Maybe You Shouldn't Be A Teacher

The sad fact is this has become the norm for many parents who would rather criticize their child's teacher than admit that their own child is in anyway wrong.

Mr. Kaye looked at the computer screen. The time read 10:25. If this class was going to be dismissed on time, he was going to have to get moving and minimize the distractions. The class had over ten pages scheduled to read aloud, as part of the curriculum for today. Still the class continued to yammer, as though it were lunch or maybe a crowded rock concert. Mr. Kaye raised his hand and roughly five to six of thirty in the class raised their hands. Most of the class was ignoring him, laughing, being social and exercising their freedom of ignorance. This was pretty much an everyday occurrence in Mr. Kaye's class. He had complained to many facets at the school that were supposed to support him, but in the end nothing ever seemed to be done.

Finally after Mr. Kaye started calling out, "A minutes and twenty seconds...A minute and twenty-one second," holding up a stopwatch, most of the class quieted down. There were still a few whispers toward the back, but Mr. Kaye recognized (for his class) this was as good as gets.

Mr. Kaye told the students to open their books on their desks to page 36. Then, he walked around the room, forcing many students to flip the books on their desks open to, because quiet frankly most of these children didn't care, obeying a direct order from a teacher was second nature to them.

Mr. Kaye started to read from the book, but a kid yelled out, "Kawika...Kawika...Kawika!"He was yelling across the classroom with a weird sort of quiet whisper. When Mr. Kaye looked at him, he gave his teacher a look like, "WHAT!!!"

Mr. Kaye started to read again, but he had to stop almost immediately because a girl was playing with her cell phone. He approached the girl, and she quickly shoved the cell phone between her legs, denying that she was even playing with it. Mr. Kaye continued reading, but had to stop five to ten more times for various interruptions. The time was now 10:35, and in ten minutes the class had progressed about two sentences. Mr. Kaye tried reading again, but was interrupted by spitballs and girls writing notes. Mr. Kaye called out, "Ashley put that note away."Ashley replied, "It's not a note."

Mr. Kaye warned the class one last time, "We can do this the easy way, or the HARD WAY." The class acknowledged they were going to do better, but the words were only hollow sounds coming out of their mouths. At 10:40 the class had still not even finished the first paragraph that was when Mr. Kaye put the book down. Mr. Kaye told the whole class to take out a sheet of paper, and with approximately twenty minutes left, he gave the class an assignment. He wrote it on the board.


THE HARD WAY!

During the next ten to fifteen minutes, many students fooled around and talked. A few were writing vigorously, but most wasted the entire time talking and laughing. AT 10:55 Mr. Kaye called the counselor, and asked her, if she could notify the cafeteria some students would be going a little late and to hold the door. Before the bell was going to ring many students began to get angry. There was swearing, some even looked as though they were going to throw temper tantrums. Mr. Kaye calmly assured the students they needed to finish the assignment before they went to lunch. Many students began to complain. Mr. Kaye told all of them the same thing. You need to finish your assignment before you go to lunch.

One student wrote Mr. Kaye a letter in which he blatantly told him he was not going to do the assignment and threatening the security of his job, saying he was going to call his Mom, and perhaps he would have Mr. Kaye fired.

After reading the letter, Mr. Kaye sprang to the telephone, "Let's call your Mom."

"Go ahead," the boy forewarned him, "She's going to be pissed you called her at work."

Mr. Kaye dialed the phone number, and after two to three minutes of waiting, got the Mom on the phone. He calmly explained the scenario, exactly as it happened.

After a long pause, the Mom asked plainly, "How did he threaten you?"

"Did he say he was going to hurt you?"

"No," Mr. Kaye replied.

"How's that a threat?" the Mom asked.

Mr. Kaye explained, how he perceived the child was trying to threaten the security of his job. The Mom replied, "That's not a threat!"

Mr. Kaye replied, "I felt threatened."

The Mom could only say, "She had to hear her son's side of the story."

Mr. Kaye assured her the story he told her was completely unbiased. The Mom continued to stick to her guns, saying she wanted to hear her son's side of the story. When Mr. Kaye realized nothing was going to be done, he asked if the Mom could come in for a parent conference immediately. The Mom told him she would come in two weeks.

Although this seems like a fictional, over-exaggerated story, this is a reality in many classrooms. This happened in my classroom. The day of the parent conference, the Mom told me in so many words, "I don't understand why you became a teacher, if you can't handle getting threatened by a child." That was it. No apology. No alibi. Apparently, I'm supposed to suck it up, because parents are going to keep allowing their children to act however they want to act. I wasn't really sure what to do about it, I wanted to crawl into a hole and hide. I felt weak and angry about the whole experience. Was I over-reacting? I didn't think so, but if I challenged this mother on her questionable parenting skills, I could be fired, or put on probation. I don't understand when it became acceptable for children to bully adults or when teachers lost all their civil rights in the classroom, but this is one teacher who is seriously considering changing careers.

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Misconceptions In Parenting And Teaching Special Needs Children

Having a special need child in the family doesn’t mean you have to panic. Just like other kids, special needs children can learn to live a normal life and reach their full potential. Guidance, teaching and love are primary ingredients in rearing a special child and helping him reach full potential.

The “panicking” of parents upon learning about their child’s situation can be attributed to some common misconceptions in dealing with special needs children. These misconceptions lead to the thought that there is no bright future for special needs children. Unless these myths are fully understood and corrected, parents will never know that special needs children will still reach their full potentials.

Here are the top 3 common special child misconceptions and the truth about them:

Parenting and teaching a special child will take away all your happiness and replace it with difficulties.

This may be true to some persons who don’t love the child at all – but does this type of person exist? How can parents not love their own child no matter what his needs are? Parenting and teaching a special child is not a reason to be unhappy. It is all in the attitude! Rearing a child with special needs doesn’t take away your happiness. You may be unhappy but it’s your choice. You can choose to be happy and satisfied caring and teaching your special child. Rather than letting yourself be imprisoned by the situation, be in control. Plan exciting activities that will help you enjoy at the same time leave an effective learning experience to your child.


Special needs children will never reach their full potential

This is another myth. Just like any other children, special needs children can reach their full potential. They can learn to speak, read, and interact with other people. They have the ability to live a happy, satisfied and complete life. But they won’t be able to achieve these on their own. They need guidance and proper teaching for them to be the best person that they could be. You should not be the judge of your child’s potential. Let him explore and learn. There are several education materials that cater to teaching special needs children reach their full potential.


Nobody understands the difficulties of parenting and teaching special needs children.

No two persons are the same. The individual difference theory is true but it doesn’t apply to situations. You may be facing the challenge of parenting or teaching differently abled children but you are not alone. Many other parents or teachers have been through the same situation. The only thing that differs is the way people handle special situations like this. There are even foundations and organizations that cater to helping parents and teachers cope up with the challenge of teaching and parenting children with special needs.

Parenting and teaching special needs children is an easy task if you know how to handle the situation. Don’t panic! Know what is true and what is not. Don’t judge a situation based on pure misconceptions. As long as you know what to do, parenting and teaching children with special needs will be a satisfying and fulfilling experience.
About the Author

POPS Resources provides books, games and teaching materials for special needs and differently abled children. These teaching resources aim to help special needs children reach their full potential. For more information on how to foster the unique potential of your child, please visit POPS Special Needs Resources.

Share by: Monica Corral-lorica

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Keep It Super Simple

I hear of so many teachers that spend 60, 70, 80 hours a week working. I like my job. I love my students. I adore teaching, but we don't get paid enough to spend that kind of time on our career. And the best part is that you don't have to.

I work from 6:30 - 4:00 most days. Then, I go home with empty hands and don't think about school again until the next day. Even maintaining these hours, I am able to run a well organized, exciting, academically driven, high-achieving classroom.

My goal is to provide you with a few quick strategies to streamline your planning, organizing and work so that you can be successful as a teacher and still have a life!

First, plan with a team. In team planning you "share the wealth". Each teacher brings strengths to the table, and putting them together to plan raises the level of everyone's plans. Working on a team also gives you the opportunity to bounce ideas off of other people in a non-threatening setting.

If there are not other teachers at your school to plan with, find some in the area. Teaching is, sadly, a mostly isolated profession - teaching, planning, grading, and working alone. Planning shouldn't be. You're only as good as your plans, so find other professionals to plan with.

Second, plan "in bulk". At my school we take one afternoon a week and plan for each subject for a month. The first week we plan reading, the second week we plan math, the third week we plan writing, and so on. In doing this you know what you need in advance, so there is never a last minute rush. This also covers you in case of illness or other unexpected emergency. If you have teaching aides or parent volunteers coming into your room, you know in advance if you need something for them to help you cut, buy, or put together.

Planning in bulk can also help you make sure you are covering all of the standards and expectations. You're never left hanging in the wind with 3 weeks of school left if you are continually looking forward in big blocks of time.

Third, simplify your lessons. Every lesson does not need to have some cute art project, worksheet or product. The best lessons are lessons that have a clear purpose, concise goal, streamlined teaching and maintain academic flow. My classroom is a "no worksheet" zone. Children do not learn from worksheets. They learn from clear teaching, real-world application and use of all of the senses.

One of my all time favorite teaching tools is plain, white copy paper. You can do almost anything with plain, white paper. There are 100's of ways to turn it into graphic organizers, stories, books, reviews, word family charts and more. The children feel ownership in their products, and it is authentic assessment. To find great things to do with paper, visit Dinah's Archives.

I have every type of student in my classroom - just like you: "typical", gifted, ESE, ADHD, and the list goes on and on. Most of these students do not want to be in a chair all day - they would much rather move! Having a classroom that allows children to learn in the way that they are most capable makes sense. During my day we have tons of music, movement, dancing, writing, drawing, cooperative work, hands-on centers and structured "learning through play".

Try one of these tips and see if you become a happier teacher with more time for YOU to play!

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Teachers And The Teaching Profession

How important is it really the master of education? Many people rely largely on the teacher in schools for the education of their children. At the same time, educational institutions are also proud of the ability of teachers to spread the knowledge of youth. They have invested heavily in hiring the best teachers to join their staff. It seems, then, that these teachers play a central role in schools and the education sector in general. In this article, the characteristics of a good teacher and his responsibilities will be discussed in depth in a way.

The teachers are part of an institution of learning. If you can not find a school that is not in its teachers. Of course, it can not be called to a school, if they are not teachers. A teacher is a person who is responsible for the transmission of knowledge to students to prepare them to become competitive and productive society. As you know, a teacher teaches students about the information, experience and skills they need in accordance with the established program.

A good teacher is the quality and the ability to transmit knowledge and wisdom to students. This is important because teachers are the coaches of the new generation of citizens who are the heirs of the company. E 'task of teacher training and to prepare well for the young to face the challenges that come upon them once they have graduated from the school. A teacher has the responsibility to pass on to future generations the knowledge of managers of the company. These tasks have been done more for the development of society and the advancement of technology.

As society and technology progresses, the challenges faced by teachers have also become huge. Must be able to cope with the rapid progress of technology with their teaching methods. At present, more and more students are connected to the Internet. Thousands of information, some of which are harmful to students, are published on the website. This could prove detrimental to the learning process of students. Teachers should be able to view, or at least find a way to see these things or to provide clarification on this information unsolicited.

In addition, teachers can take advantage of technological innovations. They can also use this technology to improve their teaching methods. If you are connected with other schools, you can use the convenience of the Internet to communicate with other teachers to share experiences, methods and information on the effectiveness of teaching.

It can be said, therefore, that teachers are very important for the development of society. Without them, the transmission of knowledge gained from past generations, the new generation of guardians of the company will not be possible. This responsibility is on the shoulders is a huge task. The profession of teaching is one of the noblest professions in society. As the great philosopher Aristotle once said, there are only three true professionals in society, are lawyers, doctors and teachers.

Share by: Barbara Overton13

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