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The answer to your question is in your original post: "this is a very small town."
No matter whether the teacher was wrong or not, your daughter and granddaughter will get a bad rep.
Your granddaughter needs to learn how to move on after bad things happen, and that is a more valuable lesson than
anything she could have won in a contest.
That's what I am wondering- why would any teacher do this? Maybe she actually thought she was helping? Its not up to you to say the story was definitely better.
well, i bet the grandma of the girl whose story one felt that her grandchild deserved to win.
i figure the OP is being overly dramatic especially with the question of legality. i doubt there is anything illegal going on when it comes to 9 year old essays. im just curious about the editing process here. its probably just an upset mother overreacting in defense of her child.
My 9 year old granddaughter just passed the third grade. There was a writing contest before the end of school, and she wrote a story that everyone thought would win the contest. However, another student won the award, and this student's story wasn't near as good as my granddaughter's story.
Yesterday, my daughter was going through her end of school papers, and found the original draft of the story, and the typed version that the teacher submitted. The teacher changed a lot of things in the story, took out quite a bit of it, and it was no longer the story that my granddaughter submitted. Had the items that the teacher deleted been left alone, the story would probably have won the award.
My daughter is livid, as is my granddaughter. The school year has ended, and she will not have the same teacher for fourth grade. Neither my daughter or I feel that what this teacher did was appropriate, but what can be done? To change a student's work without their knowledge or permission, especially if it was a contest entry, seems underhanded and possibly illegal.
Should my daughter address this with the school, or just let it go and move on? It is a very small town, and she is afraid if she speaks out about this there will be negative repercussions for herself and her daughter. Thoughts?
Who "judged" this 3rd grade writing contest?
How would "everyone" (and who is "everyone"?) have read your GDs story, and thought she would win the contest if they only saw the "edited" version submitted by the teacher?
What was the rubric for the "contest"? Did your GD write 1000 words, when it was a 500 words or less "contest"?
How "small town" is it if you daughter is afraid of standing up for her kid, in a public school, over this very tiny little issue?
How would "everyone" (and who is "everyone"?) have read your GDs story, and thought she would win the contest if they only saw the "edited" version submitted by the teacher?
What was the rubric for the "contest"? Did your GD write 1000 words, when it was a 500 words or less "contest"?
...
I find it kind of funny how so many on here are stuck on what they perceive an over enthusiastic grandmother and have glossed over the point that regardless of that issue, a teacher should never be editing a student's work for submission to a contest. If it's a 1000 words and the contest was 500 or less, the teacher might tell the student, but any rewrite is up to the student. And if the student doesn't, it's up to the contest judges to disqualify the entry, not the teacher. It's an integrity issue that compromises the contest.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Informed Info
...How "small town" is it if you daughter is afraid of standing up for her kid, in a public school, over this very tiny little issue?
You'd be surprised how vindictive some school systems can be toward students and parents that make waves. And they have very long memories. Teachers have a lot of ways to punish the parents by taking it out on the kids in a manner that can never be proven.
You'd be surprised how vindictive some school systems can be toward students and parents that make waves. And they have very long memories. Teachers have a lot of ways to punish the parents by taking it out on the kids in a manner that can never be proven.
This town has a population of @1300. There is one elementary, one middle and one high school. Anything that happens in this town is known and talked about by everyone. Literally. In some cases, this can be a good thing, such as when my daughter was in a serious car crash. The whole town rallied to help her and her family. However, any malicious gossip, whether true or not, spreads like wildfire, and sometimes rocking the boat can cause more damage that good. My daughter and her family have only lived there for four years, and are still considered "newcomers". She has worked very hard to contribute positively to the community, and does not want to take a chance of being labeled a "troublemaker", or have her daughter caught in the middle of anything that could effect how she is treated in school by the teachers or the other students.
As upset and angry as they both are, mainly because her work was changed not because of the contest, she can't come up with any way to address this without causing negative backlash of some sort. Life is not fair, and sometimes that's a tough lesson to learn.
This town has a population of @1300. There is one elementary, one middle and one high school. Anything that happens in this town is known and talked about by everyone. Literally. In some cases, this can be a good thing, such as when my daughter was in a serious car crash. The whole town rallied to help her and her family. However, any malicious gossip, whether true or not, spreads like wildfire, and sometimes rocking the boat can cause more damage that good. My daughter and her family have only lived there for four years, and are still considered "newcomers". She has worked very hard to contribute positively to the community, and does not want to take a chance of being labeled a "troublemaker", or have her daughter caught in the middle of anything that could effect how she is treated in school by the teachers or the other students.
As upset and angry as they both are, mainly because her work was changed not because of the contest, she can't come up with any way to address this without causing negative backlash of some sort. Life is not fair, and sometimes that's a tough lesson to learn.
Let it go. Any action you try to take will come back to haunt your daughter/granddaughter....like trying out for cheerleading in MS.
I taught in a town of 5K so I know exactly what you talk about. And having been "behind the scenes" as a teacher I saw blatant favoritism and nepotism when it came to the kids and awards/etc.
This town has a population of @1300. (snip) My daughter and her family have only lived there for four years, and are still considered "newcomers".
Her family may be "newcomers" for quite some time. I grew up in a farming community with a long history. During a trip back home I was chatting with a neighbor about neighborhood news. He mentioned that "our new neighbors, the Smith family, were moving back to town". I suddenly realized that the Smiths had lived there for about 40 years and were still sort of considered newcomers. That got me thinking about other "new neighbors". One couple was so new that no one really knew them and they had lived there for almost 20 years. It wasn't that people in the neighborhood were unfriendly but you had a special bond with people whose parents grew up with your parent/parents and their grandparents knew your grandparents.
The teacher overstepped her bounds. I haven't read all 6 or 7 pages of this thread, but do you know if the teacher might have improved the other child's submission to the point that it would have won? If something like that occurrred, it would be over-the-top unethical. Were there other factors involved with perhaps wanting the other child to win?
Regardless whether it was good enought to win, you should have questioned the editing when you were first made aware of it. Maybe the teacher changed the main character's name because she thought your granddaughter spelled it wrong. Did your granddaughter not look at the edited version before submission to the contest? Like others mentioned, there's usually a rough draft turned into the teacher to edit. If there were any questions, seeing the edited version would have been the time to questions the changes, not waiting this long. Pick your battles. I'd just let this one go.
There's nothing to be done and if you bring it up to the Principal, he may chat with the teacher who then will "Chat" with your daughters new teachers and you can see where it's going.
It's obvious your daughter got cheated, what would she benefit from causing the teacher some grief when it can be repaid in bonus.
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