Why is it so hard to talk to my teacher? *New plan*

[bantiesrule]

Forgot the

, and keep us posted.

 

[babylady4]

It sounds like maybe this is her first baby and she is excited about it. I can see both the pros and cons of making such statements to the class (but then again my 2nd graders teacher is expecting this year as well and she announced it right away). You are Freshmen so some of this stuff on babies I would think you would already know.

And who says you can't have teachers as friends? They can be great friends to kids who need them!

 

[Quillgirl]

I have heard nothing weird in the story. This is a very friendly, and probably a young teacher who identifies with her students a little bit and wants to reach out to them. She's excited about her pregnancy and her students are the people she spends the most time with everyday, so she shares some of her experiences with them. It's not a bad thing, IMO. No lines are crossed, just chit-chat new mommy stuff. She will set the boundaries of when info becomes too personal and inappropriate.

And it's really normal for her students to be interested in what is going on with her. It makes everyone more "human" doesn't it? Teachers have lives outside of the school, and that means life events happen. I always thought it was really interesting when my teachers talked about their "other life" with boyfriends/weddings/babies etc. It made me think about them differently, and more compassionately, and as people rather than just teachers.

 

[kargo]

THanks for the hugs and the *mostly* nice comments. I'm not sure there's any chance of me having some alone time with her. We have been alone twice this year, (mostly due to my running errands for teachers) and I kind of get even MORE nervous when it's just us. I am planning on taking my mom by her room after school some time and just letting them meet each other, though. I thought that might be kind of cool since my mom didn't do any conferences with the teachers when some of the other parents did. I think maybe if they do conferences again, I'll ask my mom to go just so she can meet some of my teachers.
Maybe I should have clarified this a little more-this is not a middle-of-class dicussion. We are a private school. We have Chapel every Friday, and we seperate into little groups (my chaperone happens to be Mrs. W) of maybe about 7. We do little community activities, then, when we have finished the required assignments, we are allowed to talk. This is usually when this conversation comes up. Thursday, we had the discussion because a group of the Freshmen girls had taken the ACT Plan and Mrs. W was the supervisor for us. We finished the last test 20 minutes before scheduled, so she let us quietly talk. (And then we got into the whole conversation.) I think maybe she might have noticed me get nervous on Friday. I can't think of another good reason why she singled me out to run an errand for her.

 

[Carolina_Chick]

I am a middle grades teacher. I see nothing wrong with the teacher making comments about being pregnant. I also don't understand why she shouldn't be teaching while she is pregnant. This is 2009 not 1970 when teachers had to stop teaching.

I agree with whoever stated "Go to the library.....". There is nothing wrong with being curious about what is going on with your teacher. Also I bet, the teacher already knows that you are shy and that you are eager to please her. If you have any questions about her being pregnant, I bet you could ask her when nobody else is around and she would not be offended by it at all.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
It would be against the law to use her pregnancy as a reason to retain someone else instead of her. Pregnancy cannot be used as a reason to not hire or to fire or to lay someone off--you would have the EEOC filing a discrimination lawsuit in no time!

As to whether it is appropriate to mention the pregnancy to her students; I see no harm; they will know sooner or later, I imagine she is excited as are most mothers-to-be.

 

[kargo]

At first, I thought maybe they shouldn't have hired her, anyway. That was because I was a little upset that we'd have to get used to another new teacher. (We already lost one this year for unknown reasons.) Then I realised that she'd work as long as she could, and she was trying her very best for us. So why not?

We were told in elementary school that one of our teachers was pregnant. We were probably in 3rd or 4th grade. I don't think we were curious at all, though. I certainly don't rmemeber questions like these, at any rate. It's much more appropriate for Freshmen that elementary kids, in my opinion. (Not that you have to agree,) If I were a teacher who was expecting, and I had elementary and high school classes, I'd much rather talk to a class of high schoolers than elementary kids about it.

"Also I bet, the teacher already knows that you are shy and that you are eager to please her."
Most likely. I have always been shy. If she hasn't already figured it out, she will by February, I'm certain. As for being eager to please, I would hope she knows. I'll do absolutely anything. I'd love to be of help if I can.

 

[Boyd]

I would go with your plan and speak with your mother, and introduce the two. that would allow your mom to take the lead and give you an easy intro into the talk. sounds like you havn't had a lot of that in health yet, and personally, being a young woman, you will be curious about it.

 

[kargo]

Quote:
Actually, I thought about it, and that might just be a good way to get the converation started. Although, I'm pretty sure, if my mom starts it, (probbaly even if Mrs. W does) I'll either A.Run off or B. Freeze up. We did do a chapter in Health about Eleven Systems: One Body, but the part on the reproductive system was so general I probably could have told you everything that was in it before I even read it. So, yeah, we haven't had much of this in Health so far this year.

 

[wombat]

Last year my daughter's teacher became pregnant. The school sent a note home indicating that it would be discussed in class, in an age-appropraite manner ahead of time. My kid's six. I would hope if six year olds can handle this, high school kids a few steps from adulthood (we hope) should be able to.

As for being curious, that's normal, especially if you've somehow grown up without being exposed to this before. My six year old had questions about what it would be like when it was "her turn." Luckily, she expects that you have to be at least thirty to have children ...