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.
>
>
>>
>> I discipline my students in a fair way. I'm not perfect and i
>> make mistakes. But my conscience is clear.
>>
>> I'm glad that you do not need parent or principal support. That is
>> you. Every teacher does what they deem best. Some of us include
>> parents and principals some don't. I'm not saying either is wrong.
>> It is entirely up to the teacher. I don't judge you for how you
>> handle your classroom. Every classroom is different.
>>
>> #4 How do you know that someone doesn't like teaching? hmmm
>>
>> If you agree so much with what you say why are you posting
>> anonymously?
>>
>>
>> On 6/18/09, the real real world wrote:
>>> \
>>>>>
>>>>>> What I was speaking to directly was that sort of
>>>>>> negative energy relished by the fashion mag OP and a
>>>>>> few of her first responders - 'I took away the
>>>>>> student's magazines and used them for mulch, and then
>>>>>> her mom came in and MAJORLY SHAMED AND PUNISHED HER.
>>>
>>>
>>> What did the mom coming in do about the negative energy? I get
>>> that now this kid doesn't bring fashion mags out anymore
>>> but how did this get rid of the negative energy? Indeed, some
>>> kids do relish negative energy and they embrace conflict with
>>> teachers but taking away their tools doesn't get rid of the
>>> negative energy.
>>> Nor does a Mom coming in and shaming a kid in that way - that
>>> would only create even more negative energy.
>>>
>>> Of course there are some kids who would turn and say "Ms. Smith
>>> means business. She called my Mom and my Mom came... " but that
>>> requires that a kid and a Mom have a decent relationship - by no
>>> means is that true for all kids and Moms.
>>>
>>> It's a Happy Teacher Story - it's got that edge of hey, we still
>>> have our mojo - all we need is parents to back us up. And if
>>> that works, that's great. I haven't made a parent phone call in
>>> 15 years and it's done wonders for my classroom. I pretend I
>>> don't have a principal ( I wish I didn't) and it's me and them.
>>> When I raised my own two kids, I didn't have a principal backing
>>> me up. I had to do it on my own and I do it on my own without
>>> parents or principals in my classroom.
>>>
>>> Why did you give the magazines back??? I understand giving them
>>> back the first time but when they gave you a rough time handing
>>> them over the second time - why did you give them back? You
>>> invited this conflict with these kids - don't get me wrong, I'm
>>> not trying to place blame but let's thing about what could be
>>> done differently.
>>>
>>> There's a lot to this story that doesn't make good sense - sorry.
>>> You made mistakes here and you needed backup. You're trying to
>>> put this out as a victory but it wasn't - you had to call for
>>> reinforcements because of the mistakes you made.
>>>
>>> 1. Where's the negative energy coming from and why? The magazines
>>> are just a tool - they don't create the negative energy. Why are
>>> these kids looking to create that in your classroom? You can't
>>> stifle negative energy - it's poison and I don't hear you doing
>>> anything about it but celebrating that the mother came in with a
>>> whole boatload of more negative energy.
>>>
>>> 2. Unless of course you're going for the kind of classroom that's
>>> seething, quiet negative energy - so long as you all sit still
>>> and be quiet, we can mutually hate each other in the quiet.
>>> That's fine but nobody's learning anything in that kind of
>>> negative energy but then nobody's getting beat up either and in
>>> some schools sadly you've got to settle for that. I'd say I'm
>>> sorry you're in that kind of school but...
>>>
>>> 3. You must teach in a pretty interesting in between kind of
>>> school really - in some schools doing what you did would get your
>>> tires slashed on a good day and one angry teenage girl coming at
>>> you the next day when slashing your tires hadn't expelled enough
>>> of her negative energy. You're clearly not going for a learning
>>> environment but your kids can be sufficiently controlled - with
>>> parent help - to sit still.
>>>
>>> 4. You might not be in the right school yet because it doesn't
>>> sound like you like teaching - or your kids - though tough
>>> teenage girls with attitude can be tough to take.
>>> 5.Good luck with it all.

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