Any teachers? Is this annoying?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Middle school teacher here. I don't have time for that in a 45 minute class. There's just not.

I have my students sit down right away and start work. I do not let them come up to me in the beginning because they want to tell me a million things and ask questions. I have reminders posted on the board, and go over a few things verbally, which usually addresses most questions.

It may seem harsh but it is overwhelming when many students have different wants / needs / questions / concerns and your time is very limited. I understand where she is coming from. If they're not Learning about rocks right now; it just doesn't make sense. It brings the kids on a big tangent which is very hard to bring them back from and have them re focus.

Also, I don't want other students to think any day and be show and tell. Not when my class periods are 45 minutes long.

This is Kindergarten. Not middle school that OP is talking about.

And aren't most counties block scheduling these days to eliminate the jammed packed 45 min periods?

But with block scheduling you have to jam twice as much into a class that somehow doesn't seem to end up being twice as long. It's a solution to some problems, and I prefer it, but it certainly doesn't eliminate the idea of having to jam pack stuff into a period.

OP, I'm a HS teacher but have taught K, and so much of it depends on how it comes up. There are days when I could find time for a kid to share, and days that were really tight. (e.g. we have 20 minutes for morning meeting, but today we lost 5 because a kid came in crying, and another kid threw up, but we have specials after morning meeting so we can't stretch). It also depends on when your daughter remembered to ask, and how she asked. Was it before morning meeting? During morning meeting? During math class? Did she say "Can I show my fossil?" or "Can I show my rock?" Also, sometimes as a Kindergarten teacher you have to work really hard on "leave things you find outside, outside", so she might have been focused on that.

I would never be annoyed by a kid asking to share a rock, but I can imagine telling the kid to wait and share it outside.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can't always trust a K's report of what exactly happened. Maybe the teacher wasn't annoyed at all, but the kid was annoyed she couldn't show it off the way she wanted. I wouldn't over think it.

OMGosh. THIS! I used to tell my parents "I promise not to believe everything your kids tell me about you if you promise not to believe everything they tell you about me." Kindergartens are not generally great at reporting accurately.

[Anonymous]

And aren't most counties block scheduling these days to eliminate the jammed packed 45 min periods?

No. Most are not.

[Anonymous]

As a HS teacher I love when students find real world examples that connect what we are doing nothing in the classroom and being them to share. As a mom, I don't let my children bring things in their backpacks. They are young and I don't want it to be distracting for them and the class. Occasionally when they have really wanted to share something we have arranged a convenient day and time with the teacher in advance. 6 yo DD would be bringing in things every day if I let her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here. It's not just a rock, it's a fossil. It's cool but also educational. Shall we just extinguish any and all curiosity and desire to share something educational at school by kindergarten? Apparently, schools aren't for learning anymore, according to you people. They are just for turning children into mindless automatons.

Be a little more dramatic

A) There is pretty much no way it was actually a fossil

That's why it was such a teachable moment that was missed. It is rare to find a fossil and the teacher didn't care or didn't recognize it was a fossil. If the OP says it was a fossil, I believe her. The moral of the story is, if you find something cool, don't bring it to school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not a teacher, but as a mom of two, I see the problem. If one kid brings something, all will want to. Maybe you think the rock is cool, but my son collects sticks on our walks and would want to bring in a stick because he thinks it's cool. Multiply that by the number of kids in the class. I think the recess idea was a good one. She can still show it to anyone who is interested. Why does the teacher need to be involved with your daughters showing her rock?

This. I can't believe this wasn't said sooner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not a teacher but one thing I've noticed this year with my 1st grade dd is how strictly timed everything is. Like even the 8 seconds that each of them have to take a drink out of the water fountain or the timing of excess cleanup time that then gets subtracted from recess. (!!!)

So the first thing that popped into my head was that the teacher might not have/make time for "extras" which is a huge shame.

This was my exact thought when she told me today. Kindergarten isn't what it used to be. Sadly, I probably won't encourage her to send things in again. Sad.

Honey. It's a rock. Buck up.

I like you.

[Anonymous]

Teachers are busy. It was a dumb rock, not a fossil.

[Anonymous]

My DD is that kind of kid.... I encourage her to take things to show her TEACHER but not the whole class... and the teacher indulged it very nicely. And then if/when there is a show/tell opportunity or if the teacher also thinks something can be built into a group experience, sometimes there is an opportunity to share with the class. (I think it's a nuance of understanding the dynamics of the classroom of giving the teacher the latitude about managing classroom time and dealing with a lot of kids' interests and desires).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is a slippery slope with letting one kid show off something they think is cool. Then every kid is going to want to. Or the questions start, and the teacher loses a solid half an hour that was already designated for a specific lesson. Sorry OP. It's a rock. Life goes on.

Plus 1 million. This in a nutshell!

-----Teacher

Yep.

Show & Tell are bygone days. I'm not even sure that "show & tell" is politically correct either.

So much for encouraging confidence, promoting speaking in a group setting, pride in ownership, and all the other positives from the 30 seconds of showing off something special to you as an impressionable kindergartner.

What do you mean by "politically correct"? Who is offended by the concept of show and tell?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is a slippery slope with letting one kid show off something they think is cool. Then every kid is going to want to. Or the questions start, and the teacher loses a solid half an hour that was already designated for a specific lesson. Sorry OP. It's a rock. Life goes on.

Plus 1 million. This in a nutshell!

-----Teacher

Yep.

Show & Tell are bygone days. I'm not even sure that "show & tell" is politically correct either.

So much for encouraging confidence, promoting speaking in a group setting, pride in ownership, and all the other positives from the 30 seconds of showing off something special to you as an impressionable kindergartner.

What do you mean by "politically correct"? Who is offended by the concept of show and tell?

Nobody. It's just PP's way of diminishing the rights of others who are legitimately marginalized by "non-PC" things. By suggesting somebody, somewhere is offended by something that is pretty much not offensive, it becomes easier to brush off those who complain about truly offensive things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is a slippery slope with letting one kid show off something they think is cool. Then every kid is going to want to. Or the questions start, and the teacher loses a solid half an hour that was already designated for a specific lesson. Sorry OP. It's a rock. Life goes on.

Plus 1 million. This in a nutshell!

-----Teacher

Yep.

Show & Tell are bygone days. I'm not even sure that "show & tell" is politically correct either.

So much for encouraging confidence, promoting speaking in a group setting, pride in ownership, and all the other positives from the 30 seconds of showing off something special to you as an impressionable kindergartner.

What do you mean by "politically correct"? Who is offended by the concept of show and tell?

Nobody. It's just PP's way of diminishing the rights of others who are legitimately marginalized by "non-PC" things. By suggesting somebody, somewhere is offended by something that is pretty much not offensive, it becomes easier to brush off those who complain about truly offensive things.

At our school, it is called "Share" and it happens during "Morning Meeting," and the kids know the time and place for it. Morning meeting is a time when every child in every grade is encouraged to speak in front of the class, every day. Also, at our school, OPs daughter would have been invited to add her fossil to the rock collection in the science area where everyone could explore it at the appropriate time (science rotations, independent study time, "choice" time, indoor recess on a bad weather day).

[Anonymous]

Kids want to show all kinds of cr@p.
I think the teacher did the right thing and suggested she talk about it at recess.

Seriously, what kind of learning did you expect to take place.

Lara: "I found this rock at the park...."

All raise hands.....
Larry: "I have one like that."
Moe: "I went to the park yesterday."
Curly: "I see a bug on it."
Susie: "You can't take rocks from the park! I'm gonna tell!!!"
Gail: "Why won't you let me touch it? You let Amber touch it!"


THen it's whining for another 10 minutes and the class has fallen a part making the next hour more than challenging.

I side with the teacher.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't mind if she brought in the rock to show to me, but if she wanted to show it to the class I'd be put on the spot too much. I just don't have room in my schedule to improvise, and I'm not great at being put on the spot and having to come up with a suggestion that won't hurt the child's feelings but also won't force me to reorganize something quickly in my head to figure out at what point there would be an opportunity to do something like that, which is just nearly impossible last minute. So I might have made the recess suggestion too. No, please don't send stuff in to share with the class unless that is on the schedule. Share with me, no problem, but don't ask me to schedule a special lesson last minute. You can't imagine the logistics of that in kindergarten.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is a slippery slope with letting one kid show off something they think is cool. Then every kid is going to want to. Or the questions start, and the teacher loses a solid half an hour that was already designated for a specific lesson. Sorry OP. It's a rock. Life goes on.

Plus 1 million. This in a nutshell!

-----Teacher

Yep.

Show & Tell are bygone days. I'm not even sure that "show & tell" is politically correct either.

So much for encouraging confidence, promoting speaking in a group setting, pride in ownership, and all the other positives from the 30 seconds of showing off something special to you as an impressionable kindergartner.

What do you mean by "politically correct"? Who is offended by the concept of show and tell?

Nobody. It's just PP's way of diminishing the rights of others who are legitimately marginalized by "non-PC" things. By suggesting somebody, somewhere is offended by something that is pretty much not offensive, it becomes easier to brush off those who complain about truly offensive things.

At our school, it is called "Share" and it happens during "Morning Meeting," and the kids know the time and place for it. Morning meeting is a time when every child in every grade is encouraged to speak in front of the class, every day. Also, at our school, OPs daughter would have been invited to add her fossil to the rock collection in the science area where everyone could explore it at the appropriate time (science rotations, independent study time, "choice" time, indoor recess on a bad weather day).

"Sharing" in a Responsive Classsroom is usually limited to one or two children a day, and days are assigned in advance, just like Show and Tell usually was in the past. The speaking outloud in Morning Meeting is quicker, usually something like saying your name in a silly voice.