I can't believe you wrote this. You and I have had respectful
interchanges of thousands of words, as I have done with many others as
well. I would not call that "shunning." As for being "judges," not at
all; people who disagree with the practices described by others, and who
suggest both fallacies and other options, are actually trying to support
the OP's, and help them to find more effective ways to lead!
Vociferous debate is healthy, in my opinion, just as complacency,
defensiveness, and unquestioning allegiance to ANY system is unhealthy.
Many teachers around the country could improve their teaching AND
classroom environment, if they would engage in a healthy open-
mindedness. (See my "Evolution of Teaching" post for more.)
As far as dignity-based teachers being "pushovers," it's clear that the
thousands of words I've written (which you've read) have not
communicated clearly at all. And I STILL haven't successfully described
dignity-based systems so that you truly get them.
I'll just have to keep trying.
:-)
All my best,
Tom
On 6/19/09, Dave Z wrote:
> On 6/18/09, Teach wrote:
>>
>> First of all, I'm not the one who had anything to do with the
>> incident. I was agreeing with the teacher who did.
>>
>> Second, I LOVE my job and love my kids. I cried today as they
>> left. You have no idea how I teach my class because you are not
>> there. You have no business judging me.
>
>
> Don't listen to these judges. In their paradigm, their system
> works. They like to shun those who are different. There is nothing
> wrong with the way the OP handled the situation. Some silly people
> are looking at calling parents as needing backup. That is just plain
> ridiculous. It is informing parents of what their children are
> doing. If you don't, they will turn around and say I had no idea my
> daughter was doing so poorly. As far as giving back the
> magazines...unless it is the last day of school, that is a mistake.
> Certain children would eat these teachers up. What would they do if
> everyone had a magazine and brought it every day and read...and how
> is it respectful to the teacher to read magazines in class. The word
> pushover comes to mind. Children do not respect pushovers.
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