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What some on here seem to be forgetting is that this child has a form of autism which affects behavior in different ways. I don't care how good of a parent, disciplinarian, or whatever you THINK you are, the game changes when you have a special needs child. Dealing with my ADHD son is quite different than dealing with a "normal" child. He will tune you out if you remotely raise your voice. And since I have a loud voice anyway, it makes things difficult on a good day. I've even had to talk to his coaches and explain that if they all keep yelling at him (like coaches do, not in a bad way), he won't listen. Now one coach calls out what they want him to do and we explained they have to be loud b/c it's a ball field and it's noisy. They aren't mad at him or anything. You learn not to be as judgemental as many on here when you deal with it day in and day out. And autism is far worse than what I deal with so my heart goes out to the family. The mother seemed like an intelligent, loving mom when I watched her in the interview on one of the morning shows. The teacher is a loser pig and should lose her license. I don't care if she's been teacher of the year for 10 years in a row. What she did now changed the game. She doesn't deserve to teach and obviously lacks the reasoning skills to see what she did is wrong.
As a teacher in Florida and having a undergrad degree in Psychology, I can easily see both sides to this story. Regardless of how difficult and frustrating this kid must be in class, the way this teacher handled the situation was inappropriate and uncalled for. A situation like that will no doubt stay with that child for years to come. With that said, I'm sure the teacher is tired of being underpaid, short staffed, unequipped to handle students with psychological disorders and choose to handle a situation her own way. Schools in Florida and so overcrowded, underfunded and falling apart at the seams. Some days you wonder what the heck you are doing with your life, teachers have stopped teaching and started handing out work just get a few moments of silence. The resources that are needed are unavailable because the wonderful citizens would like to see lower property taxes, not stopping for a second to wonder HOW the state would manage that. Manatee county is forced to cut 72 million out of their budget, making schools cut salaries and increase classroom sizes in order to escape hiring more teachers. Amendment 1 did lower property taxes but it also brought Florida schools from bad to worse. It's easy to blame the teacher (who I do believe handled the situation horribly) or the parent for the child's behavior. But ADHD, Autism and COD are all DISORDERS, they need to be handled as such. Experience, training and knowledge needs to be available to teachers and school administrators and that comes in the form of a school psychologists but schools have to make a choice in what is more valuable for their money? People need to stop taking our educational system for granted, believing it will always be there. Ya it will but not in the same form and if we continue to disregard it then our kids will ultimately suffer. School disciplinary problems will increase including school violence. Schools are second parents for kids, they spend more time in a classroom than they do at home. Teachers are tired and fed up with the lack of respect they are getting from the state and federal government, slowly they will start to displace that anger on your kids and school will no longer be a safe, healthy environment. So maybe instead of complaining about "poor parenting" or behavioral problems in kids, you should go to your representative and DEMAND that teachers, parents and administrators be given the proper tools to handle kids with psychological disorders and just kids in general!!!!!!!!!!
As a teacher in Florida and having a undergrad degree in Psychology, I can easily see both sides to this story. Regardless of how difficult and frustrating this kid must be in class, the way this teacher handled the situation was inappropriate and uncalled for. A situation like that will no doubt stay with that child for years to come. With that said, I'm sure the teacher is tired of being underpaid, short staffed, unequipped to handle students with psychological disorders and choose to handle a situation her own way. Schools in Florida and so overcrowded, underfunded and falling apart at the seams. Some days you wonder what the heck you are doing with your life, teachers have stopped teaching and started handing out work just get a few moments of silence. The resources that are needed are unavailable because the wonderful citizens would like to see lower property taxes, not stopping for a second to wonder HOW the state would manage that. Manatee county is forced to cut 72 million out of their budget, making schools cut salaries and increase classroom sizes in order to escape hiring more teachers. Amendment 1 did lower property taxes but it also brought Florida schools from bad to worse. It's easy to blame the teacher (who I do believe handled the situation horribly) or the parent for the child's behavior. But ADHD, Autism and COD are all DISORDERS, they need to be handled as such. Experience, training and knowledge needs to be available to teachers and school administrators and that comes in the form of a school psychologists but schools have to make a choice in what is more valuable for their money? People need to stop taking our educational system for granted, believing it will always be there. Ya it will but not in the same form and if we continue to disregard it then our kids will ultimately suffer. School disciplinary problems will increase including school violence. Schools are second parents for kids, they spend more time in a classroom than they do at home. Teachers are tired and fed up with the lack of respect they are getting from the state and federal government, slowly they will start to displace that anger on your kids and school will no longer be a safe, healthy environment.
While I do understand and respect your thoughts, I have to say something here. You make the choice to teach. You all know going in that you aren't going to get rich doing it and you still go to college and get that teaching certificate. Some do it b/c they really want to work with kids and make a difference. But many do it to have summers off and a better schedule to spend with their own kids. I have bad days at work too but it's my choice to do what I do so I don't complain all the time. Don't get me wrong. I am as involved as I can be at my son's school and the teachers and administration know me. My son's second grade teacher is AMAZING! If all teachers were like her, the school system would not have the problems it does. I've written to the principal and asst. principal several times this year praising her massive talents in the teaching field. However, she is not the norm. Teachers need to quit whining and do the job they agreed to do. As long as you have superintendents who have no direct interaction with kids making 6 figures and taking money from the teacher salary fund to give themselves and other administrators big raises, then you are going to see problems. But the fact is that teachers know going in the salary sucks and you still choose to do it. So do the job and stop blaming anything and everything on the fact that you don't make that much money.
Yep. But there are two culprits here. The teacher and the parent. A child who exasperates a teacher this badly has a parent who is obviously asleep at the switch.
I have worked with children who have ADD, ADHD and Asperger's syndrome. You have absolutely NO IDEA what you are talking about. These children can exhibit absolute brilliant brain functioning but on the same token can be quite the handful. They at times appear to be "in their own world". This is why there are special education programs for them. This child was being tested and obviously on his way to getting the proper education and "discipline". The only culprit here was the teacher, whom I believe to be more of an animal.
Ok this is not going to be popular, but I think one problem with schools is they are required to provide an education to every child not causing any one to be left out. Everyday teachers across America are having to spend more time in the day making sure the "special kids" don't get left behind. Many schools don't have the budget to properly accommodate these "special need" students so they are put in regular classes. That causes everyone in the class to suffer.
I know a should not complain if I don't have the solution to the problem but our schools have many problems and this is one of them.
I do agree with some of your post. "No child left behind" has been an imposing pain in the you know what to teachers whose time is already taxed.
What you have to understand is that a child who has been diagnosed with a learning disorder needs to be in the general population in the school. They do receive their special education but part of their learning and growing process takes place in a regular classroom amongst their peers. You can think of it this way. When they have become an adult and gone on to live in the real world, will they live in a little bubble amongst others diagnosed as special or will they live in the general population?
the teachers may not be trained on how to deal with them.
Actually if a teacher has received their degree then they have had training in Special Education. Granted some universities have better and more intensive programs than others.
Teachers need continuing education in special ed issues being that more and more children are being diagnosed with autism, ADHD and other behavioral concerns. It takes money to do this, and unless the general population is willing to fork out the funds for education, this would continue to be an area that will be problematic.
While I do understand and respect your thoughts, I have to say something here. You make the choice to teach. You all know going in that you aren't going to get rich doing it and you still go to college and get that teaching certificate. Some do it b/c they really want to work with kids and make a difference. But many do it to have summers off and a better schedule to spend with their own kids. I have bad days at work too but it's my choice to do what I do so I don't complain all the time. Don't get me wrong. I am as involved as I can be at my son's school and the teachers and administration know me. My son's second grade teacher is AMAZING! If all teachers were like her, the school system would not have the problems it does. I've written to the principal and asst. principal several times this year praising her massive talents in the teaching field. However, she is not the norm. Teachers need to quit whining and do the job they agreed to do. As long as you have superintendents who have no direct interaction with kids making 6 figures and taking money from the teacher salary fund to give themselves and other administrators big raises, then you are going to see problems. But the fact is that teachers know going in the salary sucks and you still choose to do it. So do the job and stop blaming anything and everything on the fact that you don't make that much money.
I completely agree with everything you said. I want to make sure you know that I personally was not complaining about what I get paid. I did know prior to deciding to teach that I wasn't going to make any money, but I did feel that I NEEDED to make a difference in kids' life. Being underfunded is a reality that teachers and schools face, it has been for a long time. I put my own time and money into buying projects for my kids to learn HOW math works instead of just listening to me talk about math. Regardless of what I get paid I will always be a teacher and I will work really hard to change the curriculum and give as many kids the chance to actually learn and grow. I was the product of a horrible educational system, which is why I do my part in making sure other kids don't have the same experience. However that unfortunately isn't the case and I do agree that teachers spend more time complaining about what they get paid then teaching. My concerns with money is not in my paycheck but it's in the resources that are available to the kids, the classroom sizes and special education/school psychologists programs. It makes it hard to give kids the attention and dedication they need when you have 30 unruly kids in your class, with no teaching assistant. I feel lucky for what I get paid, I get so many vacation days (including the summers off), great benefits and a chance to watch kids learn and LOVE to learn. As you said in your post though, the same can not be said for some teachers. My push for money in our educational system has nothing to do with my personal paycheck but for the welfare of these kids who are the future of this country. I tutored college kids in math and was shocked and saddened by the lack of understanding for basic math functions. Recent college graduates and current college students grew up during a time of TV/video games and no reading. They are lazy and uneducated. The blame for education can go both on us as educators and the parents, we need to hold ourselves and our kids more accountable.
I appreciate your desire to be involved in your child's education, you'd be amazed at how many parents I haven't been able to connect to and who just don't seem to care.
You know, I have always been for "no" child left behind. If one of your own children was left behind, you may have a different perception. Money is not the answer to fixing the problems of our school systems. Schools need to learn how to use the money they have wisely. Teachers need to learn how to teach in a manner that will meet the needs of everyone in a classroom. Obviously, behavior problems make that difficult and I don't have all the answers. However, some of these "special" kids are not behavior problems. They are getting left behind. They just learn in a different manner than all of this rote memorization that schools make them responsible for.
I'm not sure you realized just how little money school systems have and that the lack of funding leads to teachers with 20+ students in a classroom. Perhaps the teacher exists that can effectively teach all 20 children with a multitude of learning styles and behaviors, but I have yet to meet him or her. Most of us just try to survive the day and hope that we facilitate an environment that resembles a classroom while little Johnny is turning over desks, little Sally is spinning in the corner and little Jake is attempting to climb out the window while yelling "You're not my mommy! I don't have to listen to you!". Our school system in america is broken and something has to change for our children as a whole to become educated productive members of society in the future.
However, what the teacher did to this child was wrong and she should be required to hand in her license and not teach again. Mistakes and lapses in judgement happen, but when an adult goes that far to shame a child it is unacceptable.
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