Teacher & Principal upset, was I wrong? (assessment, kindergarten, schools)
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Twinkletoes, that is a gripe of mine too. She really did send the message using the word due incorrectly.
But then the teacher has sent home instructions reading, "right the word in the blank. . . "
That is classic.
I've made my fair share of spelling errors but to confuse the two words "right" and "write".............. LOL!!! Maybe she meant to say, "use the right word to describe..."
Well, it was a pretty long email that I sent. I kept it very respectful. I didn't make a big deal out of what she had said to me, but just told her that I did not agree that I had compromised student privacy laws and that I didn't see anything wrong with taking the journal home to review it. I addressed why I had concerns about her journal and that the teacher had indicated her writing was not good enough and that I had gotten notes about her not writing in her journal.
(BTW, while in a conference with this teacher in the past, while she was trying to explain to me that my daughter's writing was not good enough, she showed me 4 other student's journals. The journals had the kids names on them and I even knew one of the kid's parents. So I thought it was pretty dumb of them to accuse me of compromising the other student's privacy.)
I said that what I really wanted was for my daughter to be able to finish her school year without anymore problems. But that if the teacher was disciplining her about her work that I would want to see the work that wasn't being done. Because I have had a problem getting something on paper out of the teacher. (2 days in a row the teacher told me my daughter didn't do her class assignments, but when I asked the teacher to send the unfinished work home for me to see, she changed her story and said that wasn't why she was in trouble that day).
Anyway, like I said, it was a pretty long email. The only response I got from the principal said "I received your email, this date, time, etc." That was it. She didn't bother to answer me. I had offered to meet with her if she wanted to discuss my concerns, but I guess she wasn't interested in that.
So, I have contacted 4 other schools (3 private, 1 public) and will be visiting them in the next few weeks. Unless the principal can manage to come up with a very professional and appropriate response to my concerns I have no intention of sending my child back to that school for another year of torture. I don't feel that she will ever get a fair chance there.
I wanted to thank everyone that posted here on this subject. It helped hearing other's opinions and suggestions.
I forgot to mention in my previous post that after having reviewed the journal on Friday and returning it on Monday, I did not receive any notes home this week about my daughter not doing her work. She stayed on green all week.
Well, it was a pretty long email that I sent. I kept it very respectful. I didn't make a big deal out of what she had said to me, but just told her that I did not agree that I had compromised student privacy laws and that I didn't see anything wrong with taking the journal home to review it. I addressed why I had concerns about her journal and that the teacher had indicated her writing was not good enough and that I had gotten notes about her not writing in her journal.
(BTW, while in a conference with this teacher in the past, while she was trying to explain to me that my daughter's writing was not good enough, she showed me 4 other student's journals. The journals had the kids names on them and I even knew one of the kid's parents. So I thought it was pretty dumb of them to accuse me of compromising the other student's privacy.)
I said that what I really wanted was for my daughter to be able to finish her school year without anymore problems. But that if the teacher was disciplining her about her work that I would want to see the work that wasn't being done. Because I have had a problem getting something on paper out of the teacher. (2 days in a row the teacher told me my daughter didn't do her class assignments, but when I asked the teacher to send the unfinished work home for me to see, she changed her story and said that wasn't why she was in trouble that day).
Anyway, like I said, it was a pretty long email. The only response I got from the principal said "I received your email, this date, time, etc." That was it. She didn't bother to answer me. I had offered to meet with her if she wanted to discuss my concerns, but I guess she wasn't interested in that.
So, I have contacted 4 other schools (3 private, 1 public) and will be visiting them in the next few weeks. Unless the principal can manage to come up with a very professional and appropriate response to my concerns I have no intention of sending my child back to that school for another year of torture. I don't feel that she will ever get a fair chance there.
I wanted to thank everyone that posted here on this subject. It helped hearing other's opinions and suggestions.
Based on all of the information here and your other post (Help with a Kindergarten teacher) it does seem like somethng is wrong with the teacher. I did not realize that she was giving you the run around about the journal. You definately should have been given copies in a reasonable (maybe 2 day) time period or allowed to take the journal home. At this point, it probably is best to change schools if the principal is not willing to work with you or meet with you.
As a teacher, the first thing that you should be doing if there is a problem with the child is documenting their behavior and monitoring their work. So, I would have definately shown the undcompleted work to you if I were in the same situation. Also, her showing you the other students' work with their names on it is totatlly unprofessional and unethical. In a parent-teacher conference, you are NEVER supposed to talk about other children in the class. I'm so angry right now that a teacher would do that. More colleges need to offer courses on ethical behavior, mine did.
When I was in elementary school my mom requested my teacher every year. We always had two or more teachers per grade, but only one would be a good teacher. The kids who were in that class were the kids whose parent's requested that teacher. Granted, this was in the 90's.
This is off topic, I realize, but I want to respond anyway. My kids' ele school quit encouraging parent requests for teachers about 15 yrs ago or so. One reason: Parents request teacher "A", b/c s/he is supposed to be the "best" teacher for that grade, or they have heard horrible things about teacher "B" in that grade and don't want him/her for their child, sibling had "A" and it was a wonderful experience, etc. Then, teacher "A" doesn't work out, and the parents are unhappy. Even teachers with the greatest reps don't "click" with some kids. I heard all the gossip, and I never requested teachers. Some of their teachers were ones I would not have asked for, but things always worked out. Both my kids graduated in the top 10% of their high school classes in a very competitive high school.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Twinkle Toes
If the principal sent out an email with misuse of the word "due" I would seriously question her credentials. I believe someone working in education teaching our children, should at the very least know how to spell and know the meanings of the words they choose to use.
Well, I pretty much agree about bad spelling, but both my kids had the same teacher for 2nd grade who was a horrible speller but a wonderful teacher. She was especially good with my second child, who had trouble learning how to read.
My daughter is 5 & in kindergarten. The teacher & I have discussed on several occasions about my daughter's writing abilities so she is very aware of why I would want to review her journal.
Ridiculous. I don't see the problem of reading your daughters journal. You have every right to be able to moniter your daughter journal especially since your daughter has writting challenges. Parents and teachers need to work together at home and at school to insure the success of a student. They can't word independently of each other especially during the elementary school age when they are learning the basics.
I'm not a parent or a teacher, but I don't think that you were wrong. The way that they're reacting about this journal is strange.
If I were in your shoes, I would seriously be looking into other schools. There is just something wrong here -a teacher that won't give you the unfinished assignments, putting your daughter in the corner/box for 2 weeks without telling you, etc., and now the journal situation. You want to be a good parent and be involved in your daughter's education, and these people seem to be actively working against you.
The point of reading the journal was because the teacher was giving the student low marks, claiming she had not been writing in the journal. The parent wanted to see this for herself, no different than getting a low grade on a spelling test and asking to look at the test. Is that too controlling?? I don't think so, at least not on the part of the parent.
The bigger question is, why didn't the teacher and principal want the parent to look at the journal.
Maybe because it was a journal and some things are personal?
I mean, did the school have a history of giving the child low marks for no reason? As I say, it does sound a bit controlling, but hard to know the full story...
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