So I'm kinda sick of bad teachers.

[Bouncy Ball]

And why my kid always gets the kooks is a puzzler to me. (Disclaimer: She does have wonderful ones, too. But it's the bad ones that make life hard for everyone.)

I always check out her stories, I know kids don't always tell the whole truth.

And her stories check out. WHY would you get in trouble for saying "ooo, looks like someone got a haircut!" to your friend?

Because the teacher thought you said "ewwww, looks like someone got a haircut!"

Yep, apparently there was a TWENTY minute whole-class inquisition to find out if Little Bouncy said "oooo" or "ewwwww." The teacher interviewed several kids separately, then asked the whole class and had Little Bouncy stand at the front, over in the corner, during all this.

Does this woman not know how to pick her battles? Of course the kid lost. The kid always loses in a battle with an adult. (This is the same woman who didn't know who Barbara Jordan was.)

I emailed her, found out the whole story, as told to me, is true. WTF is her problem? Oooo or ewwww? Could she not have said "well, if you DID say 'ewww' that isn't very nice" and left it at that? The TEACHER wasn't even sure what she heard.

When I was still in the classroom, if I wasn't sure of what a kid said, I gave them the benefit of the doubt. If I heard it loud and clear, that's another story. And I certainly didn't get bent out of shape over "oooo" vs. "ewww."

I say thank goodness for her awesome music teacher, PE coach, GT teacher, and Language Arts teacher. And her awesome violin teacher.

To make this relevant, share a story of when you were wrongly accused of something, but couldn't or weren't allowed to prove it. What was the punishment?

[redqueen]

1. Yes, I agree with you... just saying that wouldn't be nice should be fine.

What a silly thing to launch an investigation over.

As for my story... I was accused of plagiarism in the 6th grade over a poem I'd submitted for a contest. The punishment was the teacher didn't submit it for the contest, and wouldn't return it. The thing that really hurt? He was my TAG teacher...

[Bouncy Ball]

2. Was it original?

(Oh and I keep thinking about the fact that the teacher wasted twenty minutes of instructional time over that!!! IDIOT!)

[redqueen]

8. Yeah...

I worked really hard on it, so I was absolutely crushed. He thought it was plaigiarized because I used the phrase 'eating peaches and cream on a swing' (yeah shut up I was only 11)... which he said was something people only did a long time ago. :eyes:

I was only trying to rhyme. heh

[LoZoccolo]

13. Me and these guys wrote a poem making fun of the teacher...

...and she thought it was funny! We were supposed to write a poem titled "every time I _____". The teacher was this old woman named Miss Davis, and whenever she'd warn someone not to do something she'd always be like "now don't do that, you actin' a fool." So we wrote a poem called "every time I act a fool" and it was all about acting a fool and getting kicked out of school! She thought it was funny though...I think I could get away with it because she knew I liked her a lot, and to this day she's still my favorite teacher I've had.

[Bouncy Ball]

15. Now that's a great story!

[Goldmund]

3. LOLOL

That is absurd.

[Abelman]

4. Never innocent

just had some power-tripping teachers. I still maintain I was in the right, but that's the way it goes.

[Aiptasia]

5. Been there, done that, bought the t-shirt

This is a good experience for both of you. I was considered a little hellion because of the way I dressed in the 80's (my heavy metal years) and roughly 1/4 of my teachers had it in for me for some reason as well. I once sat in ISS (In school suspension) for writing a note about about a cute girl I liked after my math teacher dug it out of the trash can.

I was called a bum and a loser and a satan worshipper by the school's loving vice principal, and she made it her duty to make life hell for me in my Junior year.

You can always request that your child be transferred to another class if you really don't like the teacher, or another school if they all seem suspect.

It's really a shame, because there are good teachers out there that do get through to your kids and inspire them in ways you can't even imagine.

I'm happy to report that I did graduate from college cum laude and have a few years of graduate school under my belt. I'm also drawing down a six figure income and live for the day when my 20th HS reunion rolls around.

:) It'll all turn out just fine. Remember what HS was like for you. Just remind your kid that all of HS's B.S. is going to quickly fade away starting the day after graduation.

[LoZoccolo]

9. TELL ME...

...WHAT DO YOU WANNA DO WITH YOUR LIFE??!!

[redqueen]

12. I wanna ROCK!

:headbang:

[The Animator]

22. I want to be an Astronaut!

and find planets that have never been discovered!

and my guidance counselor said "look your British so dial it down a bit."

And then I said "I wanna work in s Shoe Shop! and find shoes that have never been discovered."

And he said "Look your British so dail it down a bit"...

[bugslsu9]

25. I love Eddie Izzard!!!

:rofl:

[Aiptasia]

18. I carried an M-16 and you carried that.. that... that.. gheetar!!!

[LoZoccolo]

6. Some teachers have these authoritarian personalities.

She'll put your daughter through all this junk just because your daughter may have said this insulting thing to her, like it's so bad if she lets this one ambiguous thing slide, all the while there is no way to stop the kids from talking about the teacher behind her back, plus this stupid incident is likely to get her talked about way more. This is the stupid behavior of a small-time dictator who thinks that if she can control the things that go on in front of her, she's in control of everything that doesn't go on in front of her or something.

[Bouncy Ball]

19. What's worse is, the comment wasn't even about her teacher!

She said it to her friend, Bryan, who did get a haircut. And Bryan smiled when she said it. He heard her say "ooo" and not "ewww" and told the teacher so. But of course, the adult is NEVER wrong.

:eyes:

[MissMarple]

7. Sounds to me like she's setting Little Bouncy up as fair game for bullies.

That was a really nasty thing to do.

[Midlodemocrat]

10. I chewed two faculty members a new one this week.

The first one was the Vice Principal at my daughter's high school. The school had been locked down on Wednesday because of a fight and some kids thought they saw a gun. The police searched the building and didn't find anything. My daughter's teacher didn't lock the door or perform the 'code blue' that he should have. Interestingly, this administration is so completely out of touch, even when the kids were telling them over and over the same story about the gun, they chose to believe that it was just a rumor and opened the school, yesterday. Well, wouldn't you know, a loaded gun was found in the clinic. The school should not have been reopened until the police could have completed their investigation.

Also, yesterday, my daughter had her period and asked to go to the restroom and the female gym teacher refused to allow her to. I think she is probably still crying from the blistering I gave her on the phone.

End rant.

[Bouncy Ball]

21. Sounds like you were pretty justified.

I always HATE mentioning bad teachers on here or anywhere. Why? Because the anti-public-school, all teachers are commies and have an easy life contingent magically pops up and starts bashing ALL teachers.

But I TRAIN teachers (I teach them). And I have really been.....disheartened this year to see the extent of it. They are bitter, worn down, worn out, overworked (easy? HA!), burned out, pushed and pulled in all directions, can never make anyone happy, AND there are just plain crappy ones. People who should have probably never entered the profession.

I am helping one teacher who cannot speak normally to her students. She SCREAMS EVERYTHING SHE SAYS. She talks to them like they're dirt. And she wonders why they're so nasty to her. Hmmmm.

But I work with her. And she's getting better. Still, it's hard.

That gun thing was ridiculous. They need to seriously review their procedures on that. Pronto.

[fudge stripe cookays]

11. Closest I came...

was my honors English class in 12th grade.

We were reading HAmlet, and had a choice of characters to write a diary for. Of course, being a chicak, I picked Ophelia.

Since we didn't have decent computers back then, I took one of my dad's Old English art lettering templates and proceeded to letter a whole mess of poems I composed myself as the contents. I did them on manila paper, took the pages onto the patio and burned the edges, spilled coffee on the paper, and tied the whole booklet together with a pink ribbon.

When I went to turn it in, Mrs. Barger took one look at it, and snappily said "This doesn't meet the requirements for the assignment. I wanted this to be your own content, not something you just lettered."

I felt like I'd been slapped, and got a huge lump in my throat and tears in my eyes, so bad I'm sure she couldn't hear me say, "But it is...." She'd essentially just called me a plagiarist with lettering skills.

I was dismissed handily back to my seat.

Several days later, when she returned them, she'd written me a nice long note iside, profusely apologizing to me for being so awful, and said her daughter began looking at it while she was grading and said "MOM LOOK AT THIS!" They read the poems together, and she could see how much work had gone into it.

When she realized I'd composed all the poems AND done all the other stuff, she felt horrible, and gave me a 98, the highest grade in the class, and even read some of the poems to the class.

There were attaboys all around for me when class was over. People were amazed I'd done all that.

[Bouncy Ball]

24. At least she was big enough to apologize.

That's always nice. I love hearing about adults acting like adults.

:-)

[fudge stripe cookays]

41. Yeah, I thought it was very classy.

I won a scholarship later that year, and got to read it at a lunch in my honor at Fort Sam Houston (given by the Society of Mayflower Descendants).

Since my dad was dead, and I was allowed to bring 2 guests, I brought my mom and Mrs. Barger. There was no way I was bringing my asshole of a stepmonster (before he was even my stepmonster).

FSC

[MichiganVote]

14. Assuming this is the only complaint you have about this teacher

how does one lapse in judgement, however squirrly, earn this teacher the title of "bad teacher". Show me the perfect employee, in or out of a classroom.

[Bouncy Ball]

16. Oh this is FAR from my only complaint.

As a trainer of teachers myself, this is truly not a good teacher. She's not academically rigorous, doesn't know the curriculum, does as little as she can to get by, seems to think ruling with an iron fist at all times is a good idea with kids (:eyes:), I could go on and on.

She IS better than the last one, who got fired in January for repeatedly telling the kids that if you don't believe in Jesus you will burn in hell (public school). A few kids went home crying that day, convinced their atheist/Muslim grandmothers were burning in hell. And when the principal talked to her, the teacher said she refuses to stop saying it. So she was let go. That one, too, was totally lacking in academic rigor or discipline in the classroom.

It's been a bad year. They happen.

And there's a WORLD of difference between bad and perfect. I don't want or need perfect. I want good.

[MichiganVote]

23. I'm sorry you've had such a bad time of it. Good luck w/ the next one

[Radical Activist]

17. So what was the problem with saying eeew?

Was it because it would embarrass her or make the other student feel bad? If that's a rule violation then how much more embarrassing and hurtful was what the teacher did to your daughter? Having to stand in front of class and be accused of something is hurtful? I guess its ok to make students feel like crap if you're a teacher doing it, but its not OK if other students do it? Sounds pretty dumb.

I had a science teacher in junior high who gave detentions for not turning in homework, and i was pretty bad about that. If you skipped a detention you would get two more. She also announced the list of people who had detention at the beginning of class instead of telling students individually so it was easy to miss if she decided to mumble or forgot that day. Anyway, after a while it didn't matter if I showed up to detention or did my homework or not. She would always give me a detention by default or send me to the principals office anyway. Near the end of the semester she didn't give me credit for a science project because she claimed I never turned it in, even though the project got a 2nd place ribbon in the science fair. Idiotic. I never liked science after that year. She was a total bitch asshat.

[Bouncy Ball]

20. You make a good point.

I never employed the "humiliate them" tactics. It only breeds resentment and the kids WILL find a way to get out that resentment in the end. You have to be the adult in the room. If you aren't, no one is.

The whole thing was so ridiculous. The teacher's point was that if she HAD said "ewww" then that is derogatory. But, um, she didn't say "ewww." She said "oooo" with a totally different tone of voice.

Seems silly to spend twenty freaking minutes on. Especially when the teacher's been freaking out about statewide testing next week and saying the kids aren't ready for it. :eyes:

[_TJ_]

26. She made the kid stand in the corner?

How old is this kid? - that's public humiliation and is
not acceptible treatment from a teacher in my opinion.

[Bouncy Ball]

29. She's 10. In the fourth grade.

When I picked her up today, she said "That's it, I'm convinced, she really DOES hate me." (Referring to the teacher.)

[_TJ_]

37. In my sisters school...

...when she was a wee lass, her teacher would sometimes punish
the girls by transferring them to another class for a few hours,
and making them stay there with girls much younger/older.
The poor kid would be in floods of tears from embarassment.

Of course it was much worse for boys - we got
punched/slapped/whipped by the type of sadistic psychopaths
who were on show during the Nuremberg trials! :D

Why the hell to people like this become teachers in the first
place??

[Darth_Kitten]

27. I'll relate a few school stories

In the third grade(??) we were lined up to go back into school after recess. I was one of those quiet, polite kids. Kids in line were talking, so I talked back to them and guess who gets hauled into the principal's office? Not the other kids, me. :(

Junior high home ec: Teacher hated me, she was always challenging me. Think she was the one who sabotaged a new blouse I was making, she cut the material so I couldn't make it into a long sleeve one. (we kept our projects in our lockers in the home ec room, so who else would have access? Long story, and I'm still bitter. :(

Junior and Senior high school:

Gym teacher who played favourites, I wasn't one of them.

One year I worked especially hard in gym class. Ran farther than anybody, worked my butt off in soccer, hockey, you name it. My friends said I would be sure to get an A+. Get my report card, I got a B, I was in tears all the way home. If there was EVER a great mark I deserved, it was then. :( My dorky little friend, Miss Straight A's in everything and a mess in gym, got an A. :(
Mom wanted to talk to the teacher, but I talked her out of it. :(


:D there, that's my recollection of things. :)

[Bouncy Ball]

31. Those ARE bad.

:-(

[Darth_Kitten]

32. Just unfair mostly.

:) but i'm okay. :)

[Steve Nash is god 13]

28. Yes... the other day in

applied tech (computers) one kid was flying around the room on his chair (with wheels). (Well, the mean old guy does not like this) and he walked in ( i was looking at someone else's computer) and upon seeing him come in i ran back to my seat and jumped into it (this caused it to move a little) and he saw my chair move and thought i was the one flying around. the punishment: standing up the whole 40 minute period

[Bouncy Ball]

30. Yikes.

Geez. When you aren't sure you saw or heard something, you give the kid the benefit of the doubt or else you have to engage in a huge power struggle and/or punish the wrong kid, resulting in resentment.

Ah well, you sound like you took it well.

[tammywammy]

33. My 7th grade English teacher embarrassed me in front of the whole class

We were doing reports. I had written my and was giving the oral presentation. I recited statistics and the whole mess for 5 minutes. My fellow students thought I did really well. But apparently Mrs. Lafleur didn't think so. She proceeded to berate me in front of the class, until I was on the verge of tears. And she gave me a C on my report, that met all of her criteria. Basically, what I heard from her was that I did a horrible job and would never amount to anything.

When I was a senior in high school, I thought back on her. I was editor of my yearbook, managing editor of the literary magazine, cellist in the symphony and an A English student, and outside of school was a supervisor in my full time job.

I'm now working on my English major in college, and want to be a high school English teacher. I use Mrs. Lafleur as an example of how to never treat any student. She was horrible.

[skygazer]

34. Another person accused of plagiarism here

It's interesting to see how many others were. I've always loved to write and I took a creative writing course in high school. The teacher had us read examples of the type of thing we'd be writing (descriptive paragraph, etc.) and then write our own. For my descriptive paragraph, I described a horse. Loving horses, I got into it.

He called me to stay after class and asked me point blank if I'd copied it. I was shocked. I'd always been a good student and there was no reason to think such a thing - besides, it was such a heavy handed way of going about it, with no evidence.

I never got the sense that he believed me when I insisted it was my own work and for the rest of the semester, I made no real effort, simply reading what was in the book and writing a talentless clone of it as he seemed to expect. Creative writing, my foot!

I had several rotten teachers but honestly the teachers who always stayed in my mind and truly influenced me were two high school English teachers who were fabulous and one of my college professors who did a lot to help and encourage me. The positives stick in my mind more than the negatives.

[miss_kitty]

35. Christ. I hate hearing stories like this

I'dve ripped that person a new one, in a humilating fashion, in front of her peers, then asked her how she liked it. I would have DEMANDED she tell me what sort of end will come of the 'Spanish Inquisition.' I mean her method flies in the face of what she is pointing out.
I would have demanded she explain to me why she thinks it's OK to abuse my child emotionally, and give her bad memories she'll take to her grave.
It lets any clown who should not be teaching know where the bear went into the bushes vis a vis my kid.

Also, why does she need to stick her goddamn oar in? Was there a complaint? Does she micromanage ALL of the conversations in her classes? She's a fucking bully. And I hope she gets a taste of her own medicine.

Uh-I've had a few run-ins myself with the asshats who shouldn't be teachers in my checkered past. 30-40 years later-still too annoying, to hurtful and enraging to type out some of the incidents.

I hope it gets better for Li'l Bouncy. I'm sending her floaty hearts!
:loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya:

[Bouncy Ball]

38. You are TOO sweet!

And you have a good point. The kid wasn't complaining. In fact, he smiled at her, making it pretty clear HE knew she wasn't being mean and he even told the teacher that!

Micromanage, I have to remember that word when we have our little conference on Monday.

[miss_kitty]

40. I did not see that Li'l B is a fourth grader-here's my bad memory

One of my worst memories-Miss Torget. What a bully and someone who obviously prided herself on being able to win a battle of wits with a 10 year old. I remember-as I often do-how she thought our test answers about Africa needed a good 5 minutes of ridicule.
"Joe Smith," she called out and read in a mocking voice an answer he wrote that was wrong. people started laughing because it was funny.
"Not so fast, the rest of you. Miss_kitty- oh this is a good one (dripping :sarcasm:, and we knew)-'Africa is known as the 'Dark Continent' because of its black people!' I never heard anything SO STUPID. What are you doing in the smart class?"

Like I said-40 years, and I still hear them laughing, my face going hot, trying not to cry. And I see the triumph in her ugly face and hear the contempt in her voice. Fourth grade. Happy times. Not.

Kick that 'teacher's' ass, BB!

[Robeson]

36. Some teachers are very sadistic with kids...

...some physically and some mentally.

[Wapsie B]

39. Not that I had any bad teachers.

It's just that I never felt I had a teacher at any level who really cared about me as a person.

[barackmyworld]

42. One of my best friends has a great story about this

He was constantly put down by out 6th grade teacher, and forced to sit in a desk in the corner of the room away from everyone else. The teacher said he wouldn't amount to anything except for a grade digger.

Well, two years ago when we got our college acceptances, we went back to the elementary school to see that teacher. He said he was going to Yale (this is true), and she asked what he was majoring in. He said "grave digging" and we walked out of there.