Thursday, March 1, 2012

Teaching is scary!

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/highschool-prep-rally/middle-school-girls-hoops-player-benched-game-saying-155532292.html

I read this article today about a student getting in trouble in class and not being allowed to play basketball for saying "I love you" in her native language to two other classmates.

Of course the parents want the teacher to be fired because the teacher "threw her hands down on the table and said she wasn't allowed to speak her native language in the class".

Hear are my thoughts as a credentialed teacher that has substitute taught for several years in many locations and grade levels: It is tough to be a teacher right now.

It seems like you hear about teachers making mistakes on the internet all the time. It scares me. I'm sure I've done things that the media could blow out of proportion.

I sympathize with this teacher. She probably didn't know the student was saying "I love you". Maybe she did, but I'm sure it wasn't the first time the students were talking to each other in their native language. She threw her hands on the desk because she's frustrated! Teachers are overworked and underpaid. Middle school? Good luck! Those kids spend the whole time in class trying to push your buttons. Could she and should she have handled it differently? Yes. Should she be fired? Probably not.

I've been in classrooms where the students spoke spanish and the teacher had a rule that the students weren't allowed to speak spanish. When the kids tried it I told them I spoke spanish. I kind of do. They would try to shock me and ask me if I knew what this word or that word was. I just told them to get back to work. Can't let the kids get to you. This teacher obviously had.

But should this be a front page yahoo article?! No! People are overreacting.

7 comments:

  1. I think alot of people like to blow things out of proportion. If what the teacher did was out of malica or hate I could understand but really why were they saying I love you anyway?

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  2. I agree with you here. The teachers need to be put back in charge, not the students. And the parents? Yeah, that is a whole other story!

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  3. As a teacher I agree with this. It seems like the public and the media are quick to blame a teacher before they have all of the facts. It also feels like there is very little support for teachers now a days. It is definitely a scary time to be in this profession!

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  4. I taught middle school special ed for 5 years before I had Landon. It's not easy!

    The biggest issue because being overworked and underpaid is the parents. A lot of parents now don't want to hear anything remotely negative about their kids and they freak out if they do. I've read so many articles about parents trying to sue or get a teacher fired because the teacher's expectations are too high or they didn't like what they heard at parent-teacher conferences. A lot of parents don't hold their kids responsible for anything and if their kids fail, it's the teacher's fault, no matter what. It's causing really good teachers to leave the profession because they can't take it anymore and that's sad.

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  5. That's true. I just read an article about a teacher who had a box for "quiet time" for an aspergers boy but she would use it as punishment for the other kids so it was confusing for the kid. But she told him to go "get in the box" which, I dunno, doesn't sound very good but you can also see why a quiet place is a good idea for him. Anyway... my MIL is a middle school teacher and I can't imagine handling little brats all day, lol.

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  6. I definitely agree with you...it seems like now teachers have to be more worried about covering their butts than actually teaching kids.

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  7. I saw your comment on another blog! I am in Roseville too!!

    New Follower here :)

    love your blog!

    XOXO http://www.angela2bunnie.blogspot.com

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