On 6/20/09, Teach to Dave Just read your post; Thank you wrote:
> 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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