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Strollerderby
In Britain, many parents advocate harsher punishment in schools
Corporal punishment is not allowed in British classrooms (unlike in the U.S. where some schools still allow teachers to paddle children).
In a recent study, nearly half of British parents thought teachers ought to be allowed to cane or switch children who get too out of line. Seriously, nearly half. Forty-nine percent, to be exact. Perhaps unsurprisingly, only nineteen percent of students thought corporal punishment was a good idea.
It’s not an idea teachers support. Teachers unions want more support for teachers in classrooms, and clearer guidance about discipline, but they don’t want to hit kids.
I don’t know what British schools are like, but it’s hard to imagine a classroom situation that could be improved by empowering the teacher to hit the students. Continue reading »
A caring teacher is priceless.
With the school year wrapping up, many moms are looking for a way to show gratitude to their child’s teacher. My son’s school takes up a collection and the class mom buys a gift from all the collected money. While I do like to participate in that and I think it’s great because it takes the pressure off busy moms who don’t have time to find a personalized gift, I also like to do something extra.
My kids have been extremely fortunate in the teachers they have had. Every time I hear of another teacher in the news for doing something horrific, I just cringe , and then I thank my lucky stars that my kids have such wonderful educators who help mold their minds.
Let’s face it. When you drop your child off at their classroom, you don’t really know what happens when you’re not around. You might get filled in after the fact by your child, but more often than not, leaving your child in the care of another adult is a leap of faith.
Lulu sang it best, “How can you thank someone that’s taken you from crayons to perfume? It isn’t easy but I’ll try.”
Do you remember your first grade teacher? Or do you have a favorite teacher from middle school or high school that you fondly remember? Odds are most of us do. I certainly do. My kids have been lucky enough to have very good teachers so far, with one or two that were terrible, and five or six who were an absolute godsend. Teaching, especially today’s children is not a job, it’s a vocation. This week is Teacher Appreciation Week so it’s time to honor those who take our little ones day in and day out, transform their minds and help them grow and learn each day.
When I was six-years-old, I wrote a “book”. It was about a boy and his dog. I recall writing and drawing the pictures for each page, going back and painstakingly correcting and improving them. Erasing, rewriting, crossing out words, rewriting some more. It took me a long time and it was the first taste I had of the perils of editing your own work. The actual plot I don’t even remember. What I do remember though is when Ms. Fahey, my first-grade teacher made a big fuss over it. She had me read it to my class, and then to the first grade next door. The kids clapped. She praised me. I felt special. It was the first time I felt the pure joy that comes from writing, and I vowed to be a writer. Lo and behold…..I’m still writing thirty years later.
A Chicago teacher is facing a lawsuit after she posted mocking photos of a 7-year-old’s hairstyle on her Facebook page. On school picture day Ukailya Lofton came to school wearing her hair in braids with Jolly Rancher candies tied to the ends, a style she’d seen in a magazine.
The girl’s computer teacher asked the little girl if she could take her picture with a cell phone, and then posted the photos to her Facebook page with mocking commentary.
Add one to the Teacher Hall of Shame. Why do teachers think it’s OK to mock and belittle their students?
How can a child learn when they are worrying about having an accident?
Has your child ever complained of not being allowed to use the bathroom at school? Teachers who say no to children using the bathroom have always been a huge pet peeve of mine. I can’t understand why a teacher would deny a child going to the bathroom; it’s not only a normal body function, dare I say it’s a personal right?
There are so many reasons why children should be allowed to use the bathroom at school when they need to, and the top reason is health. Kids’ bladders are not as mature as adults and it’s common sense that they will need to use the bathroom more often. Furthermore, having a child hold their urine can be damaging. It can cause the child’s bladder to overfill and leak urine which only makes things worse. Once this happens, children often develop urinary tract infections which in turn can lead to an irritable or overactive bladder.
Do blogging teachers hurt their students?
The NYT has a lovely essay up on what happens when teachers blog. What happens, for the most part, is that they let off some steam and open up a window to the world of public school classrooms. Most do so anonymously, under pseudonyms like Miss Brave and NYC Educator.
Teachers blog about the school administration, the city government’s education policies, collegaues they love or loathe. And of course, they blog about their students.
It’s the last part that gets me. Even doing it anonymously, I wonder how it affects students in their classrooms. My concerns aren’t limited to the big ones like exposing children to unwanted publicity on the Internet, or worse, inadvertently putting them in harm’s way.
Most of these blogs are anonymous, and that anonymity protects not only the teachers but their students. More insidious is the worry that a teacher who blogs might become a blogger first and a teacher second. What will class be like if the teacher is always on the lookout for that next great anecdote, crafting blog posts in her head instead of lesson plans?
Melissa Petro
The New York Post reported yesterday on a shocking story about a young woman named Melissa Petro, a 30-year-old art teacher who has kept her sordid past a secret – until recently.
In an essay she published this month on The Huffington Post, Petro revealed that she’d been a prostitute. In her bio, Petro described herself as a “former sex worker, researcher, writer, educator, and feminist.” But if outraged parents have their way, Petro may be forced to add the word former before the word educator, as well. Continue reading »
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