Sons P1 school teacher

bigmaz

Hi

My son is in P1, and really upset about his teacher. Its really getting beyond a joke. We went to parents evening a few months ago, and thought it weird that she did not have a positive thing to say, we thought our son was doing pretty bad, which is weird, cos he is a really good boy. Now, apparently a lot of the parents are saying the same thing, and also speaking to parents of kids that used to have her saying the same thing. Tonight he was getting upset saying he was put in a "thinking spot", making him look bad in front of the class, its not a personal attack. I do not know what better he can do. He is one of the brightest in the class, as he is further on with his reading, writing and maths than some of the others.

Seeing this is the way she does her thing, I feel something needs to be done. I would not like to put someones career into question normally, but feel we cannot go without doing something. Just wondered if others have had a similar experience, and what they done about it. The head teacher backs her up, we have tried talking to her about it.

I dont mind a strict teacher, in fact I promote that, but not at P1, my son should be enjoying his school. The other teachers are getting great feedback, its just this teacher.

Sorry for the long post :P

valk_scot

You could always ask to have a word directly with her and express concerns about how unhappy your son is atm, rather than relying on school gate gossip? I remember there being a positive witch hunt against DS's P2 teacher from half a dozen of the mums, she was a strict teacher andd the mums in question didn't like it and were trying to stir things up. I had been in the class with her for a week when my DS needed support healthwise, I thought she was great but had a bit of an uphill push to keep some of the wilder kids to behave, thus she was strict with everyone. So I defended her a great deal and since I was the only mum to have seen things with my own eyes, I was listened to. By the end of the year her entire class adored her btw, they were in tears when they moved to a different teacher.

I'm not saying that this is the case with your son's teacher btw but I'd be very wary of giving too much credence to a lot of school gate gossip. I think you should start with talking directly to her, it's only fair after all. There might be a perfectly reasonable answer for all of this.

bigmaz

valk_scot wrote: »

You could always ask to have a word directly with her and express concerns about how unhappy your son is atm, rather than relying on school gate gossip? I remember there being a positive witch hunt against DS's P2 teacher from half a dozen of the mums, she was a strict teacher andd the mums in question didn't like it and were trying to stir things up. I had been in the class with her for a week when my DS needed support healthwise, I thought she was great but had a bit of an uphill push to keep some of the wilder kids to behave, thus she was strict with everyone. So I defended her a great deal and since I was the only mum to have seen things with my own eyes, I was listened to. By the end of the year her entire class adored her btw, they were in tears when they moved to a different teacher.

I'm not saying that this is the case with your son's teacher btw but I'd be very wary of giving too much credence to a lot of school gate gossip. I think you should start with talking directly to her, it's only fair after all. There might be a perfectly reasonable answer for all of this.

Thanks for the reply Valk I agree about giving her the benefit of the doubt. Although to be honest, we hadnt heard anything said about the teacher until we started asking around. Doesnt seem to be a witch hunt or anything. Good idea about approaching her first, the wife is hopefully going to chat to her 2moro. There has been other things happened also that I have not typed on here as it would just be too much to read, lol

Northern_Princess

bigmaz wrote: »

Hi

My son is in P1, and really upset about his teacher. Its really getting beyond a joke. We went to parents evening a few months ago, and thought it weird that she did not have a positive thing to say, we thought our son was doing pretty bad, which is weird, cos he is a really good boy. Now, apparently a lot of the parents are saying the same thing, and also speaking to parents of kids that used to have her saying the same thing. Tonight he was getting upset saying he was put in a "thinking spot", making him look bad in front of the class, its not a personal attack. I do not know what better he can do. He is one of the brightest in the class, as he is further on with his reading, writing and maths than some of the others.

Seeing this is the way she does her thing, I feel something needs to be done. I would not like to put someones career into question normally, but feel we cannot go without doing something. Just wondered if others have had a similar experience, and what they done about it. The head teacher backs her up, we have tried talking to her about it.

I dont mind a strict teacher, in fact I promote that, but not at P1, my son should be enjoying his school. The other teachers are getting great feedback, its just this teacher.

Sorry for the long post :P

Can I ask is your son upset about his teacher or are you upset at his teacher perhaps disciplining him by putting him on the 'thinking spot'? I can't understand why a child would be put in time out if they had done nothing wrong. How did this make him look bad in front of the class?

Children can be very different in a classroom setting to what they are like at home. You say the teacher had nothing positive to say about your son yet go on to say he is one of the brightest in the class. Did his teacher tell you this?

Can I also ask why does something need to be done? Has there been ongoing issues within the class with your son? Personally I wouldn't be listening to heresay from other parents as you don't know what is fact and what they may have embellished. You also say the Head Teacher "backs up" your sons teacher. Can I ask in what way?

lika_86

Have you considered that your child might be bright and doing well academically but might also be disruptive/challenging in the classroom (possibly the latter could be linked to the former)?

meritaten

I would like you to post the 'other issues' - I feel rather confused at the moment. this may clarify why you feel this way. There really isn't enough information in your post for me to feel I could comment.

bigmaz

Its hard to put it over in words, whatever I say will just make it sound like I am one of these parents that do not like teachers getting my kids into trouble etc. I am the total opposite of that I can assure you My son is not dissruptive, thats from other teachers we have chatted to. Thanks for the replies anyway guys

balletshoes

So is the main problem that this teacher is strict? Sometimes that works well you know, even in P1. The most strict teacher I had in all my schooling was my P1 teacher - she insisted on almost silence in lessons, if you needed her attention you had to put your hand up or if it was in craft lessons you could go to her at her desk, but if there was already a child there you had to wait your turn etc etc.

It really didn't do any of us in her many classes through the years any harm. Maybe the children don't "like" this teacher as much as the others because she's strict and they want to have fun? P1 is the start of real school, so yes, theres a time for fun, but theres also a time for paying attention and learning in a conducive atmosphere for it.

I'm also not really getting, from your posts OP, what exactly the problem is. If you have specific issues, best thing is to arrange a meeting with the teacher and talk to her about the specifics.

meritaten

bigmaz - I AM trying to be helpful! I just don't really get the issues here - I know there must be more to it - but what you posted in original post isn't enough. if you really don't want to give more information then fair enough, but from what you posted so far I would say there is a communication problem - unless you have tried and failed already.
if you don't want to post stuff in forum then PM me.

Northern_Princess

bigmaz wrote: »

Its hard to put it over in words, whatever I say will just make it sound like I am one of these parents that do not like teachers getting my kids into trouble etc. I am the total opposite of that I can assure you My son is not dissruptive, thats from other teachers we have chatted to. Thanks for the replies anyway guys

I hope you mange to get it resolved. There's nothing worse than being worried about your children.

bigmaz

meritaten wrote: »

bigmaz - I AM trying to be helpful! I just don't really get the issues here - I know there must be more to it - but what you posted in original post isn't enough. if you really don't want to give more information then fair enough, but from what you posted so far I would say there is a communication problem - unless you have tried and failed already.
if you don't want to post stuff in forum then PM me.

Hey, thanks for the offer, thats really kind might take you up on the offer.