Posts filed under 'teachers'
As I was driving past the middle and the high schools yesterday, something occurred to me; the communication between teachers and parents has a tendency to fall apart or become nonexistent by the time children reach the middle school level. Once high school rolls around, many parents don’t even hear from the school or have contact with the administrators or the teachers unless their teen gets in to some sort of trouble.
Why is that? Why do we allow the schools to dictate when they want to hear from us? Last year was my son’s first year of middle school. On every occasion in which something was going on with him, I had to initiate the conversation. In a couple of instances it was only after multiple emails were sent where I said, “Hey I called and left a message for you, I haven’t heard back…” did I get a reply. We as parents tend to think that communication at the elementary school level is important – and so do the teachers: School wide newsletters as well as classroom newsletters get sent home, we have parent teacher conferences at every grading period, and if you’re lucky enough, you get a teacher who will call you just to see if everything is OK because little Suzy or Billy isn’t quite themselves this week.
However, when we get to middle school and high school, those letters, the phone calls and the conferences come to a screeching halt. It’s now up the parents to make the first move if we want to hear about how our kids are doing. Between middle and high school more kids fall victim to drugs, alcohol and suicide than any other time. It’s when the pressure to perform, to fit in and find their own sense of self takes control.
Once the schools reopen their offices and the teachers start reporting to school to set up their classrooms, make an appointment to at least meat the teachers face to face. You want to know who they are, and you need to make your presence as your son or daughter’s advocate known. Introduce yourself and let them know that just as you expect them to have an open door policy for your child to come to them with problems, be it social or academic, you also have an open door policy for them to approach you as well. Let them know that as a parent, you have a duty to your teen to help them do their best so you may request a sit down with them if you see your teen suddenly starts having problems.
It’s their job to teach your child what they need to succeed in this world and unfortunately, it’s become our job as parents to keep those lines of communication between home and school going.
June 25th, 2008
Edit
It seems as though that is what Georgia county school district is shooting for. Greene County is separating the boys from the girls because as it stands, keeping them together doesn’t seem to work as far as school success is concerned.
Even though they’ve been advised by a leading expert in single-sex schools the district is going to forge ahead.
OK, seriously, I suppose you could look at it with a “What more do we have to lose?” attitude but when you do that, then you are pretty much admitting that your school district can’t perform as it should.
That might be true, but it is really a reason we need to separate the boys from the girls? You can read the full article here but I would like to point out one thing that irritated me:
McCollough pointed to research showing that boys and girls learn differently, and said separating them will allow teachers to tailor their lessons. Also, boys won’t misbehave as much because they will no longer be trying to impress the girls, and the girls will be more likely to speak up in class because they won’t be afraid to look smart in front of the boys, he said.
Does anyone see something wrong with that statement? No? Alright perhaps it’s just me then…
I agree that boys and girls do learn differently but then again my boys don’t learn the same as each other. And impressing the girls aside, and girls being afraid to speak up? I think those are pretty flimsy excuses for segregating children. How are boys and girls supposed to learn to socialize with each other if they aren’t permitted to be in the same class together? I don’t understand the logic behind that and maybe someone can explain it to me.
Even though the sub-headline states that it’s a measure to also prevent teen pregnancies, I didn’t see anything in the article about those concerns. (And I’m sorry but if teens want to have unprotected sex, they don’t need to be in the same school together).
I just wonder how successful this will be. They’ve made this decision district-wide and under Federal law, the district is making this move to include every school in the district. A move which some question as being illegal because it leaves the parents with no option for coed education and that… well doesn’t that teach children much about upholding the law now does it?
June 7th, 2008
Edit
I’m not sure if I should be appalled, sick, disgusted or down right lit up like a raging fire… either way when I read this story out of CBS about the little boy who was voted out of Kindergarten because he was “different”, well it didn’t take long for my mommy radar to go off the charts!
I’m torn, one side of me wants to be diplomatic and say, “Well the teacher obviously didn’t have the resources to handle a child with special needs.” You’ve heard me go on and on about budget cuts and the lack of funding for schools and teachers. If a teacher wants to learn more about how to properly educate and work with special needs children, they often have to pay for it themselves because the money from the schools to fund it simply isn’t there and That. IS. SAD.
Another rational side wants to say, ” The school should have worked with the family, teacher and the child to come to an agreement or alternative learning environment for this child.” There are certain avenues that have to be taken in order to have a child removed from a classroom. Plus, I can certainly understand the need to be able to properly teach the other students BUT… Unfortunately for the teacher… the MOM and ACTIVIST in me says…
This teacher used the poorest judgment imaginable. She behaved no better than the five and six year old students she was teaching. Not only did Wendy Portillo (the teacher in question), humiliate, bully, and send the message that if you’re different from everyone else, then we can get rid of you… But what’s worse is that she just taught a room full of young impressionable children that it’s certainly OK to discriminate. Ms. Portillo knew the boy was being evaluated, was even working with the school and the parent to get him properly diagnosed, but clearly that wasn’t enough for her.
Want to hear the really fun part? The state attorney’s office says this isn’t emotional abuse.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
The whole situation is unprofessional on so many levels. Ms. Portillo is the adult in this situation and conducting a poll of children in which it’s not only OK for you to say you don’t want a kid in your class but it’s also OK to tell why you don’t like the kid in the first place.
The little boy is being evaluated for Asperger’s which is a form of Autism Spectrum Disorder. Now for those of you not familiar with Autism you can learn more about it here and here . I, myself will admit to not knowing much about the illness but I can tell you that it has varrying degrees of severity and also manifests itself in different ways. Some children are fully functional in a classroom, some are partially, with the help of an aide and others cannot function at all. Either way, the teacher involved does not get to be judge and jury alone about whether or not a child being evaluated for Asperger’s or Autism should or should not be in her classroom. There are rules, protocols and other people in the decision making process, not her and 16 or so five and six year olds.
I also have to question what else Wendy Portillo has taught these youngsters with her crash course in democracy. In an age where we are trying desperately to get rid of discrimination in all forms, she just opened the door for any child to “poll” out every kid they have a problem with, doesn’t like or even smells funny… and because she did it, they will expect to do it and have it be OK too.
Ms. Portillo is the adult in this situation and her behavior was anything BUT adult-like and that is what saddens me.
She is an educator. She is expected to educate the children and teach them right from wrong, to be tolerant of those different from us and have acceptance for people. Unfortunately, for the children in her classroom at Morningside Elementary in Port St. Lucie, Fla., Wendy Portillo was absent the day they went over that in College.
I don’t want anyone to misunderstand; I firmly believe that the other children have a right to a positive learning environment but how positive is your environment when the teacher allows you talk down and negatively to another student? What do you think the children learned that day? It sure wasn’t shapes, colors, sentence structure, or the life cycle of a butterfly, that’s for sure.
Luckily, she’s been moved out of the classroom while this is being investigated (here’s hoping she’s moved out of a teaching license as well). But if you would like to read more about Portillo’s rendition of Survivor - Kindergarten style and also her allegations of what finally led her to create the worst moment in teaching history (among other things), then check out Thinking in Metaphors , the author has some excellent information and advocacy for Autism as well as comments from the boy’s mom and updates.
It’s a shame Ms. Portillo didn’t remember that SHE is the adult, not one of the children and is expected to behave as such.
How would she feel if the tables were turned? Feel free to cast a “vote”!
June 2nd, 2008
Edit
Picture this if you will: February is the shortest month of the school year. In my district it is also one of the month’s where kids have the most days off due to teacher inservice days, and holidays like President’s Day and MLK Day. If you combine those missed days of learning with the number of days their teacher is missing from the classroom, how much do you think they are actually learning?
Not much and in January, msnbc.com confirmed my thoughts with this article .
Are you mad yet? If not you should be and here’s why:
The article discusses the fact that many of the substitutes employed to cover those teacher abcenses aren’t the most qualified for the job. In fact some states don’t even require a college degree. The more difficult the subject (like Trigonometry), the less likely you are to find someone qualified to teach it.
What’s more is the the schools don’t even expect the substitutes to teach the children, they only expect them to follow the lesson plans. Excuse me if I see something wrong with this, but I thought most lesson plans involved instruction on the subjects covered. If a substitute teacher isn’t qualified to teach a subject, how can they be expected to understand and follow the lesson plans if kids have questions.
I’m not suggesting that our teachers don’t deserve time off during the year but I think the administrators and school districts owe it to our children to at least supply them with qualified instructors. I know… hard to do with such tight budgets. I mean if they can’t meet a budget to keep from laying off teachers, how do they bring in substitutes educated enough to teach the hard stuff? Just a thought.
What we need is more backing from the Federal Government (in my opinion). If the government is going to put such mandates on our public schools like the No Child Left Behind Act (big disappointment btw), then they should at least make sure the schools have the tools they need to make sure that NO CHILD IS LEFT BEHIND.
May 29th, 2008
Edit
As schools everywhere are preparing to end the year many parents have already been approached by their child’s teacher about repeating the grade they are in. For most parents the thought of their child repeating a grade feels like failure but depending on the teacher’s reasons, it could be the best decision you make for your child.
Often times teachers suggest a child repeats a grade it is because the child isn’t ready to move on with his or her peers. This happens more to children who are in Kindergarten, First or Second grade. Your child may not be emotionally ready to move on - one of the largest reasons teachers suggest a child hangs back a grade. What happens is that the child may have trouble adjusting to changes, working with other students, or other emotional or social markers.
School isn’t all about grades. Teachers realize that some children simply have a harder time at the social aspect of school. If given the chance to work through their difficulties, they can excel but in order to do that the teacher and parents must come to an understanding about what a child needs.
So if it’s been recommended that your child repeat a grade and you can’t find a reason that they should academically, schedule a meeting with the teacher to find out why. If you are strongly against your child repeating a grade make sure you understand why the teacher suggests it and what you can do over the summer to better prepare your child for the next school year.
Teachers don’t make the suggestion to hold a child back lightly and before you decide, take the time to understand the teacher’s position and get plenty of information and examples from the teacher for the basis of their suggestion.
May 14th, 2008
Edit
Previous Posts
