I'll wade in on this one. Let's see. *18 or 20 new kids, some of whom brought their materials in on orientation, and others on the first day, *plus some parents having difficulties cutting the umbilical cord and "babying" their child ( today, I observed a child who was reluctant to go into the classroom. Rather than exit and let the teacher take charge of the child, the Mom kept cooing and promising. CUT THE CORD, MOM! An hour after I first noticed this scene, it was still being carried out. In my humble experience, had the parent left, the child would have assimilated a lot easier.) *plus new students who didn't appear on anyone's registration and therefore require a whole lot of paperwork just to enter the class, *plus kids who think they can chatter on like they were at summer camp, *plus parents who thought going to the beach was more important than orientation - yet who try to monopolize the teacher by asking how to fill out certain forms, *plus the kid who is crying because he doesn't have lunch and parents didn't tell him they were leaving money at the school for him to eat, and the kid who has no lunch, and parents didn't remember it either..... These are a few of the stresses this teacher is facing. I've seen parents who expected the teacher to fawn all over their little precious one, forgetting that there are 18 or more other kids in the class, most of whom have finished a fun summer, but have some trepidation about starting first grade. First grade is not the warm and fuzzy year that kindergarten might have been. It seems that realizing that a teacher may have other parents applying stress, the administration doing so, plus his or her own personal issues (perhaps the teachers child just started a new school as well, and as a parent, the teacher should be concerned for their child's welfare-just as you are) well..it's easy to understand how someone could be a little frustrated and less bubbly than is normal. Bottom line, for my money, I want teachers to take charge and teach. Most of the teachers under which I learned were those under whom we had to produce first, to get some slack later. No one stated out by being nice, we had to earn that from them. Kind of hard to clamp down when one starts out being easily pushed over. NOTE I am not a teacher, nor do I portray one on TV. I volunteer many hours at schools, have taught before, and have the honor of being married to a teacher.
:iagree: Well stated. You speak for many, many teachers who have to deal with parents like these each and every day, year after year. No one can really understand the stress unless they have taught, been married to a teacher, or in your case, both!!
i am just curious how our teachers survived, their average class was 30, there were no computers, everything was done by hand and parents were still parents just like they are when i raised mine and as they are now. i love teachers, think they have picked a very noble profession and admire that but i still wonder how our teachers survived:lol:
And my teachers were allowed to implement a "board of education" QFH. Didn't require a parental notification, nor a trip to the principal's office.
Amen. My dad said it early in my career. Get your butt up out of bed. Get dressed and dont be late for the bus. Dont let the school call me and make me come down there or i will wear your butt (not that exact word but you get the idea) out when we get home. Got it? Yes sir. And that was it. My son is starting the 8th this year. I could not tell you a single teacher he has. Cant tell you one from last year though i think one was a Mr. Davis. My son really liked him and i think that was his name. I cant tell you a single teacher he had in the 6th, 5th, 4th and so on. Dont know the phone number to the school. Dont know the principal's name either. Do know the school name though. I dont have to know all that. Only time i need to know any of that is if there is a problem and then i find out. So far i have not had a problem and have never met any of his teachers once he was past the 3rd. I cant even tell you what part of the school his classes are in. I have, however, used my dad's rule (see above) except for the bus because mine walks to school. I also do not care, nor ever have cared, if any of his teachers liked me or his mother. He is in advanced science and social studies though this year. That i do know.
Growing up it didn't matter if we liked our teacher or not. We had to respect him/her. They were not there to be our friends. That respect created an environment where we were all (for the most part) cooperative and could learn. When one of my daughters was in elementary school, I recall her coming home with hours upon hours of homework. Far beyond what was in my opinion normal. She was at least an average if not above average student so I figured if it took her so long to complete the homework it must be taking some students even longer. When I asked the teacher about it, I was very rudely informed that the kids were so disruptive in class she couldn't get all the work done so she was sending it home to be done as homework. I replied that she obviously did not know how to control the problem kids and command respect and SHE needed to correct the problem. I did tell her that if my child was part of the problem I expected her to address it with me. Within the week the homework amounts returned to normal. Point being the teachers have a hard time now with getting the respect of the kids but it must be done. They don't need to come across as friends to the students or parents. They are there with a job to do. Same daughter now wants to graduate early from high school because the classes are so full of kids laughing, cutting up and talking it is difficult for her to learn and for the teachers to teach.
I would get feedback from your first grader. If your child doesn't like the teacher after a couple of days then I would ask to have him placed in another class. I do agree that elementary teachers should have patience and a kind attitude toward parents and their children. First impressions are not always reliable, and my opinion of someone seldom changes (although it has happened), so your feelings could change too. There are a lot of great teachers, my wife is one, but there are also some who have no passion, or are clearly just coasting along. Try to have an open-mind, and know that not everybody is going to do what you would do in the same situation, and if your child is learning and happy to go to school then great. Good luck!
I find this sad. He's your kid. You should be involved and know what he's doing the majority of his day....who he's spending his time with, what he's learning, ...
Why sad? I know his friends. I know what his homework each night is. We go over it. I talk to him about his classes, what goes on and such. I take him to his hockey practices each night. I get up at 4:00am on a Sunday for that 6:15 game in Wake Forest. I know what music he likes since i get most of it for him and so on. I just dont have to know wether or not his teacher likes me or if i like him. Doesnt matter. Every day i ask him how his day went and if there is anything we need to talk about. The fact is that it does not matter who his teacher is because thats his teacher. Nothing i can do about it even if i wanted to. Just like my teachers were mine, yours were yours etc. Do you go to work and think...gee....i didnt get a fuzzy feeling when i walked in the office today. I think my boss doesnt like me. Who can i call to get him changed or me to a new department? I doubt it. People need to get a grip. Its the 1st or 2nd grade. My son cant even tell you who his 4th grade teachers were let alone 1st or 2nd. I can remember my 2nd, 3rd and 5th but not 4th. Cant remember 6th. Personally, i can not recall a more pitiful post on these boards than the start of this thread.
Was it my response that did it? Because I am not getting a warm an fuzzy from you. I may need to switch forums.
Thanks for all the wonderful responses (sarcasm is included). I was simply asking a quesstion. If you don't like your doctor, lawyer, dentist, hairstylist, etc. for whatever reason, you can move on. My son said his day was fine. He said, :she did not even need to yell at me: . I left it alone. I will look forward to meeting her one on one at the 1st parent teacher conference when it comes up.
Your message read like you weren't at all involved with his education. Your 2nd post clarified your point.
what to do Sounds like my crazy sister. Spends half her time dragging her kid into meetings with the principal/teacher with no result. Never take anything personal. They could be in a bad mood, everyone has a day like that or perhaps they are already tired of dealing with the mountains of paperwork, too many administrators, and overcrowded classrooms. I'm not a teacher but when i see the way kids behave in front of their OWN parents out in public (including cursing, disrespect, physical slaps and hits) i imagine its even worse at school, where they know they can get away with it and blame the teacher is biased and mommy will stick up for them no matter what. Plus the fact teachers don't make much AND i believe most just received a PAY CUT! When i was a kid most of my teachers had big problems and i didn't like them or my parents didn't like them. That's life - and the sooner the kid learns to deal with different personalities the better off they will be. Because someday they are going to get a job in the real world without their mommy to protect them and their is going to be a guaranteed jerk to them. Life is life. No one said it was going to be easy.j Everyone should cut teachers some slack for the first semester.
Not EVERY parent automatically assumes it's the teacher's fault. I had a tendancy to assume the opposite and blamed DS for something that ended up NOT being him. He got a "red" (if you don't have kids, they let you know how their behavoir was with green for good, yellow for pushing it and red for being really bad) mark on his first day of Kindergarten and I was mortified that my "perfect" kid got a bad behavoir report the first day of school. He swore up and down that it was supposed to be a "green" but the teacher was out of the "green" stickers. So she gave them all red.:? I just didn't understand why she didn't write out the word green and told him he was fibbing, that he must have done something to earn the red. NOPE!! Low and behold, when I finally got ahold of her to find out what my darling had done, he was correct. She ran out of green dots and gave red. :banghead: I fussed my kid out and he was telling the truth. :cry::cry::cry: I had to eat a lot of crow. Long story short, I now will wait til I have BOTH sides before I automatically take the teachers side.
