Teacher Writes "Loser" On Students Assignments....

[Camelot Farms]

Quote:
I never thought we would be a homeschool family and here we are and LOVIN' IT!

 

[WriterofWords]

I home schooled Steven for quite awhile, but then I am highly qualified to do so. One thing to keep in mind when you think about home schooling is that not all parents are qualified to do it and it does leave the child open to hidden abuses at home. Too many times children that are home schooled are taught that way because the parents are abusive and don't want their children at school with bruises. But just like abusive teachers are the minority, so are abusive parents.
My own opinion is that as long as you follow a curriculum that follows your state standards and you are held accountable for your child's education, I think it is a better way to go. They need opportunities for socialization and most cities have enough home schoolers to have organized sports and art and music, etc. Yes I'm a teacher, and yes I just said I prefer home schooling,, I used to get a lot of grief for it when I home schooled my son and taught in a public school too.

 

[TennesseeTruly]

I had thought about homeschooling my grandson but he is "challenged" and a "special needs" child and I honestly don't know if I could do it. I raised 6 children, have a college education but I really think he needs what a structured school setting can do for him. Especially since he has OCD.

But we work very closely with the school. My hats off to MOST teachers. The one that wrote Loser on a students paper has nothing but my disdain and I have little patience for my grandson's teacher this year.

Laurie

 

[agnes_day]

Quote:
this is another reason i stopped home schooling..i simply wasnt able to keep up with the older kids educational needs. they were almost at the point that they knew more about math than i did, so i decided that 8th grade *i am HORRIBLE AT MATH* was my limit. That and they really were missing out on meeting other kids. luckily we were able to move and their respective schools are for the most part pretty good. it was just a shame that i had to keep them home just to keep them safe at that time.

 

[tnchickenut]

He uses "loser" to relate to the kids... get on their level? What about "D**chebag" or "F*****" or "Dumb***"?... kids use all those names too. Sounds like a A-hole of a guy to me.

I'm not one of those people who think that all kids should be petted and told that everything they do is great... but to call a child a "loser" is so wrong. ESPECIALLY in the pre-teen years when their horomones got them wanting to die already!!!

He should be fired. Why he hasn't yet, I don't know.

 

[chickaddict]

I'm not one of those people who think that all kids should be petted and told that everything they do is great... but to call a child a "loser" is so wrong. ESPECIALLY in the pre-teen years when their horomones got them wanting to die already!!!




I agree!!!! Being a teenager is hard enough on a good day.

 

[teach1rusl]

He sounds like a very popular teacher with many kids, so I doubt he's an "awful" person and teacher. If he really thought he was doing something wrong, he wouldn't have written the comments down...he would have said them in person. It sounds like part of that class dynamic. But IMO, you can only go so far to relate with kids (and teachers are STRONGLY encouraged to build those relationships and make connections with their students). I know "GAY" is frequently used among kids in this area, and it starts down pretty low...around third grade. But I certainly couldn't see a teacher saying "That's gay!" to something a kid did or said. What he did was quite inappropriate. But I would like to hear his side of WHY he wrote what he did.
People complain of bad teachers all of the time. And I've certainly met my share of burned out teachers. So maybe this guy is a really great teacher who really cares about kids, but made stupid comments that he thought helped reach them even better?? I wouldn't fire a teacher who could reach a LOT of students. Maybe he needs a little prof. development on student sensitivity. I took a classroom discipline class several years ago that talked about that very topic, and I worked hard that following year to temper my way with my kids (because I would joke around pretty sarcastically with them). And let me tell you, I loved those kids and worked my butt off to help them learn and grow, so I would never have said anything to intentionally hurt any of them.

 

[WriterofWords]

You're right teach, we are encouraged to build relationships, I work on that very hard myself. My kids understand that while I'm friendly, I'm not their friend, I'm their teacher. We have nicknames, I have one student I call my "Chihuahuah". She loves it too, it makes her feel special because I don't use a lot of nicknames but she needs that personal touch. She's very tiny, she has a high voice and she complains a lot,, the first week of school I told her "you remind me of my 'huahua Angel,, she whines until she gets what she wants" and it just grew from there. She and the other kids know that it is not making fun of her, it's an affectionate term. I call another girl "stretch" because since I've known her since she was in Kinder and she's grew a lot last summer,, I can do that. I hadn't called her that in awhile and she pointed that out to me, so I try and remember to use her nickname a couple of times a week.
Two years ago I had several obese students in my class and we decided to lose weight together so we formed a club called "Livingston's Losers". A couple of teachers complained about it, but the kids named it so it stayed,, we were losing together, not calling each other losers,, we had several parents who came and walked with us over lunch too.
The context in which it is used makes it offensive or not. If that teacher were really trying to be mean and nasty they wouldn't write it on a paper they know is going home, they would say it with no witnesses who could report them. It's too easy to call a child a liar, I've backed up several against my fellow teachers that I know are cruel and don't belong around kids. Like most stories there is more than one side and we've only heard part of both.

 

[redhen]

I agree...but what bothers me is that he was asked to not do it anymore..and he continued...
thats when i have a problem.

 

[WriterofWords]

I agree, he should have stopped then. Another thing, I never allow my students to call me Miss, or Miss Kate, they call me Ms. Livingston. I know some teachers allow first names and I think it takes away from their authority when they are seen as too friendly.