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End of school year mean lots of awards in elementary classes and it is always fun to see how our teacher try to include every student and find something positive for everyone. this teacher should be severely reprimanded if not fired. how can a person without a clue about how humiliated this child would feel be allowed to continue? I don't think it was a joke at all. I think she meant to hurt her feelings and single her out to her peers.
I think I would have had to pay a visit to the principal of this school for allowing this teacher to try to be a comedian at my child's expense. This is outrageous. There are always people in this world who will laugh at, tease or torment one person to make themselves look like this big comedian and it isn't funny at all. This teacher just made herself/himself look like a big jerk. Hopefully you have gone to the school to speak with the principal and how did this ever make it to ABC News Blogs?? That would be my next stop. Ridiculous!!
Are you all actually saying this was the right way to teach this child to do her homework? That this was a good method? Humiliation is what's to be expected if an eight year old kid doesn't do her homework? This is what should be expected now from teachers, child roasts at the end of the year?
Plenty of teachers communicate better than this. It can be done. I teach and I would never do this. It's not effective, and it goes against all the work schools are doing right now to curb bullying. You don't make fun of people, you just don't. It's not funny to all, nor should it be required to be.
If I walked outside a classroom to hear a bunch of kids roasting a child for something I would stop it. Not encourage the child to buck up, brush it off and take it for it was true, she was whatever they were calling her, I would not tell her it was her fault in the first place.
Not all teachers agree with this method. Don't lump us all in there. Teachers are people, some are jerks and some aren't. Some apply sarcasm as a tool some don't. I don't, I wouldn't and I don't blame that mom for being upset. Not all people think an 8 year old needs to man up. It's a little early for that speech, she might not understand it yet. Things should be age appropriate.
Most people will probably side with the teacher in the fact that they see the kids actions and her moms as whining, this is why bullying is so hard to stop or control. Parents pass this on, accept it, and make light of it. They encourage the kids to be quiet, not talk about being hurt by it and move on instead of saying, hey, this hurts me, stop it, it's not funny to me. That's personal space.
It doesn't matter what you are doing, if it hurts someone you should stop it. Not prove it shouldn't hurt, or call someone a baby because it does. Just stop. If a parent said, when you do this it's hurtful I would stop and express that I was sorry. I wouldn't argue that it shouldn't, or that it was my honest opinion of her kid and she should get over it. Why would I insist on doing something that hurt someone? There are plenty of other options to take in this case. It wasn't a must do by any means.
I don't think it was a good message for kids that young. Laughing together is a good thing, but not at each other. Wrong message, especially right now. Kids that age don't know when to stop, or what they should do socially. They mimic and I hope they don't mimic that on the play ground.
I agree with some of this, but don't apply it to this situation. I don't think humiliation is a good teaching tool, and don't think teachers should be making a joke out of a student. However, the joke was about this child not doing her homework. If it was about getting bad grades, when it may be that she's struggling and not understanding, it would be a cruel joke. If it was about something she had no control over, like her appearance or race, I would be livid. But this is something that the kid had total control over, and chose not to do. Something she knew was required of her, and chose not to anyway. 8 years is plenty old enough to understand that actions have consequences.
I can't say I entirely blame the mom for being upset, especially when her daughter is upset. But making it into a national news story is ten times worse than what the teacher did in the first place. How is it that she's so upset that her daughter was laughed at in front of her class of maybe 20 students, and now thanks to mom, the whole world can laugh at her? If her classmates carry and drag this on, it will be her mom's fault-not the teacher's. If not for mom, it would have been forgotten about by the new school year.
Talking to the teacher and principal is perfectly acceptable and understandable. Running to the media when you don't like their response....stupid. It could have been a good teaching tool for her daughter. We don't know how many warnings this child already had, how many notes sent home, how many phone calls, or what other measures the teacher already tried, if any. It may be she didn't know what else to do, especially if mom always has a ready made excuse for her daughter herself. I don't think we need to teach kids to tolerate mistreatment and bullying, but we do need to teach them to take responsibility for their actions. We also need to teach them not to take on the victim mentality every single time someone hurts their little feelings.
It's disturbing," she said, adding that she was not aware her daughter had a problem with homework, and that the girl had been enrolled in an after-school homework assistance program.
TUCSON, Ariz. — A mother in Tucson is upset with her daughter’s school because of an award she received. Cassandra Garcia received a Catastrophe Award for most excuses for not having her homework. The eight-year-old was confused and upset because she has a folder with all of her completed homework. The girl’s mother said her daughter also felt humiliated.
“She said the teachers announced the award in front of the whole class and all the children were laughing at her,” said Christina Valdez. The girl’s mom said she called the principal to complain about the award but it didn’t help.
“She blew me off. And said it was a joke that was played and that the teachers joke around with the children,” Valdez said. When Desert Springs Academy was contacted for this story, the principal wouldn’t comment. Psychologist Sheri Bauman at the University of Arizona College of Education says any negative award is inappropriate. Even if it’s supposed to be a joke, it’s not good.
I agree with the psychologist. Not appropriate.
She contacted the school first, if they were helpful in any way then it would have stopped there I'm sure. If they apologized and assured her it wouldn't happen to her child again and I'm sure it would have been enough if they were understanding but they were not. It sounds like to me they took the over sensitive child and parent route. Well, that doesn't always work on every parent. The principals response sounds as if it only solidified that her daughter was telling her the truth about the schools attitude toward this kind of sarcasm.
Often when there is no good answer or solution people tend to turn to sarcasm and act as if it's just a run of the mill joke or good time. The blow off doesn't work with everyone, some will know what they are doing. She tried them, they blew her off and excused it, so she went further. Some will, that is the chance the school takes when responding that way.
The school has not made an effort toward the parent or daughter, they clearly believe that the teacher acted appropriately by handing out this award and they stand by her. This is why the parent turned to the public. She doesn't agree and thinks this kind of practice with young kids is wrong and wanted to warn other parents whom agreed with her. If you don't agree then you don't have to listen to it, it's for those who agree. It's not a battle.
I appreciate it, I agree with her and I would keep it in mind for my own decision regarding school placement. If you disagree with her then you have free will to sign up your child at said school and enjoy the awards with your child.
If you don't agree then you don't have to listen to it, it's for those who agree. It's not a battle.
It may very well be a battle to the parents who LIKE that teacher and who think she's being unfairly maligned. Again. We've had ONE report from one affiliate TV station that's been picked up by the wires and gone national.
Last edited by DewDropInn; 05-30-2012 at 01:02 PM..
It may very well be a battle to the parents who LIKE that teacher and who think she's being unfairly maligned. Again. We've had ONE report from one affiliate TV station that's been picked up by the wires and gone national.
Then they are free to rally behind her publicly. People do this all the time. But I haven't seen anyone rally so far. There are plenty of comment boxes for people to voice there opinions and they have. If people can read the article then they can read the responses and voice their own as we are doing.
TUCSON, Ariz. — A mother in Tucson is upset with her daughter’s school because of an award she received. Cassandra Garcia received a Catastrophe Award for most excuses for not having her homework. The eight-year-old was confused and upset because she has a folder with all of her completed homework. The girl’s mother said her daughter also felt humiliated.
“She said the teachers announced the award in front of the whole class and all the children were laughing at her,” said Christina Valdez. The girl’s mom said she called the principal to complain about the award but it didn’t help. “She blew me off. And said it was a joke that was played and that the teachers joke around with the children,” Valdez said. When Desert Springs Academy was contacted for this story, the principal wouldn’t comment. Psychologist Sheri Bauman at the University of Arizona College of Education says any negative award is inappropriate. Even if it’s supposed to be a joke, it’s not good.
I agree with the psychologist. Not appropriate.
She contacted the school first, if they were helpful in any way then it would have stopped there I'm sure. If they apologized and assured her it wouldn't happen to her child again and I'm sure it would have been enough if they were understanding but they were not. It sounds like to me they took the over sensitive child and parent route. Well, that doesn't always work on every parent. The principals response sounds as if it only solidified that her daughter was telling her the truth about the schools attitude toward this kind of sarcasm.
Often when there is no good answer or solution people tend to turn to sarcasm and act as if it's just a run of the mill joke or good time. The blow off doesn't work with everyone, some will know what they are doing. She tried them, they blew her off and excused it, so she went further. Some will, that is the chance the school takes when responding that way.
The school has not made an effort toward the parent or daughter, they clearly believe that the teacher acted appropriately by handing out this award and they stand by her. This is why the parent turned to the public. She doesn't agree and thinks this kind of practice with young kids is wrong and wanted to warn other parents whom agreed with her. If you don't agree then you don't have to listen to it, it's for those who agree. It's not a battle.
I appreciate it, I agree with her and I would keep it in mind for my own decision regarding school placement. If you disagree with her then you have free will to sign up your child at said school and enjoy the awards with your child.
Where did you get the idea that this news story is only for people who agree with her? I sure didn't see that disclaimer on any of them. She chose to put her child's business out there for the world to see, so there's going to be plenty of people who disagree with her--including me--and are free to voice their opinion of that. Which is one good reason not to air your child's problems in the media.
Since this mother is claiming her child had a folder full of completed assignments, my first priority would have been setting up a meeting with the teacher to see exactly what is going on, what is she missing, what is her grade, etc. And if she had turned in all her work and was getting good grades, I'd THEN demand to know why the hell would she give my child such an award. And if I don't like her answer, I would express my concerns to the principal, and be grateful the school year is almost over anyway. I would not, however, go to the media. That's just petty, imo.
I often wonder how parents who fight every single tiny battle of their kid's think that's helping the kid. What is this kid learning from this? Since the mom is the only one telling the story, she's not saying what kind of grades her daughter has gotten from this teacher so far, how many times she's been contacted before about missing assignments, what other measures the teacher has taken to resolve the problem, or what SHE has done herself, besides the mention of an after school homework program. She didn't say how many hours a night her daughter spends on homework, if she checks it, or even bothers to ask if she has homework. She's putting all the blame and all the focus on the teacher. I don't see the problem with disagreeing with the award and letting the kid know that was wrong and shouldn't have been done, but that doesn't absolve her of her role in not doing her homework, or the mother's role in not seeing that it was done.
I wouldn't be shocked now, in future classes, her excuse will be, "I'm too tramatized by that mean award my 3rd grade teacher gave me." People really need to quit giving their kids excuses to fail. It may make them feel like SuperMom fighting the evil of the world, but it's not helping their kids in the long run.
Then they are free to rally behind her publicly. People do this all the time. But I haven't seen anyone rally so far. There are plenty of comment boxes for people to voice there opinions and they have. If people can read the article then they can read the responses and voice their own as we are doing.
That's a station in Kansas City. Any links for what the good people of Tucson are saying? That's what I want to read. (There's a better chance of comments from people who actually know something about this school and/or the teacher. Perhaps we'd learn more about the circumstances of this "award". The teacher's motivation. The teacher's reputation. What kind of school it is, etc.)
Though I did read the comments that followed the link posted by NoKudzu. I made it through one page. Most were along the lines of "What the heck is wrong with Mom that the daughter isn't doing her homework."
Last edited by DewDropInn; 05-30-2012 at 01:46 PM..
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