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Old 01-01-2012, 04:56 PM
 
632 posts, read 1,514,553 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by crisan View Post
I agree. A teacher losing it sounds like a teacher who wasn't ready for the kinds of students she was responsible for.

In the article, I read that one teacher was throwing chairs because the students wouldn't stop talking. If the teacher does not have administrative support to enforce a rule for this, the teacher should reach out for help in dealing with chatty students.

It might mean one day lost for teaching a lesson for that particular group of students and then coming in the next day and trying something different. I would rather have that than having my child yelled at or hit by a chair.
I was told nearly 25 years ago in college that I should speak to and act towards students as if their parents were sitting in the corner of the room....if I wouldn't do or say something with their parent present, I shouldn't do/say it without. Has definitely saved my butt a time or two when I was tempted to forget who was the adult in the room.
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Old 01-01-2012, 06:09 PM
 
Location: Central Florida
973 posts, read 1,702,667 times
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This is nothing new. Just go to Youtube and type in "teacher going crazy or yelling or ballistic" and you will see hundreds of them from all over the world! AND most teachers don't even know they are on there! It IS an invasion of privacy. Cell phones are detriments to education on so many levels, period.

BUT what got me in the comments by people is the one that said that teachers should be held at a higher standard that others...and THAT issue has been debated all over the place...

It is a sad state of affairs and administrators need to get a backbone and stop this insanity.
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Old 01-01-2012, 06:10 PM
 
Location: Whoville....
25,386 posts, read 35,469,728 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wyolady View Post
I was told nearly 25 years ago in college that I should speak to and act towards students as if their parents were sitting in the corner of the room....if I wouldn't do or say something with their parent present, I shouldn't do/say it without. Has definitely saved my butt a time or two when I was tempted to forget who was the adult in the room.
Too bad THEY don't speak/act like their parents are sitting in the corner of the room. It always amazes me how well behaved my classes are on my evaluation days. With the principal sitting in the room I don't hear a peep out of them.

Some days I think I need to go to the green, yellow, red flip cards they use in elementary school just to keep track of how many times I've asked each student to pay attention, stop talking, stop texting, stop making noises.... My new years resolution is to print a seating chart every day so I can just put an X next to a student's name. Three strikes and you're out. Unfortunately, I lose track if I have several students acting up in the same class.

After reading this article, I'm thinking that a camera attached to my computer is in order.

What we don't know is how much had this teacher dealt with before he threw that chair? Perhaps the average person would have thrown a student through a window long before he got around to throwing a chair. I've had classes where I wanted to throw things. When you have 6-8 kids in a class who just want to be disruptive class can be hell. I have one of those now. Fortunately, the assistant principal sat in on that class before the break and has given me permission to send any of them to the office for the most minor of infractions. It's a game to some students to see how much they can get away with. They'll keep behaviors just under what is acceptable to send a student to the office but when you have half a dozen of them participating in the game, nothing gets done in class.

You know, I wouldn't have sat down for a month if I'd done half of what some of my students do. Some days I think they need to bring the paddle back in school. The problem is these kids aren't afraid of the consequences. Get sent to the office? You get out of class. Get suspended? You get to stay home. They, obviously, aren't afraid of their parents. Just a couple of weeks ago, I contacted the parents of one student and their reply was that I should talk to the principal because they couldn't do anything with him. Parents have the power to turn off cable, the internet, take away phones, take away cars/driver's licenses, deny spending money....I have no power at all unless a student cares about grades and the ones that care about grades aren't pushing teacher's buttons.

Last edited by Ivorytickler; 01-01-2012 at 06:28 PM..
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Old 01-01-2012, 06:22 PM
 
18,837 posts, read 37,281,021 times
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I once had a psycho teacher. A youtube of him screaming would have been enough. He should have been fired.

I am sure, in my career, there could have been times, when a youtube of me would not have been flattering, but my concern is that the entire thing is edited, to completely show one side of the situation, not what lead up to the issue. What was the context? No, let's not show what was prior...let's just show the teacher!
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Old 01-01-2012, 06:31 PM
 
Location: Whoville....
25,386 posts, read 35,469,728 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jasper12 View Post
I once had a psycho teacher. A youtube of him screaming would have been enough. He should have been fired.

I am sure, in my career, there could have been times, when a youtube of me would not have been flattering, but my concern is that the entire thing is edited, to completely show one side of the situation, not what lead up to the issue. What was the context? No, let's not show what was prior...let's just show the teacher!
I've had teachers that yelled or slammed books onto desks but that's about it. I have to say that it was warranted every time as they were responding to students who were being very disrespectful day after day after day. I never thought twice about it because I felt the student they went off on had it coming but you're right that a video of just the teacher, in those situations, would have been very unflattering.

This makes me want to put a camera in my room for my own protection....under the guise of recording lectures to be put up on the web, of course.
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Old 01-01-2012, 06:41 PM
 
18,837 posts, read 37,281,021 times
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I was filmed several times when I was doing National Board Certification, and I will admit when I was being filmed, I really stepped up professionally. So, I actually think that we have the technology now, I don't think it would be a bad idea for constant video streaming in the classroom. It is helpful, and sometimes painful to watch yourself teach, it could be a good tool for supervision, and ...best of all, for parents to see what a real doll their child is at school.

Even if I had to sign paperwork, I would have had not problem. I had nothing to hide.
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Old 01-01-2012, 06:55 PM
 
Location: Whoville....
25,386 posts, read 35,469,728 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jasper12 View Post
I was filmed several times when I was doing National Board Certification, and I will admit when I was being filmed, I really stepped up professionally. So, I actually think that we have the technology now, I don't think it would be a bad idea for constant video streaming in the classroom. It is helpful, and sometimes painful to watch yourself teach, it could be a good tool for supervision, and ...best of all, for parents to see what a real doll their child is at school.

Even if I had to sign paperwork, I would have had not problem. I had nothing to hide.
I would agree to this. And I agree it would cause me to be on my A game every day. Well, almost every day. I have my B days. I'd agree to it for the protection it affords me AND because some parents would be really surprised at the way their child acts in school.

My issue with it is that parents might not understand that we're not always actively teaching. The best teaching is when they teach each other. That can look like the teacher is slacking. It's pretty easy to be an arm chair quarterback.

It would solve a host of issues though. One thing I hate about teaching is it's done in isolation and we never get to see each other teach. I'm sure I could learn a lot from the masters out there.
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Old 01-03-2012, 03:22 AM
 
Location: St Louis, MO
4,677 posts, read 5,752,784 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ivorytickler View Post
I wonder if the teacher can sue. Legally, I believe, you need someone's permission to post a video of them. Given that parents are responsible for the actions of their children, especially if their name is on that cell phone bill, I'd think that the teacher in question would have legal grounds to sue the parents for defamation of character, posting video of him without permission and invasion of privacy.
The problem with that is that there is no protection for the teacher from the district if they sue, not even tenure.
When I was in high school, a student created a "student newspaper" that was nothing but out right slanderous lies about one of his teachers (a current department head and tenured). She got a lawyer and filed suit; the district informed her that if she did not drop her suit against a student immediately, she was out of a job. She dropped the suit.
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Old 01-03-2012, 09:02 AM
 
Location: On the brink of WWIII
21,088 posts, read 29,142,569 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by marigolds6 View Post
The problem with that is that there is no protection for the teacher from the district if they sue, not even tenure.
When I was in high school, a student created a "student newspaper" that was nothing but out right slanderous lies about one of his teachers (a current department head and tenured). She got a lawyer and filed suit; the district informed her that if she did not drop her suit against a student immediately, she was out of a job. She dropped the suit.

Here in NC, a student went on FaceBook and created a page in a teachers name. Even found a picture to upload.

Then the student would post in the teacher's name making all kinds of rude statements about other students and the school/ admin/other teachers. Other students would then reply by posting their own insults and name calling.
This went on for 6 months befor staff at the school became aware of it. It was turned over to the county sheriff for investigation and the teacher was encouraged by the sheriff and the school to file charges and a slander suit if the investigation proved the student was responsible. I have since left that county so I do not know how it was resolved..
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Old 01-03-2012, 09:20 AM
 
652 posts, read 1,050,629 times
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This is a difficult situation in many ways.

I think the lesson here is that everyone should act in the workplace as if they might be being filmed.

As for teachers that don't have enough control that they throw desks....no sympathy there.
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