FCPS - avoiding bad 1st grade teacher

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why can't you ask for a specific teacher? It's just an ask, not a demand? What is the harm?

Because everyone would request the same 1-2 teachers per grade and not everyone can have those teachers. Its a fairness thing. How would you decide whose wish was granted?

But it's a request, not a demand. Requests can be met with a yes or no. I would decide based on input from the child's current teacher, the parental request (which should have more than just a teacher name but also a type of class the child does well in), and based on what I know about the teachers available for kids to be placed with.

I mean honestly, what parent doesn't write on those class placement forms things like "A nurturing structured environment" and they don't always meet that for people. Same thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son got the yeller/mean teacher for 1st grade and ended up having an awesome year. He learned a ton that year because she kept the class quiet. My other son, they are twins, got the great/fun teacher and while he had a wonderful year, he barely learned anything, including how to sit still in class.

A yelling teacher not always keep students quiet. The yeller inspires more yellers instead of learners.

True. My child has a mean yelling teacher and none of the students respect her so she spends all her time monitoring behavior and punishing students. Fun classroom.

[Anonymous]

I was told my kid's teacher was a yeller. She wasn't, when he had her. But then I learned the source of the rumor and got to know their kid and yeah, I'd have yelled at that one, too.

I would suggest not talking about calm environment, which seems to be known code for "Don't give us the yeller." Focus on how your kid likes to work -- Larla likes to figure things out for herself, Larla needs clear direction and a plan, Larla prefers group work -- and see if the school knows that pairing her with a teacher who doesn't roll that way won't work out.

No one is going to ask for a yelling teacher. Some parents think their kid is better with a bossy teacher, others with the hands-off, blossom freely type.

[Anonymous]

I taught school. One year I had an impossibly perfect group of kids. Seriously. They were fun, but every one of them was respectful. If they got rowdy--I could quickly calm them down. Not only were they respectful from me--they were respectful of one another.

My dad became ill and I had to go away for a week. The sub was a neighborhood person. They were great for her and she went back and told everyone what a wonderful teacher I was. The next year over half of my class were requests--we had a principal that year who honored requests--and, guess what? It was the year from hell. There were a couple of seriously disturbed kids in the class and it was one of the worst years of my teaching career. The moral: be careful what you wish for.

Sometimes the parents who are so determined to choose the teacher have the worst kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I taught school. One year I had an impossibly perfect group of kids. Seriously. They were fun, but every one of them was respectful. If they got rowdy--I could quickly calm them down. Not only were they respectful from me--they were respectful of one another.

My dad became ill and I had to go away for a week. The sub was a neighborhood person. They were great for her and she went back and told everyone what a wonderful teacher I was. The next year over half of my class were requests--we had a principal that year who honored requests--and, guess what? It was the year from hell. There were a couple of seriously disturbed kids in the class and it was one of the worst years of my teaching career. The moral: be careful what you wish for.

Sometimes the parents who are so determined to choose the teacher have the worst kids.

The worst kids? What does that even mean, teacher?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I taught school. One year I had an impossibly perfect group of kids. Seriously. They were fun, but every one of them was respectful. If they got rowdy--I could quickly calm them down. Not only were they respectful from me--they were respectful of one another.

My dad became ill and I had to go away for a week. The sub was a neighborhood person. They were great for her and she went back and told everyone what a wonderful teacher I was. The next year over half of my class were requests--we had a principal that year who honored requests--and, guess what? It was the year from hell. There were a couple of seriously disturbed kids in the class and it was one of the worst years of my teaching career. The moral: be careful what you wish for.

Sometimes the parents who are so determined to choose the teacher have the worst kids.

The worst kids? What does that even mean, teacher?

I think we all know what she needs.

[Anonymous]

Means, not needs. Autocorrect.

[Anonymous]

When my son started Kindergarten we requested a teacher based on other patents' recommendations and the registrar acted like that was a common request. (He got the teacher). This year when registering my daughter I requested the same teacher and was told they don't like to take requests but since we have an established relationship with the teacher they will consider it. I guess they may have gotten stricter with this sort of thing? I think it is probably easier to request a teacher than request avoiding a teacher.

I wasn't too thrilled with my son's 1st grade teacher's style of teaching for him (he went from all 4s to mostly 2s & 3s in first and is back to all 4s in 2nd). But, I think her style would be perfect for my daughter. So much is dependent on the specific dynamic of the teacher and kids that year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I taught school. One year I had an impossibly perfect group of kids. Seriously. They were fun, but every one of them was respectful. If they got rowdy--I could quickly calm them down. Not only were they respectful from me--they were respectful of one another.

My dad became ill and I had to go away for a week. The sub was a neighborhood person. They were great for her and she went back and told everyone what a wonderful teacher I was. The next year over half of my class were requests--we had a principal that year who honored requests--and, guess what? It was the year from hell. There were a couple of seriously disturbed kids in the class and it was one of the worst years of my teaching career. The moral: be careful what you wish for.

Sometimes the parents who are so determined to choose the teacher have the worst kids.

The worst kids? What does that even mean, teacher?

You know exactly what it means.

#realitycheck
#stopbeingsosensitive

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I taught school. One year I had an impossibly perfect group of kids. Seriously. They were fun, but every one of them was respectful. If they got rowdy--I could quickly calm them down. Not only were they respectful from me--they were respectful of one another.

My dad became ill and I had to go away for a week. The sub was a neighborhood person. They were great for her and she went back and told everyone what a wonderful teacher I was. The next year over half of my class were requests--we had a principal that year who honored requests--and, guess what? It was the year from hell. There were a couple of seriously disturbed kids in the class and it was one of the worst years of my teaching career. The moral: be careful what you wish for.

Sometimes the parents who are so determined to choose the teacher have the worst kids.

The worst kids? What does that even mean, teacher?

You know exactly what it means.

#realitycheck
#stopbeingsosensitive

No, I actually don't. But I'd love for you to elaborate... Oh, you can't?
#growup

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I taught school. One year I had an impossibly perfect group of kids. Seriously. They were fun, but every one of them was respectful. If they got rowdy--I could quickly calm them down. Not only were they respectful from me--they were respectful of one another.

My dad became ill and I had to go away for a week. The sub was a neighborhood person. They were great for her and she went back and told everyone what a wonderful teacher I was. The next year over half of my class were requests--we had a principal that year who honored requests--and, guess what? It was the year from hell. There were a couple of seriously disturbed kids in the class and it was one of the worst years of my teaching career. The moral: be careful what you wish for.

Sometimes the parents who are so determined to choose the teacher have the worst kids.

The worst kids? What does that even mean, teacher?

You know exactly what it means.

#realitycheck
#stopbeingsosensitive

No, I actually don't. But I'd love for you to elaborate... Oh, you can't?
#growup

Disturbing teacher

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I taught school. One year I had an impossibly perfect group of kids. Seriously. They were fun, but every one of them was respectful. If they got rowdy--I could quickly calm them down. Not only were they respectful from me--they were respectful of one another.

My dad became ill and I had to go away for a week. The sub was a neighborhood person. They were great for her and she went back and told everyone what a wonderful teacher I was. The next year over half of my class were requests--we had a principal that year who honored requests--and, guess what? It was the year from hell. There were a couple of seriously disturbed kids in the class and it was one of the worst years of my teaching career. The moral: be careful what you wish for.

Sometimes the parents who are so determined to choose the teacher have the worst kids.

The worst kids? What does that even mean, teacher?

You know exactly what it means.

#realitycheck
#stopbeingsosensitive

No, I actually don't. But I'd love for you to elaborate... Oh, you can't?
#growup

Okay, it means the loud annoying rude ones who don't listen and think the rules don't apply to them because they've never been told NO. That's what it means. That help?

[Anonymous]

Okay, it means the loud annoying rude ones who don't listen and think the rules don't apply to them because they've never been told NO. That's what it means. That help?

I am the poster who was the teacher. I did not respond--but the post quoted hits the nail on the head in many ways. These are the parents who think all the problems are the teacher's fault.

For example: the parent who does not understand that her child is not behaving because the kid is "perfect" at home. Let's get real: no child is "perfect" at home. I am a parent--I know this. Fortunately, over the years, I did not have a lot of parents that said this. It was much more common for parents to come to a conference and wait for the "other shoe" to drop--you know, you tell them that their child is doing well and everything is fine--and then they wait for you to tell them how horrible the kid behaves. I had more of those than the former.

Field trips can be quite enlightening--a parent chaperones and her child turns into a monster when she was normally a sweetheart.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I taught school. One year I had an impossibly perfect group of kids. Seriously. They were fun, but every one of them was respectful. If they got rowdy--I could quickly calm them down. Not only were they respectful from me---they were respectful of one another.

My dad became ill and I had to go away for a week. The sub was a neighborhood person. They were great for her and she went back and told everyone what a wonderful teacher I was. The next year over half of my class were requests--we had a principal that year who honored requests--and, guess what? It was the year from hell. There were a couple of seriously disturbed kids in the class and it was one of the worst years of my teaching career. The moral: be careful what you wish for.

Sometimes the parents who are so determined to choose the teacher have the worst kids.

The worst kids? What does that even mean, teacher?

You know exactly what it means.

#realitycheck
#stopbeingsosensitive

No, I actually don't. But I'd love for you to elaborate... Oh, you can't?
#growup

Okay, it means the loud annoying rude ones who don't listen and think the rules don't apply to them because they've never been told NO. That's what it means. That help?

Yes, it does. And I agree, having a few students like that could make it very hard to manage the classroom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son got the yeller/mean teacher for 1st grade and ended up having an awesome year. He learned a ton that year because she kept the class quiet. My other son, they are twins, got the great/fun teacher and while he had a wonderful year, he barely learned anything, including how to sit still in class.

A yelling teacher not always keep students quiet. The yeller inspires more yellers instead of learners.

True. My child has a mean yelling teacher and none of the students respect her so she spends all her time monitoring behavior and punishing students. Fun classroom.

+1 = My child has a yelling teacher this year. He has turned from a fun-loving, happy kid who loved school into a bitter, grouchy kid with angry outbursts who dislikes school. These yelling teachers should be teaching older kids who they do not have such an influence on... Or better yet, find another career.