 | My son has also not had recess since the 2nd week of school - his teacher has not allowed him recess, lunch play time, computer lab, music, art, their field trip, etc. He has gained almost 8 pounds since school started this year. He even says that kids are starting to tease him because he never gets to play - this is negatively affecting his self-esteem and I'm worried for him. I've talked to his teacher and the principal. The principal supports the teacher and says that Steven needs to do his work in class like all the other kids. He's in a magnet class for 3rd graders. He has very high verbal skills for speech and comprehension and expresses himself like a high school student. But he doesn't like to do all the math problems, has a difficult time writing paragraphs, let alone sentences, and is easily distracted.
His 1st grade teacher faced similar problems with him and we worked out a system where he got stickers for completing his work in small blocks of time. That lead to color codes for the end of the day which lead to possible consequences or rewards at the end of the week. This years teacher will not do this because she says that she should not have to reward him for doing his work at this age - and then others will want similar benefits...I can't offer too much advice because as a teacher myself I have found that my son's teachers are put off by my recommendations - like "how dare I tell them how to do their job with my son.."
I finally had it this December because the teacher would not allow him to participate in the school's holiday music program - let alone rehearse for it - so I met with the principal and her. The teacher grudgingly agreed to reduce his work load - "accomodations" but was unhappy about it. Later that day the prinicpal called me and suggested that with the "fresh start we were going to have with the new year after returing from the holidays, maybe we should consider a new teacher too..." I jumped at the chance to change his classroom and this past monday 1`/12/04 he started in Mr. Michael's class. That first day back was a pretty good day, according to Steven. The next day he was absent because we had a funeral for his grandma, but he's back at school today.
The main point it as a parent, we need to advocate for our children. Teachers do know about educating and presenting lessons, but we know our children's hearts and minds and emotions. If we won't fight for them and their rights, who will. I'm much happier now. Steven even got recess and is being allowed to join in on the field trip next week - they're going Whale Watching...how fun is that?
Teachers who use recess and computer/music etc as punishment for student's not doing enough work are just being bullies! Their using their status as a grown up in authority to say to the child - I'm more powerful than you and there's nothing you can do about it. What kind of message ware we sending them with that kind of unspoken words?
I do believe that some of the NCLB stuff is pure bull-puckey, even being a teacher and all, but if it isn't NCLB, it's always going to be something. We just have to look out for our kids ourselves.
Michele |
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