I stood up to the bad teacher today.
By The Horse
@TheHorse (238284)
Walnut Creek, California
January 23, 2020 8:55pm CST
Yesterday, I wrote a post about a teacher who punished one of the kids I work with, even though he had done the right thing.
She does not pay close attention to what is happening in interaction between the children she works with.
Today, it happened again. The child in question was running from another child who wanted to "steal" the ball he was playing with.
The other child is developmentally delayed and does not yet understand concepts like "sharing," "this is mine right now," etc.
The targeted child ran over a 1 1/2-year-old girl as he was running from the delayed child, who wanted his ball.
The boy she (the bad teacher) dislikes wound up in a heap with the little girl, but nobody was seriously hurt.
The boy who had "squished" the smaller girl wanted to comfort her, but the teacher chased him off and told him he was "bad."
I finally stood up and said, "It wasn't 'Astik's' fault. He was trying to get away from (developmentally delayed child's) attack, and didn't see the younger child."
She would not have it. He was crying, and I tried to lead him back to the smaller girl who had been flattened, so he could comfort her.
The teacher said, "Do not hold his hand when he has been bad. He needs to leave the area."
I said it again: "It was not his fault. He was being chased by (developmentally delayed child) and did not see (the little girl who got run over)."
The teacher said something about how I was undermining her teaching, but I let the boy comfort the girl, and they went off and played together.
I hope I can keep my job.
16 people like this
16 responses
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
24 Jan 20
I honestly think what you did was the right thing. I don't know about the politics of your job and whether you'll be able to keep your job, but I wouldn't go down without a fight. Kids will be kids no matter what, and the fact that the little boy wanted to apologize, that teacher should have encouraged that from the get go.
3 people like this
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
24 Jan 20
@TheHorse It could have been, that or cultural barriers. Especially if it's the teacher that is from another country, she may have been brought up to discipline children without giving them the chance to apologize.
1 person likes this
@noni1959 (13035)
• United States
24 Jan 20
If you get fired over this, make sure you tell your story and she is outed for saying he was bad. How horrible of her. She should have comforted all involved and try to talk to the special needs child. When special needs children are integrated into regular classes, there is usually an aid to help. I have a special needs grandson and we've looked into it. We are homeschooling him for now until he's verbal and around five or so. Poor child. You did the right thing.
3 people like this
@LadyDuck (502343)
• Italy
24 Jan 20
I hope you can keep your job, I know that disagreements among teachers are never beneficial to the kids. They need to see adults as their guide. If the adults do not act the same way and they are one against the other this disrupts a lot their way of thinking. This is why good parents never discuss in front of kids when they disagree.
2 people like this
@LadyDuck (502343)
• Italy
25 Jan 20
@TheHorse My brother and his wife cannot agree on anything. My niece (now she is 35) often tells me how much confused she was when his father scolded her and her mom came to tell her that everything was fine and daddy was wrong and she could continue to do what she was doing. Her mom was the one who always took her side, when her parents divorced she choose to live with her father.
@wolfgirl569 (135664)
• Marion, Ohio
24 Jan 20
She needs to be reported. Glad you stood up to her.
2 people like this
@RasmaSandra (97954)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
24 Jan 20
You are a good man and a good teacher. That was a great thing you did and just let someone complain you stand your ground.
2 people like this
@BarBaraPrz (51817)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
24 Jan 20
All that woman is teaching is how to be biased and uncaring.
1 person likes this
@Torunn (8606)
• Norway
26 Jan 20
Can you lose your job over something like that?
And why shouldn't you hold someone's hand, even if they've been bad? I don't work with small children, but I would have thought that physical contact was a good way to make establish a connection and talk about things. You work with some weird people.
I might have to send you my union rep though, if they fire you for this.
1 person likes this
@Mavic123456 (21891)
• Thailand
24 Jan 20
Do I smell fight?? but yeah you are right. and kids are kids.
1 person likes this
@Mavic123456 (21891)
• Thailand
25 Jan 20
@TheHorse good... also observe carefully to the one who the teacher is putting weight on. there might be also some redflags.
@MarshaMusselman (38865)
• Midland, Michigan
24 Jan 20
I hope you can keep your job also. Will it be up to that teacher or someone else?
1 person likes this
@amitkokiladitya (171988)
• Agra, India
24 Jan 20
You did the right thing. I hope all shall be well
1 person likes this
@just4him (323168)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
28 Jan 20
I'm sure you'll keep your job. You did the right thing in standing up to her. She needs more empathy.
@LindaOHio (222280)
• United States
24 Jan 20
You need to bring this teacher to someone's attention.
