Question for teachers/educators

[seeking_guns]

Tina,
I have had teachers (one of them even while I was in college) like the one who taught your daughter in 4th grade. And you're right - those teachers do wind up with almost no discipline problems, but that is because the kids are in absolute terror every single day that they are going to be the one singled out. How can you learn much in those conditions?

As for your son's situation, there *are* discreet ways to handle discpline - a hand or verbal warning signal from the teacher, a behavior contract, etc. He should *not* be getting made an example of in front of his peers on a regular basis like that. At any rate, you asked why teachers are taking discpline into their own hands. Now from the spelling in your post, I am guessing that you might not be in the States, and if that's the case, things may be different in your school system. But from my experience, I can tell you that teachers often get pressured by the administration NOT to send students to the office. They are encouraged to handle problems on their own first. Is it the classroom teacher who is calling you then?

 

[dorothyrd]

Tina, I do think that the one teacher was out of line, but your question about why the kids aren't sent to the principals office. Simply, there are too many these days. My daughter has been in classes where 2/3's of the students would have been sent. She is in 8th grade, and she says it is truly unbelievable how rude kids are to the teachers. I helped a lot in the classroom with my son, and now my daughter who is 5 years younger, and things have gotten much, much worse. Worse down to the 1st and 2cnd grade level, too, so the teachers have to be strict. In a neighboring town, they now have policemen(they call them resource officers, but they are cops, carry guns, all that), assigned to the schools to patrol the hallways because of the amount of fights and assaults that were occuring in the middle schools and high schools. And folks, it is not a big city, but a smaller Midwestern town.

So, while some teachers methods sound extreme, until you are in the classroom day in and day out, be careful laying blame. It is terribly hard to be a teacher these days.

 

[hopefull]

My response is simply does this approach even work with 2nd graders? It would seem to me that a citizenship grade is too abstract. Lowering it would have very little affect on a small child. I've used things like post-it notes on a child's desk that I remove for certain behaviors. This works pretty good especially for ADHD kids who need reminders. But the post it system is part of a contract between myself, the child, and the parents. There are consequences that follow the loss of the post its, and they are part of the contract we agree on. I also have great administration that are very supportive and helpful with discipline issues. I am fortunate to work in a middle school where we have team time to collaborate with other teachers on our team, and with parents, to do this kind of thing. I think this tie is needed at all levels of education! This teacher may very well have other things in place then just lowering a citizenship grade, but if that was the policy in a nutshell, I can't see how it would possibly work. Please consider one thing before you find too much fault with your school or this teacher. Most people would lose their minds trying to juggle all the things a teacher juggles in a day. These blanket discipline systems come from this lack of time. Think of the stuggles you have with disciplining your own children, then translate that to a classroom with 25 students, and sometimes very little parental support. It's a monumental job. I'm home with a sick kid today, praying my sub can handle it.

 

[keli400]

As you can see we all have really passionate beliefs about how discipline should be handled in school settings.

I would recommend that your friend exercise caution before rushing in with one side of how the discipline in the classroom is managed or what she has learned from other accounts. Perhaps, encourage her to try to arrange an appointment to learn the teacher's perspective of the bedreaded citizenship points, and why he/she elected to handle the points/grades in the current manner might help to understand the situation. Your friend might find that the child's interpretation is quite different from the teacher's. I would like to add that rushing to the child's or the teacher's defense before learning more could be harmful to both people.

Good luck!

 

[dorothyrd]

>As you can see we all have really passionate beliefs about
>how discipline should be handled in school settings.
>
>I would recommend that your friend exercise caution before
>rushing in with one side of how the discipline in the
>classroom is managed or what she has learned from other
>accounts. Perhaps, encourage her to try to arrange an
>appointment to learn the teacher's perspective of the
>bedreaded citizenship points, and why he/she elected to handle
>the points/grades in the current manner might help to
>understand the situation. Your friend might find that the
>child's interpretation is quite different from the teacher's.
>I would like to add that rushing to the child's or the
>teacher's defense before learning more could be harmful to
>both people.
>
>Good luck!
>
>

Better yet, volunteer to help in the classroom an hour a week. You can learn a lot about the classroom, your child's friends and education and be a help to the school!