roll with the punches

The pool party went well Friday night. I wore my suit, but I never once stepped in the pool. GG was having so much fun swimming with her friends that I didn't see a need for me to get in with her. Instead I sat on the side and chatted with a few friends. We ended up talking about our kids' school. In particular, their teacher. Let's just call her Hitler Miss X.

I had heard stories before the second grade started so I knew going in that there was a good chance this would be a rough year. Well, for me, at least. Here's one of the stories I heard from a parent whose son was in her class 2 years ago.

Miss X was getting ready to teach the kids about plural possessives. This parent said she had sent a note home to all the parents saying this lesson was coming up. Kids usually have a hard time with this so don't expect your child to bring home good grades for this lesson. At the time I trusted this lady's word about as far as I could throw her. And believe me, that's not very far at all.

Apparently it's true. Miss X told another parent this year that the lesson on plural possessives was coming up and her son wouldn't do well with it. Sometimes the girls catch on, but usually the boys don't. If I was that parent, I would have taken that as the teacher calling my child dumb. And that's exactly how she felt.

On another note, GG recently brought home 2 letters in one week. The letters were basically "Dear Mom and Dad. I was talking after I was told to stop. Please sign and return." I signed and returned and then GG was grounded. Now I have known since GG was a little under a year old that she was a talker so this doesn't come as a surprise to me. But after talking to the parent I just mentioned, I've learned some things. Her son (and a few other kids) have brought home similar letters. This parent asked why her or her husband were never contacted about this talking problem. She was told by Miss X that she doesn't send home letters or make phone calls about behavior problems because the child doesn't have consequences from the parents. So now she's saying that we're bad parents?

At the pool, we were also talking about how our kids bring home sloppy work or work that isn't finished. One mom asked Miss X if there was extra work she could do with her son at home to help him out. She was told that with her son, it's an issue of time. In other words, he wants to rush through his work to be the first one done. He doesn't care how sloppy it is. She's been yelling at her son trying to get him to be neater with his work. I've also talked to GG about this and other parents from the class have talked to their kids about it. All of our kids say the same thing ~ they don't have any time to get their work done in class!

There are so many more problems, some pretty bad, and I could go on and on, but I won't. I'm just trying to figure out why this teacher is still there? There are rumors she's retiring after this year (yay!), but that tells you how long she's been with the district. I know these kids sometimes have behavior issues, mine included, but maybe more of the blame falls in the teacher. We've been told she has bad social skills when it comes to talking to parents, but making you feel like a bad parent with a dumb child is way beyond bad social skills!

I also wonder if GG does anything else at school to get in trouble. I know she's a good kid and, other than talking, I don't think she gets in trouble. But if Miss X doesn't send home note or make phone calls, how would I know in the first place?

We still have a long way to go, but I can't wait until this year is over. Thankfully, Little Dude shouldn't have her (assuming she retires soon). But with my luck he'll have the same teacher GG did in Kindergarten. I heard troubling stories about her, too, but we never had a problem with her. Looking back, I now understand why certain negative things were said about her. I guess you learn things when you help out in the school. But parents aren't allowed to request teachers here, so I guess we'll just deal with things as they come.

Until next time...

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Did you just say the second grade teacher sucks and the kindergarten teacher does too? Ever think you're in a really bad district?

Shell said...

Anonymous is an idiot. I don't care WHAT school district you are in, there are good and bad teachers everywhere. If you're not aware of that, well, you're an idiot.

One thing I would suggest is to tell the teacher that you'd really like to see how your daughter is doing in school and request to come in to observe for an hour or so. That will give you a feel for the class. She *might* be on better behavior if you are there, but it still might give you perspective on what goes on.

Kmama said...

I'm sorry GG has a bad teacher. We lucked out with Buddy getting a good teacher, especially since we didn't know anything about the teachers at our school.

Right now, we are able to request a specific teacher for next year, however, again, we don't know anything about the 1st grade teachers, so we won't. Does your school have more than 1 2nd grade teacher and allow you to put a request in? If so, I would try!

Evonne said...

Thanks Anon for your advice, but I am talking about 1 teacher's attitude. I said nothing about academics, which our district excels in. We're in the top 25% of all districts throughout the state. #94 out of 501 to be exact. So don't assume things. It just makes you look dumb.

Unknown said...

Sos orry about the crappy teacher. IF she is soon to retire it is entirely possible she just doesn't care anymore. It is really sad when our children are told how important education is but then we don't have teachers that feel the same way..

Miss. C said...

Our school district also has the top state ratings it can have, but there are teachers like the one you talked about in our system as well. My son was the target for ours last year! I can only say to you, we are almost done with the school year, wish you the best of luck!!!

Anonymous said...

Im sorry to hear this, teachers just dont realize sometimes that what they say or do to a child can stay with them forever..there job is to build up the kids, not tear them down...

peace friend

The Willinghams said...

That stinks. As a teacher myself I would hope that a parent would call me out on that behavior! I do agree there are some parents no matter how much I contact them do nothing to help me, however comment isn't blanketed for every parent. You have to make an attempt with each individual family!

That being said, I would call her and speak to her. If that doesn't help go to the administration and speak to them about it. The squeeky wheel gets the grease ya know? The more parents who speak up the more likely something will be done about.

Retirement or not there is no reason for her to continue to behave that way.

Allison said...

My little guy is starting kindergarten later this year and we are terrified that he will have a horrible teacher. Maybe it's because his first early education teacher sucked and the one we have now is like an angel from heaven. I hope we don't get another dud!