FCPS 3rd grade teacher discipline

[Anonymous]

Sure can still stick them in the corner where she can see them, she just can’t make them raise their arms. Your kids will survive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just to clarify for people who are saying that this is good punishment for bad behaviors.. The reasons these kids had to go to the corner and raise arm for 5 mins or even 30 seconds were talking among friends while the teacher was talking or getting out of their seat. It wasn’t just a handful of kids getting it multiple times; it was majority of the kids in the whole class, every day of the first week. You make it sound like this 3rd grade AAP class is a scene out of Dangerous Minds movie. I don’t know how you (the ones who are mocking my concern as a parent saying “boohoo” or “they should be paddled” and such) are raising your children, but this is absolutely illegal in VA per 22VAC40-141-150. Which quotes “there shall be no physical punishment… forcing a child to assume an uncomfortable position like keeping arms raised above or horizontal to the body”. It’s unbelievable how you’re saying I’m a high-maintenance or gentle parent to make excuses for this teacher and this absurd punishment of shaming 8 year olds in front of the whole class. It IS both physical and psychological abuse. But if you still think this is acceptable, maybe next time you make a mistake at work, you should be told to stand in a corner and raise your arm for 30 mins in front of the whole company.

FYI, other parents must’ve reported her because she apparently told the whole class this morning that she won’t be doing the “arm raising thing” anymore. Relieved that this was resolved right away but shocked and disappointed at some of the responses. I appreciate the comments with constructive advice and support.

I'm not saying the teacher's method of discipline was necessarily the right one....but why are the kids talking to their friends when the teacher is talking or getting out of their seats when they're not supposed to? I see this stuff all the time and just don't understand why we've decided not to teach our kids not to do these things. it's rude and disrespectful.

Dng ding ding
5 mothers have already complained to the principal about a teacher (older lady) being "abusive" when disciplining their (popular, athletic) boys.
If I found out my kid was being punished I'd be ashamed and resolve to fix the behavior, not run to admin to try to get her fired. I wonder if they just can't deal that their boys who are normally #1 in everything aren't the angels they thought.
Try trusting teachers, especially older ones who have been doing this a LONG time, over your kids who aren't always reliable narrators.

[Anonymous]

I grew up with corporal punishment in Texas and it was not fun at all. We got paddled, smacked and humiliated daily. I was sent in the hallway for most of Kindergarten for the tiniest infraction. By middle school I wanted to drop out. So, I am very against harsh punishment but this is not harsh. It is demeaning and takes away from instructional time though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m concerned that the teacher needs to use so much discipline in the first week— can she not use better methods to control her class?

I’m a pediatrician, and that principal would be having an in person meeting with me the first time I heard about this.

I am an FCPS principal, and I would gladly welcome you to have that meeting with me so that I could resolve this quickly. If what OP described is actually happening, I would respond immediately. I cannot think of any of my colleagues that would be okay with that discipline response.

[Anonymous]

Kids should be ashamed of behaving badly in school because behaving badly in school is shameful behavior that harms their education and the education of everyone else they're distracting. If they are ashamed of being told to go stand in the corner, they should stop doing the things that get students sent to the corner.

I'm not going to bother commenting on the arm raising since op came back and said the teacher has stopped doing that (although personally I'm fine with physically challenging & mildly uncomfortable things as part of punishment).

But I think it is very strange that on this thread parents seem to be acting like talking in class when the teacher is teaching, being out of an assigned seat during class, and generally disrupting the classroom are basically no big deal. If we want classrooms where our kids can learn effectively, we need ways to hold kids accountable to some behavior standards. People on this thread are saying no to: clip charts, class dojo, standing in the corner at all, losing recess, or anything that "shames" a kid. What is left that's acceptable, and does it work at least as well as the list of things that used to be tried but are now not done?

[Anonymous]

The arm raising thing is weird. Standing in a corner is pretty old-school but doesn't seem beyond the pale to me. Then again I had teachers even in the 1990s who adhered to the old rule of writing "I am sorry for my behavior" 100 times on the board after class.

What surprises me most actually is that she did it so many times. I would have thought once or at most twice would have been effective for most kids.

In any event, the rules are the rules and if it's against the rules, she obviously shouldn't do it.

[Anonymous]

Those of you defending this- how would you feel if your boss made you stand in a corner and raise your arm when you did something wrong? Why do we think it's ok to punish kids physically but not adults? What message does that send to them?