Discussion of spring break

[Anonymous]

Is it common for teachers to forbid students from discussing spring break? I don't mind the rule, I was just surprised when my child informed me. Is the rationale here to avoid student jealousy of each other's travels or activities? Or the topic is just a distraction in general? This is a private school, if that's relevant.

[Anonymous]

Maybe it’s for their own sanity?

I wish they would find a way to do that for parents. Where I live just added a direct flight to Belize, and I had to live through a January and February of hearing family after family monologue at pickup, basketball games and birthday parties about their plans to go to Belize for winter break. And then complain about the insufficient birds and monkeys upon their return.

[Anonymous]

No it’s not appropriate at all. Or normal.

[Anonymous]

I’ve taught at lots of different schools and I’ve never heard that from a teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve taught at lots of different schools and I’ve never heard that from a teacher.

+1

[Anonymous]

I've not heard of it being forbidden, but I think a lot of teachers purposely don't ask about spring break plans in a school setting. I know at our elementary school we have a really wide range of HHI and I could see that hearing about a few kids' fabulous vacations when other kids spend spring break home alone while their parents work could create unneeded tension. Of course kids will talk on their own, but I'm happy for teachers not to lead the discussion.

[Anonymous]

The teacher is probably jealous that she will never get to go on a trip like these kids talk about every spring break, winter, summer.

[Anonymous]

How old is your kid?

Sometimes kids report what a teacher says and the kid has taken it completely out of context. Recently I was teaching science and a kid (elementary) randomly mentions Donald Trump. I told him it was off topic (and I’m not allowed to talk politics with my students anyway) and couldn’t talk about it now. Some kids will do ANYTHING to try and derail the teacher from the actual lesson.

But what if that kid went home and said “I’m not allowed to talk about Donald Trump” and the parents were supporters. Then they assume that the teacher refuses to talk about DT but happily talks about Harris or Biden, when that’s not the case at all.

Don’t make giant assumptions, kids are not reliable reporters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How old is your kid?

Sometimes kids report what a teacher says and the kid has taken it completely out of context. Recently I was teaching science and a kid (elementary) randomly mentions Donald Trump. I told him it was off topic (and I’m not allowed to talk politics with my students anyway) and couldn’t talk about it now. Some kids will do ANYTHING to try and derail the teacher from the actual lesson.

But what if that kid went home and said “I’m not allowed to talk about Donald Trump” and the parents were supporters. Then they assume that the teacher refuses to talk about DT but happily talks about Harris or Biden, when that’s not the case at all.

Don’t make giant assumptions, kids are not reliable reporters.

This was my thought too -- that the teacher said "this is math class, it's not time to discuss our spring break plans" or something like that. 😂

[Anonymous]

I’ve heard something like not every child in the class could go on vacation, so teachers didn’t talk about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve heard something like not every child in the class could go on vacation, so teachers didn’t talk about it.

+1, ES teacher here, this is true with gift’s received over the holidays as well.