Anonymous wrote:You guys are right. I think I let my emotions get to me when he was so upset about not being to ask for help. He is a rule follower, so he tends to take these kinds of rules to heart. For example a friend was touching his bottom during carpet time and he didn’t want to tell the teacher for fear of being a “tattle tongue.”

-OP

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher, this is nearly always because kids were not listening while I give very specific instructions multiple times. From the child’s perspective, he was playing, having fun, talking to friends, and then all of a sudden magically he was asked to do something and didn’t know how. So of course he will come home to complain. Give him the tools to succeed by helping him pay attention when instruction is being given.

Or maybe he can’t remember the directions? Verbal directions are tough to remember. I need it in writing.

It took me until I hit law school to figure out that I’m a visual learner. Anything auditory and I just cannot retain it. It’s a different learning style and the teacher should be aware of this. I had a really hard time in school following directions and remember feeling shamed by my teachers...to this day.

Same with me. I need it written down or I forget. Too many teachers these days rely on verbal directions only. Half their worksheets have no directions on top. It’s really bad.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher, this is nearly always because kids were not listening while I give very specific instructions multiple times. From the child’s perspective, he was playing, having fun, talking to friends, and then all of a sudden magically he was asked to do something and didn’t know how. So of course he will come home to complain. Give him the tools to succeed by helping him pay attention when instruction is being given.

Or maybe he can’t remember the directions? Verbal directions are tough to remember. I need it in writing.

It took me until I hit law school to figure out that I’m a visual learner. Anything auditory and I just cannot retain it. It’s a different learning style and the teacher should be aware of this. I had a really hard time in school following directions and remember feeling shamed by my teachers...to this day.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m curious what posters think should happen instead? So the teachers goes over directions and asks if students have questions about the assignment. Should she allow students to interrupt her small group whenever they want? If you could seen what that looks like, I bet you would think differently.

The child should raise hand, ask the question and the teacher should answer it. I don’t understand the difficulty or how this presents a burden? I have volunteered in my kids’ classes and the teachers do just that.

The situation is, the teacher is sitting at a side table working with a small group of 5 or so. The rest of the students are working independently at desks. If the teacher is focusing on the hands raised at the desks she cannot work with the small group at the side table at the same time.

This just seems like another example of people assuming they know how teaching works, because they were once in school and have been in classrooms now and then.

Ok, first not all schools do this. I know public schools have adapted this style in recent years, but thread illustrates why it isn’t a successful model. Not only is it NOT successful, it’s a disaster. I have A LOT of sympathy for public school teachers. I know you guys are doing the best you can with a crappy model.

I’ve never heard or worked in an elementary school that doesn’t have any small group time in grades K-2. I even had small group time in ES back in the 80s. Our groups were named after birds in first grade- blue birds, cardinals, orioles, eagles.

I agree most schools have small group time, but it's not most of the day. My kids have been in both public & private elementary and I find they do things very different. The private system seemed more effective and the teachers were less stressed. Lessons are taught to the entire class. For example, a grammar lesson on nouns v. verbs. Or, a lesson on parts of a story or writing paragraphs. Kids might raise hand to ask a question, and the teacher may ask the student to hold on to the question until she's done OR she may answer it on the spot. No one is saying, ask 3 before me. Children sit at their desks and work on a writing assignment. Teachers walks around and helps the children as needed. Kids always ask "how do you spell xyz??" Teacher asks students to look it up in their books, or the kids try to sound it out and the teacher corrects the spelling later.

For group work (which is just a small portion of day) -- students are assigned to reading groups based on ability. Strong readers are grouped together, struggling readers are grouped together. The ASSISTANT TEACHER (a huge advantage, i know) works with struggling readers on phonics while main teacher works with other children. Or, the assistant works with strong readers, while main teachers works with everyone else. I like this model because students get what they need.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC (also in 1st grade) teacher will tell them she's busy and not help them. It's really awful, because it has made DC not ask her anything when help is needed because of being turned away so many times. I supplement a lot at home now, and got DC a tutor, but DC still has a crappy 1st grade teacher, unfortunately.

It’s not the teacher. It’s the class sizes and differentiation for wildly different levels of students we have to do at all times in the classroom. We are not superheroes, we can only do so much. Talk to your school board and vote for more funding so we can have smaller class sizes!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m curious what posters think should happen instead? So the teachers goes over directions and asks if students have questions about the assignment. Should she allow students to interrupt her small group whenever they want? If you could seen what that looks like, I bet you would think differently.

The child should raise hand, ask the question and the teacher should answer it. I don’t understand the difficulty or how this presents a burden? I have volunteered in my kids’ classes and the teachers do just that.

The situation is, the teacher is sitting at a side table working with a small group of 5 or so. The rest of the students are working independently at desks. If the teacher is focusing on the hands raised at the desks she cannot work with the small group at the side table at the same time.

This just seems like another example of people assuming they know how teaching works, because they were once in school and have been in classrooms now and then.

Ok, first not all schools do this. I know public schools have adapted this style in recent years, but thread illustrates why it isn’t a successful model. Not only is it NOT successful, it’s a disaster. I have A LOT of sympathy for public school teachers. I know you guys are doing the best you can with a crappy model.

I’ve never heard or worked in an elementary school that doesn’t have any small group time in grades K-2. I even had small group time in ES back in the 80s. Our groups were named after birds in first grade- blue birds, cardinals, orioles, eagles.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m curious what posters think should happen instead? So the teachers goes over directions and asks if students have questions about the assignment. Should she allow students to interrupt her small group whenever they want? If you could seen what that looks like, I bet you would think differently.

The child should raise hand, ask the question and the teacher should answer it. I don’t understand the difficulty or how this presents a burden? I have volunteered in my kids’ classes and the teachers do just that.

The situation is, the teacher is sitting at a side table working with a small group of 5 or so. The rest of the students are working independently at desks. If the teacher is focusing on the hands raised at the desks she cannot work with the small group at the side table at the same time.

This just seems like another example of people assuming they know how teaching works, because they were once in school and have been in classrooms now and then.

Ok, first not all schools do this. I know public schools have adapted this style in recent years, but thread illustrates why it isn’t a successful model. Not only is it NOT successful, it’s a disaster. I have A LOT of sympathy for public school teachers. I know you guys are doing the best you can with a crappy model.

Anonymous wrote:It’s not 10 kids asking the same question. It’s one kid asking that question, another asking to use the bathroom, another letting you know his pencil broke (even though he’s got 3 more sharpened pencils in his desk), another asking for another copy of the paper bc he made a small tear while erasing, another telling you his neighbor spilled their water bottle on his desk, another now needs a drink....get the idea! You have no f’ing clue how important it is that your child learns to be independent and no idea how little it matters if this sheet was done incorrectly. 50% of the parents at my recent parent teacher conferences asked for more differentiation for their child. It is simply not possible without uninterrupted small group time. I recently returned to teaching after a ten year hiatus to raise my own kids. The expectations on teachers have changed dramatically. Please trust your child’s teacher until she gives you a reason not to do so.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:99.99% of the time the kids get the info from other classmates.

This is also true at work. 99% of the time, get the info from co-workers.

Anonymous wrote:99.99% of the time the kids get the info from other classmates.