Yet another teacher rant

[Blondy876]

No child should ever be humiliated in front of a room of their peers. Imagine your boss walking into your office and in front of your coworkers, humiliates you. How would you feel? It's not OK, and especially for a child. If that teacher spoke the OP's dd that way then the OP had every right in the world to be angry. And as for teachers who are consistently poor teachers, they shouldn't be allowed to continue to teach.

I love my job (not all aspects of it, the hours of paperwork, my irritating boss, the occasionally hostile parent) and part of my job is to instill a love of learning that will follow the child all through school. If I were to humiliate a child in my classroom I would never be able to accomplish that.

I also agree with another posters pretty concise wrap up of what teacher deals with on an ongoing basis, many people outside the profession don't understand all that goes into it. A lot of people see a teacher and automatically think, oh well, she only works a few days a year and gets summers off. Yes, I may have summers off but that's because during the school year I work 60-80 hour weeks. I have to catch up on life sometime.

I wish there were better ways to get the bad apples out of the profession they make us all look bad.

 

[punkin]

No child should ever be humiliated in front of a room of their peers. Imagine your boss walking into your office and in front of your coworkers, humiliates you. How would you feel? It's not OK, and especially for a child. If that teacher spoke the OP's dd that way then the OP had every right in the world to be angry. And as for teachers who are consistently poor teachers, they shouldn't be allowed to continue to teach.

I love my job (not all aspects of it, the hours of paperwork, my irritating boss, the occasionally hostile parent) and part of my job is to instill a love of learning that will follow the child all through school. If I were to humiliate a child in my classroom I would never be able to accomplish that.

I also agree with another posters pretty concise wrap up of what teacher deals with on an ongoing basis, many people outside the profession don't understand all that goes into it. A lot of people see a teacher and automatically think, oh well, she only works a few days a year and gets summers off. Yes, I may have summers off but that's because during the school year I work 60-80 hour weeks. I have to catch up on life sometime.

I wish there were better ways to get the bad apples out of the profession they make us all look bad.

I love you.

Will you be my DD's teacher?

 

[RitaZ.]

I don't care what tone she used (assuming there even was one), her teacher's comments were inappropriate regardless.

The comment was still out of line, but I don't see myself having empathy for my kid if they addressed a teacher in a disrespectful tone. I wouldn't accept a disrespectful tone from my kid and a teacher shouldn't have to either.

 

[N.Bailey]

She was vommitting so much that I had to take her to the doctor. He said that as long as there was no accompanying diarhea, she would be fine (TMI, I know, but you asked). About tone; I really can't comment as I wasn't there, but what kind of tone would make the teacher's response appropriate?

It sounds like your daughter had the same thing my kids had last week. I've never seen anyone vomit so violently. Upon my son's return to school, the one teacher tried to get on him to take a test. He said he couldn't take it because he didn't get the information that he was suppose to study. The teacher said, well Trai (son's best friend) had to be at your house over the weekend. I know he's there all the time. My son said, "No he wasn't, I was too sick!" The teacher then said, "Your sister gave it to you too, she was here." To which my son responded, "No she wasn't, she was sick too." The teacher said that's not true that my daughter was there last week, but then the entire class jumped in to say, "NO SHE WASN'T!" LOL

In the end, my son was told he had till Thursday to make the test up. The teacher is pretty cool really, but he'll try to call the kids every chance he gets. I don't hold that against him. The good thing is, he's not intimidating so the kids feel safe to actually talk to him.

 

[HonestAbe]

I think what the teacher is trying to convey is only champions are real winners. They overcome illness and personal tragedy to be the best. However, 99.99% of us are mediocre at best, so perhaps you DD should just accept her lot in life, tell the teacher she doesnt care about college and instead wants to win the lotto and live on a beach. After all, why go to college and get all that education to get one of the lowest paying jobs (TEACHER) on the planet and have to be disrespected by so many students and parents alike. After all the teacher spent all that time and money going to school to make your DD life hard.

BTW - I used to teach and sorry - but it seems parents ALWAYS believe their little angel is incapable of stretching the truth and hence it is ALWAYS the teachers fault. And we ALL know 8th grade girls DONT LIE.

 

[declansdad]

I wonder why most of the teachers on this board assume my child is exaggerating or lying?

maybe because they see/hear it often.

 

[Blondy876]

BTW - I used to teach

Well thank goodness.

I agree with you that some parents think that their child can do no wrong but your first paragraph was nasty and unnecessary.

 

[declansdad]

There is a small percentage of losers in every profession, I don't understand why so many good teachers waste their time defending the actions of a few.


All you good teachers out there, thank you. Keep doing the good work you do.

It is probably because so many people attack all teachers because of the "losers" as you call them.

 

[HonestAbe]

Well thank goodness.

Absolutely. I make 3 times as much, work half as hard and didnt have to deal with a bunch of yahoos. If you are a teacher, bless you. If you arent then you should give a try before you condemn me for not staying in that field.

 

[HonestAbe]

Well thank goodness.

I agree with you that some parents think that their child can do no wrong but your first paragraph was nasty and unnecessary.

I just saw the rest of your post so perhaps you were editing. You are entitled to your opinion, but I also have little respect for anyone who is going to slam a teacher based on the word of their child. Again, if you teach then you know you would much rather have a one on one with a parent to "straighten things out" professionally than be dragged inappropriately into the a public forum and ridiculed when the facts have not been properly researched.

 

[golfgal]

I would love to set up a video camera in a classroom some day and record all the interesting things the kids say about things that happen at home. Maybe some people would get a little eye opener about what their kids say about THEM at school and take some supposed comments from teachers with a grain of salt.

 

[Blondy876]

I just saw the rest of your post so perhaps you were editing. You are entitled to your opinion, but I also have little respect for anyone who is going to slam a teacher based on the word of their child. Again, if you teach then you know you would much rather have a one on one with a parent to "straighten things out" professionally than be dragged inappropriately into the a public forum and ridiculed when the facts have not been properly researched.

I agree that a parent needs to have heard all sides before they get upset. In this situation we don't know the teacher or the student and I know that when I am upset I will come here and vent without fear of anyone knowing me or anyone else. Then after I have had time to think about the situation I will take action if it is necessary. That is what I thought the OP was probably doing.

However, (assuming that we have all the facts), the teacher publicly ridiculed this student without all the facts. If I would not want to be handled that way then I would not treat a student in that manner. This teacher didn't know all the facts.

I know that the children in my classroom are just children, and they come from broken homes, often with drug addicted or absent parents. I may be the only person in their world who treats them with kindness and respect. My hope is that this makes an impression on them. While I may not get their respect and kindness in return I hope that just seeing an adult act this way may start to change their view. If I treat them cruelly or with disrespect I lose them right from the start.

 

[Blondy876]

I would love to set up a video camera in a classroom some day and record all the interesting things the kids say about things that happen at home. Maybe some people would get a little eye opener about what their kids say about THEM at school and take some supposed comments from teachers with a grain of salt.

When I have back to school night at my school I always tell my parents:

"I will only believe 25% of what your kids tell me about you if you will only believe 25% of what they tell you about me."

 

[HonestAbe]

I agree that a parent needs to have heard all sides before they get upset. In this situation we don't know the teacher or the student and I know that when I am upset I will come here and vent without fear of anyone knowing me or anyone else. Then after I have had time to think about the situation I will take action if it is necessary. That is what I thought the OP was probably doing.

However, (assuming that we have all the facts), the teacher publicly ridiculed this student without all the facts. If I would not want to be handled that way then I would not treat a student in that manner. This teacher didn't know all the facts.

I know that the children in my classroom are just children, and they come from broken homes, often with drug addicted or absent parents. I may be the only person in their world who treats them with kindness and respect. My hope is that this makes an impression on them. While I may not get their respect and kindness in return I hope that just seeing an adult act this way may start to change their view. If I treat them cruelly or with disrespect I lose them right from the start.

I absolutely agree with you on your observations. But again, we are assuming we have all the facts. It's not that we disagree on this - I believe we share the same views. However we havent heard from the teacher and the odds of that transpiring are astronomical. Even in the unlikely event that very teacher were to see these posts, he or she would never respond out of fear from the repurcussions of doing so.

I think a big issue faced in education today is that as a society we dont have a clear understanding of what respect is. This is also gender specific too as my wife who used to teach and from your thoughts I have inferred that a woman views respect as something not only earned but based on kindness and compassion largely in part. Most males, myself included, find respect is based on fear. That fear comes in the form of a superior who could terminate you at a whim, or for a soldier - the commander who could make your life unbearable. I didnt learn the truth of respect until I had a substitute who the kids had the upmost respect for and he was very "old school." My first year teaching the kids ate me alive and I didnt have respect from them or the community at large. However I changed my teaching style to a very martial one the next year and even though I hate to admit that fear was the tool I used, it did get the job done. I was able to lead the kids to achievements that bolstered their pride beyond anything they had known or experienced in that district. The kids were extremely sad to see me leave and I truly felt that they cared. I have no doubt that I wouldnt have felt that if I hadnt changed my teaching methods.

 

[lilostitch]

I wonder why most of the teachers on this board assume my child is exaggerating or lying?

This is because anyone who works in a school has had at least one experience where a child goes home and tells a parent something that is an absolute fabrication, the parent flips out and believes the nonsense the child says, then follows it with "my child doesn't lie". If those words come out of your mouth, I'd say it is a good bet your child is a fib-teller and has you whipped.

I am in NO WAY implying your daughter isn't telling the truth, I don't know her and have no idea. I'm just letting you know why school personnel are skeptical of "way out there" things that kids tell their parents that we do or say.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

That was an unacceptable statement for the teacher to make especially given the circumstance. As she is still in middle school--I would be compelled to speak up re: attendance policy and communicable illnesses and standard of care. Good grief!


Note--not debating all teachers in general..but this teacher specifically was a witch.

 

[Pin Wizard]

Sorry that teacher is such an inconsiderate person.

DS knows how I feel about his teacher. He did say she's a "new" teacher as in fresh out of school. Guess that must be it. But from time to time he comes home with a "demerit" which I have to sign. Not just this teacher but sometimes another. What the heck is with demerits????? Does it matter to me if he had two occasions of not handing in a test that I've signed? A demerit slip because he forgot his planner? Geez! That's ridiculous. I haven't once seen anything GOOD come home! I'm disgusted with teachers.

 

[lilostitch]

I am totally in support of teachers as I have four of them for sisters, but I gotta tell you-you have to work in another school district. I have two sisters with masters and one who is well on her way. Now, the one is now a school psychologist, so I don't know how their pay rate compares, but my other sister makes well over $75K a year. And I know you all work hard, but let's keep in mind that she still has several weeks off throughout the year and all summer off. I know about all the extra hours--mom was a teacher too--and I know the day doesn't even end when you finally walk out the door, but $75 K for 9 months a year is not bad.

Good grief, where does she live? No teacher in our county pulls off that kind of $$$, even with a PhD. Principals, who are year round employees get up into that range, but not teachers.

Most of us do NOT GET ALL SUMMER OFF! We have 8 weeks, that IS NOT ALL SUMMER! Most of the state I live in goes back the first week in August, and a few counties go back the last week in July.

 

[lilostitch]

I would love to set up a video camera in a classroom some day and record all the interesting things the kids say about things that happen at home. Maybe some people would get a little eye opener about what their kids say about THEM at school and take some supposed comments from teachers with a grain of salt.

Amen! They could also see how their little "angels" really act.

Seriously though, the majority of the kids are great. It does seem to be the ones with the most vocal parents claiming how "fabulous their kid is and how awful the adult" is that have the biggest holy terrors!

 

[N.Bailey]

It is probably because so many people attack all teachers because of the "losers" as you call them.

I don't think this is a fair statement at all.

My kids are both in 8th grade and this year and my son has 1 teacher that just shouldn't be teaching, IMO. At the beginning of the school year, I was sent home a paper stating my son was failing math. I was shocked! The year before, he'd gotten a 99% in math which was an average of 4 marking periods, a mid term, and a final. For some unknown reason too, they had him repeating the exact same math that he'd had the prior year. Keep in mind, my son is in the IEP program, but he is in a regular math class (his disability is only in reading). He had transition math for 2 years, and instead of doing the 2nd half of the math book in 8th grade, they put him in a math class that was starting at the beginning of the book. To make a long story short, I just couldn't fathom how he went from a 99 to failing, covering the same material. I then wrote a letter to the teacher because I was very concerned. I certainly wasn't rude in the least. As I said, I was concerned and I knew we had to nip it early on. So, my son hands the letter in and this teacher looks at him, calls him a liar (I wrote the letter, my son did not), then proceeded to tell him how everyone was going to think he's stupid and IF he did get a 99% the year before, he had to have cheated ALL year to do it! Now, I would NEVER talk to my son like that and I will never allow a teacher to do so either. I didn't call the school right away though because I was too mad. I waited till Monday so that I'd 1, have time to think about it, and 2, so I didn't blow my stack. I also wanted to give my son plenty of time to confess if he'd made any of it up. It turned out that he did not lie and after a long talk with this teacher (I didn't involve anyone else at the school). We came up with a solution and his math class was changed to cover the 2nd half of the book and he's now got As again in math. I shortened that some because it would have taken a long time to explain it all, but the teacher totally understood that I would not tolerate her talking to my son like that.

This teacher also screams at the kids at the top of her lungs when she's mad. 2 weeks ago, she started screaming at my son's best friend while in the class. She then pulled him into the hallway and kept the screaming at him. My daughter was in another class and she could hear every word from that class. My son said till his friend came back into the class, he was in tears. To be as fair as possible to this teacher, my son's friend did lie to her about doing his homework. IMO, he should have been punished for that too, but screaming and humiliating him in front of the entire class is uncalled for! I certainly don't punish my kids like that, do you?

Till this time however, I have absolutely nothing but the highest of praises to offer every single teacher my children have had to this point. I have been astounded thru the years at how remarkable teachers in our district are. I could never commend them enough for their efforts and the effects they've had on both of my children. This teacher however does not deserve to stand beside the rest of them!