Students Scared of Lower School Teacher
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Anonymous
| Our child has a specialist teacher (foreign language) at a Virginia independent school. He/she has told us several times that he/she is scared of the teacher because of her loud and unusual classroom management techniques -- stamping her heels very loudly so that it sounds like someone being slapped, saying rude things to the children. Other parents have told me that she has blown whistles at the children in the classroom in the past. Our child has not had any complaints about their other teachers and enjoys and does well in school. But he/she is becoming very nervous about being in this teacher's classroom. Other parents with older siblings have said that this has been a longterm issue at the school, but that any complaints to the administration are glossed over and that the teacher "retaliates" against the complaining parents' child. We are hesitant to bring up the issue directly with the teacher based upon this feedback, but we can't think of an alternative way to handle this that won't make things worse for our child. The administration apparently shares the name of the parents with the teacher, so going to the administration does not seem to be an option either. |
Anonymous
| All the parents who had children with her "in the past" need to group together and complain loudly. They are Alum now. And they don't have to worry about retaliation. The school does. |
Anonymous
| That is a good idea. I will have to check the timeframe of this teacher's tenure. I don't know if she has been there long enough to have had students who have already graduated. Thanks for the suggestion! |
Anonymous
| I'm sorry; that sounds miserable for the kids. I would make sure you reassure your child that all teachers have their own unique teaching style and encourage them to "take the good and leave the bad." That might look like trying to learn what you can from this teacher and letting these unpleasant behaviors wash over them. You mention lower school, so I'm guessing your are talking about 7-10 year olds. No, it's not ideal, but it sounds like this is an mental stressor rather than a physical danger. It is good for our kids to practice handling mental stress because it will come from a lot of places. I am giving you this advice because the chances your child will have this teacher are very high and you will need to help them navigate through it. It's tempting to think you can fix problems your children encounter, but not realistic. For better or worse, helping children work through things like this is part of our job as parents. Good luck to your kiddo. |
Anonymous
| Teach your child to respect his elders and you won’t have a problem. If you’re raising a hoodlum though it’s going to be an issue. |
Anonymous
|
You could name the school here, and send them a printout of this thread.
They might take preemptive action if they think a public shit storm is brewing? |
Anonymous
| How old is your child? Has your child actually had this teacher or are they hearing other kids complain? I am trying to understand the situation. She is LOUD, but has never hit/man-handled anyone, right? Have you talked to a parent who had a child in this classroom? Who is targeted? The entire classroom or the misbehaving child? |
Anonymous
| Thank you for your advice. Our child will have this teacher for several more years. If it were just a matter of toughing it out until the end of the year, I would probably agree that this would seem to be the best response based upon other parents' experiences. But it does seem harder to tell a child to tough it out for several more years. Our child has already asked if this teacher will be at the school again this coming school year. |
Anonymous
| The misbehaving children are targeted, and my child, fortunately, is not one of them. But he/she is nervous about the way the discipline is carried out. |
Anonymous
They’re learning life lessons on how to deal with people they don’t care for. I would let this go. Tell your kid to suck it up rather than play into this victim mentality. |
Anonymous
Nervous? Over a whistle? Your kid needs to toughen up! |
Anonymous
| I have never heard of teachers blowing a whistle at students inside a classroom -- gym teachers perhaps but not regular classroom teachers. |
Anonymous
NP. I wouldn’t want to deal with hearing a whistle in an enclosed space all the time either. Also, wtf is wrong with this lady that she can’t handle her classroom without stomping her feet and blowing a whistle in kids’ faces? |
Anonymous
| Your kid sounds soft. |
Anonymous
| Our child is not the only student who feels this way. |