is one thing to be sad over your bad grade, but, if HALF the kids failed then that's not on the kids, that's on the teacher. You must be doing something wrong if half your class fails!
What I would do: Tell him not to worry about it, he's not the only one who did badly and it doesn't matter, and then tell him to make sure he asks questions if he doesn't understand the assignment, etc

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Yeah, um, not seeing the outrage. Sorry.

I'd be more concerned about the 44.

 

[smitch425]

My son wasn't the only one with a bad grade....50% of the class had a failing grade. Need I say more........

Then there shouldn't be any worry about embarrassment if it was a common problem. That makes it seem like even MORE of an overreaction to me.

Did you speak with the teacher at all? Perhaps he planned to discuss the results with each group of parents in attendance so the parents could help their students grasp the concept of the lesson. Did you bother to find out why the paper was there?

 

[The Mystery Machine]

My 10 yr old 5th grader was publicly humiliated by his teacher. While preparing the classroom for Open House, the teacher was putting the class projects with the grade on their desks to display. My son saw her putting his out on his desk and he said to her "Please don't put that on my desk because I got a bad grade". He got a 44. Her response was "Nope its going right on your desk for your parents to see". What she should have said was, "It's going on your desk for your parents and anyone else who feels inclined to look at it to see how horrible you did"! My son was so upset and ashamed of his grade but yet she completely disregarded his feelings and put it there anyway. When he told me he didn't want to go to Open House I couldn't understand why, and that is when he told me. Believe me, I was on a mission when I got to the school because I couldn't imagine a teacher doing that to him or anyone. Boy was I shocked when I got to the room and saw for myself what she had done. I marched straight to the Principle and demanded my son be removed from her classroom the next morning. What a nasty person........
Thanks for listening!

What a witch!

 

[barkley]

My son wasn't the only one with a bad grade....50% of the class had a failing grade. Need I say more........

it would be interesting to do a survey and see if that 50% were the kids of parents who made them do the project on their own vs. "helping" them with it

 

[lukenick1]

Maybe I should explain the circumstances a little clearer. My son is the type of kid who is motivated by positive reinforcement in school. Also someone who has zero confidence in himself. This was not the only incident where she has rubbed me the wrong way. Just the straw that broke the camels back.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

if HALF the kids failed then that's not on the kids, that's on the teacher.

There's not enough information to make that determination. It could be the teacher didn't present the material in a way the parents could understand. It could be the test was bad. It could be the students didn't pay attention. It's likely it's a problem with the teacher, but that assumption can't be made through thirdhand information given from two biased sources (the child and the parent).

 

[smitch425]

How do you even know that half the class failed the assignment? Were you looking at the other kids' papers???

 

[skatalite]

If everyone's grade was displayed on their desk, then your son doesn't deserve a "pass" because of this, that, or the other.

If you want special treatment for your child, then consider private school or home schooling.

Don't take what I'm saying the wrong way, as I understand how embarrassed your kid was. But how about turning it into a positive learning experience instead of stepping in and pulling your child out of the teacher's class? That won't teach him anything except mommy will always be there to fix things and that avoiding a problem is OK. This experience could've been used to help him overcome his anxiety, but instead if reinforced the wrong things, in my opinion.

Good luck in the future.

 

[blessedone03]

and one a teacher message board on the interwebs there is a new thread titled, "Bad Parent barks up the wrong tree".

I'd be less upset with the teacher and more upset with the horrible grade, but that's just me.

 

[FireDancer]

I may be wrong here but shouldn't grades be kept confidential?

No and I have no idea where this line of thinking come from. I had teachers post everyone's test scores and quarter grades up on a bulletin board, had teachers who read everyone their grades, had teachers who just put the graded tests and papers in a stack for everyone to find their own, and most of the rest were just handed to the first person in the row and handed back so anyone sitting in front of me could see my grade.

I see no reason at all for grades to be kept confidential. Full stop.

 

[lukenick1]

This just dawned on me, but how do you even know that half the class failed the assignment. Were you looking at the other kids' papers???

Other parents who are friends of mine saw other papers.......I didn't stay in the room long enough to even look. I wanted to blast her!! I was warned by past students how awful of a teacher she was. Other parents in the principles office weekly complaining about her but my son wanted her because she was nice to him in the hallways previously. Once he got to know her as a teacher, it all changed. She is just nasty. My son went to remove his paper from his desk with my husband not far behind him and the teacher snatched it right from his hand and said in a nasty tone "OH NO you put that right back!" My DH walked up to her and grabbed it from her and asked her why she would display it? She completely lied right to his face and said it wasn't displayed, it was upside down on the desk. We clearly saw it right side up on the desk. As a matter of fact I took a picture of it with my phone to show the Principal.