Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Dear Mrs. Needs A Kick Arcoss The Head

A letter written for my daughters teacher:

Mrs. P,

There are some issues that I would like to address seeing as my schedule makes it “impossible” to meet.

We first met on Dec. 3/09 to address your concerns with Babygirl's behaviour. At that point, I advised that I was working on it at home as well and asked what you would suggest I do to improve it. The answers you gave me were things I was already doing. Again, at that time I re-iterated I would work on her focus and attention at home. When I met with Mr. E the same night, the same was not reflected from him until I brought it up (following our meeting). He mentioned that she does get out of her desk, but it was not something he was overly worried about.

The next time you brought Babygirl's behaviour to my attention was when she was caught reading the book about Tornados during your introduction to the Science lesson on Jan.25/10. From the time of our first meeting and the note, it was approximately 2 months in between, however, Babygirl was off for 2 weeks for Christmas break. I am not making excuses on behalf of my daughter, I am simply stating that the lapse in her schedule might account for her resuming her old actions. At that point, I understand that she was not paying attention to class, but I don’t believe that what she was doing was doing was that negative. The issue that I had at that point was the fact that you calledBabygirl “incorrigible”. I do not understand how a teacher with many years of teaching can think that a child reading a book on Tornadoes instead of paying attention is broken past the point of “fixing” (I have put fixing in quotation marks, b/c I do not believe that what she was doing was necessarily wrong). To go on and tell me that she needs to “mature” (albeit you did cross it out) is again bewildering to me. Was she crying in class? Did she have bathroom accidents?? Did she bring in her security blanket and did not release it when to told her too? How would you suggest a 7 year old mature and do you honestly believe that every child in your class exhibit those activities except for Babygirl?

Then you went on to mention that this issue was brought to the attention of the class. Why was this brought up in front of the whole class? Is one of the ways you reprimand to ridicule? I cannot grasp how this would help you in understanding her behaviour (or lack of according to you). And then you have the audacity to mention to her mother, that Babygirl was not being truthful regarding a seating situation in another class. When I questioned Babygirl about this incident, she mentioned that it was only one other student who disputed why she was sitting by herself. To believe one child over another, again, I question that occurrence. Why would you not ask the teacher why she was sitting by herself? If you had, perhaps you would’ve saved your credibility and found out that I actually requested that she move from her current seat, just as Babygirl was stating when you accused her of “not being truthful”. It was not because of her behaviour.

I understand the issue that you feel needs to addressed is Babygirl’s behaviour and from the first note I wrote back, I advised that I was indeed looking after it. What I do not need from you is to constantly belittle a 7 year old and her mannerisms. Not only in Babygirl’s case, but if you describe any child in this way, you might want to re-think your career choice.

As per Mr. E and a supply teacher who supplied for her in 2010, her behaviour was no worse than any other child in the class. I do not require a day by day play on how Babygirl disrupts, causes chaos and upsets the balance that is in your class. I do not need a recount of everything that Babygirl did poorly from every teacher that has ever taught Babygirl. If it is (was) an issue, they should bring it up to me directly, not through you.

I do not want to hear about her behaviour unless it affects her academically at which point you can send her to Mr. W to address. If in fact you deem her too much too handle and feel incapable of correcting her behaviour in a way that satisfies you, regardless of many years of a being teacher, please address this with the Principal or Vice Principal as I have no qualms about her being transferred out of your class.

Rgds,
llleeesssaaa

1 comment:

3MonkeysMama said...

Oh my...
What your babygirl is doing doesn't sound unreasonable, I think some teachers just can't handle it and single one out. You can't expect a 7 year old to sit in class perfectly still from 9-3. Best of luck trying to remediate.