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...
