There was much press given recently to a second grader who recorded his teacher's negative comments to the class.
He did this because his mother did not believe him when he said his teacher was mean. The mother had his class changed and now that teacher is in deep trouble. It will be interesting to see what happens next. There are several possible scenarios.
The first thing a principal should do is to make clear to every new staff member that he will not tolerate anyone talking down to children.
The teacher could be dismissed because she was caught having a bad day or because she does not know how to motivate and to teach young children. The principal should know which scenario is correct. If the first scenario is true, he should come to the teacher's defense. We all have bad days, even mothers. If the second scenario is true, he should be held more accountable than the teacher because he should know what is going on in his classrooms.
The principal could defend himself by saying there is no way he can know. Every time he looks in everything is fine. This may or may not be true. There are several possible solutions to this dilemma. One is used by parents who employ nannies. They rent tiny cameras from companies like Babywatch and In-home Nanny Surveillance which are concealed in everything from VCRs to teddy bears so they can check on life with the baby when they are gone. Another is to do what the little boy did, put tape recorders in the classrooms. All of these sound like Big Brother watching and are undesirable. There are much better ways for a principal to be sure that he has a competent staff.
The first thing he should do is to make clear to every new staff member that he will not tolerate anyone talking down to children. This includes not only teachers but the bus drivers, the cafeteria workers, the custodians, and the secretarial staff. If he hears that they are doing so, he may have to start a staff development program which helps them to change their ways. If they cannot, they should not be permitted to interact with children.
Most members of the school community know which staff members are unkind to children. Principals usually know too because parents tell them, or request that their child be assigned to another teacher. In the case reported in the news, the boy's class was changed, but what happens to the children who are left behind? Several things could happen.
Most adults know when they are behaving badly, and may avoid doing so when there is another adult in the room. The principal could initiate a program whereby two teachers team teach. In this way teachers with different temperaments, teaching styles and skills could interact with a greater variety of children's styles. Another possibility is to have an aide in the classroom. In this case, it may be a necessity since the teacher was berating the children because they could not learn to read. Since her job, especially in second grade, is to teach them to read, she obviously needs help.
The second-grader with the tape recorder understood that the problem was not his; it was the teacher's. Unfortunately, many children that age would accept the teacher's accusations as true, thereby diminishing their own sense of self-worth.
This school could use a good PTA program of parent volunteers. More parents spending time in the school means more adult help and supervision for the children and for the staff.
You need to know what is going on in school, especially if your child complains about the teacher or develops school-refusal. If you do not, your child may feel that there is something wrong with him because the teacher or another member of the school staff says mean things to him. If the problem is a totally incompetent member of the school staff, your action will help other children as well as your own.
First published in 1996
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