Not on my shoulder

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Home : 2004 : May : 19

Not on my shoulder
By Cathy-Dee

"I would hate to see Coach censure his remarks. He is like the little guy on your shoulder who is always saying in your head what you wish you could say. He keeps things real here, and if you really have never said any little
thing derogatory about one of your students to other colleagues, even without using their name, you would be in the minority."
In regards to the above quote - I am glad I am in that minority. Now having said that - are there children and parents who drive me absolutely crazy - definitely. There have even been times when I wished a family would move away and even silently cheered

when a family did move away. However there is a huge difference between venting and being frustrated with a student or a circumstance and saying something derogatory about that student. I don't know about where everyone else teaches - but where I teach we do have a professional code of conduct that applies to what we say and do every day. If I was caught saying something overly derogatory as some of what was said in some of the posts earlier on this thread I would have been reprimanded and perhaps even disciplined myself.

And again these are children we are talking about regardless of how difficult they may be to deal with. Are parents sometimes the problem, definitely yes. However rather than blame the parents, or blame the teachers, let's put the blame where it belongs in the hands of our governments who continue to underfund education and leave us with classrooms of children who need much more help than we can possibly give them.

And until you know all the background of a child you do not know why they are acting as they do.

One of my worst behaviour students was molested as a toddler by one of his parents - can you imagine what that would do to a child. Then once he was removed from that situation, the solution was to bounce him around foster care for a few years until a more stable situation arose.

Another behaviour student has fetal alcholol syndrome - again nothing the student did to warrant the things that goes on with his thinking and actions.

And these are students who should be specialized programs with experts who can help them overcome some of the problems they are facing because of what happened to them either before birth or in their earlier formative years.

Now are there some students who are simply spoiled and disrespectful - yes - and they sometimes have to handled much differently and perhaps even a very strong approach is the way to go with them. But again I would never label them as "garbage" which to me is a term meaning we should simply throw them away and not attempt to help them in any way. Personally I can't be that kind of teacher let alone that kind of person.

And one last comment - yes this is a vent board and there are times where you just have to shout (even by writing) just to help you sort out things. But even in the worst situation one can remain professional or at least I feel they can. But it is a free world and everyone is entitled to their own opinion on this matter.