Critical of Teachers.

[developer]

It can be easy at times can't it?

My eldest has started 6th form this year

He's in a mainstream group but he needs significant extra help.

Today he brought home his Music Technology exercise book with the following hand written note inside:

"Hi John,

Could we arrange a one hour visit each week so I can go through the topics with you in detail, to give Greg the best support possible?

I will email you available times.

Many thanks"


Isn't that great - he could just "process" him through the syllabus couldn't he?

Looks like I'm going back to school .

 

[davidjpowell]

That is good.

Step-lad has some issues here and there, and his school have similarly gone out of their way to help, when it would have been very easy to wash their hands of him.

I have to say I do think the percentage of teachers who really do care is actually quite high.

ETA - it's also a reflection of parents. I suspect there kids who are supported at home by a family who care rather than one who is 'anti-school' can make a difference in this situation.

 

[jaymanek]

I think you have an admirer

 

[developer]

I think you have an admirer

His name's not Ray Charles.....

 

[Mr E]

Similar experience for us too - emails home if homework had gone astray, plenty of help available, etc.

It was nice to be able to reciprocate - we're encouraged at work to support local schools and I do various presentations on ICT, Engineering and real-world use of such topics. Laddo's maths teacher heard that the feedback from students was good and so we developed a session where we looked at some interesting usage of the maths the kids were using in interest real-world environments. It's great when teachers who care about the kids go out of their way to ake lessons more interesting and get the kids switched on to the usefulness of a subject.

 

[Colin_b]

My daughter in her final year of teacher training. Her classes have between 70% and 85% of the pupils SEN.

Hard work, and at times extremely frustrating, at others hugely rewarding.

 

[Mike Walker]

Our daughter is a teacher with 7 years exoperinece since graduating. She resigned just before Christmas because she could not cope with the stress of dealing with OFSTED, incapable management and some pretty crazy parents.

Very sad because she loved the kids and they clearly loved her. School is failing badly - no surprise there!

 

[Rory]

My daughter in her final year of teacher training. Her classes have between 70% and 85% of the pupils SEN.

Hard work, and at times extremely frustrating, at others hugely rewarding.

My daughter taught at a very rough school for her NQT year and they took her on. She stayed for another couple of years and then moved to one very much at the other end of the scale. She was saying the other day she quite misses the first school and I wouldn't be surprised if she ended up going back there.

 

[developer]

I'm humbled

Today (Sunday ) I dropped my son of at his Music Technology teacher's house - the same guy mentioned at post #1.

His teacher wants to ensure his coursework is finished so my son has a chance at getting a grade, due to him needing extra help. He's due to stay there until 6pm tonight - not a happy son.

Prior to taking him, my wife and I had been discussing about why a teacher would put this much effort into helping his struggling pupils and I cynically said that the teacher was probably trying to meet his pass grade targets set by the authority.

When we arrived he introduced us to his parents who were babysitting his young son, so that he could spent the time with my son, uninterrupted.

During the small talk I told him we were very grateful for all the extra effort he was putting in.......................

He casually explained that this was his last teaching year as he's got problems with both his heart and lungs and that the next steps were transplants.

He just wanted to give a final push to the students who had been trying hard during the year, but hadn't done enough to get through.

He's about 30 with a wife and young baby.

How easy would it have been for him to put his own problems first, particularly as he's leaving the teaching profession next year?

I left feeling just a little guilty

 

[TDE1]

He sounds like a gem. A credit to his profession and mankind.

 

[Harrythedog]

Well done that teacher, he's showing a true vocation to his job and I for one wish him well for his future health.

My only gripe about teachers is that most of them have been cocooned in the educational system since they were 5 years old and a lot of them have no experience of the outside world.

 

[Red C220]

We have the opposite experience. Step Daughter (14) goes to a good school locally but one that has 2000 pupils.

We've just gone through choosing her options and it's been a nightmare. We've had to deal with 6 different teachers, all of whom gave conflicting advice and non of whom had any incling of what the others had said.

We found it diffcult to get a straight answer from anyone and when I did manage to get meetings they were non commital and generally refering to someone else for a decision.

Overall the quality of education at this school is good, as well as the facilities, but once you veer off the standard it's easy to get lost in the sheer volume of pupils there.

We have to continually keep on top of this with regular visits. Of course it doesn't help the our 14 year old is in full Kevin the teenager mode and we get little more than grunts rather than constructive conversation.

14 year old girls! Aaaarrrgghhhh

 

[developer]

He sounds like a gem. A credit to his profession and mankind.

Well done that teacher, he's showing a true vocation to his job and I for one wish him well for his future health.

Agreed - this is the second time my son has been there for the day - the last time was during the Easter break.

It's definitely above and beyond and makes me feel we should be thanking him in some manner, officially or otherwise.

 

[trapperjohn]

I really do believe in the power of positive feedback. Your thanks and feedback to that teacher and his young family (and maybe a mention of his admirers on the forum, me included) will only make his wish to get back to teaching after his operations - stronger. It will be a long time before he can make the classroom again (if ever) I'm sure a visit from your son with his newly acquired grades after his exams will be reward enough for the teacher.

I did think, as perhaps you have, of commending the teacher up the chain of command but I somehow feel in this day and age it could well backfire on said teacher. Crappy old world we live in eh.

 

[davidjpowell]

That is good.

Step-lad has some issues here and there, and his school have similarly gone out of their way to help, when it would have been very easy to wash their hands of him.

I have to say I do think the percentage of teachers who really do care is actually quite high.

ETA - it's also a reflection of parents. I suspect there kids who are supported at home by a family who care rather than one who is 'anti-school' can make a difference in this situation.

I'd forgotten this thread. Sadly step-lads school has changed. Former head is 'absent from school' - the rumour being that he was bullying teachers.

Since then the acting head has taken a much harder line, and monster has been suspended twice for a short occasion on each.

First time was for a trivial offence, which they felt needed an example making of (sitting on a roof (one story high). Second time was when he swore within earshot of a teacher. (Not on, but I would have thought a detention or two would have been as appropriate). Even the teachers seemed embarrassed.

We've got two months to go. Then he's off to college.

We have the opposite experience. Step Daughter (14) goes to a good school locally but one that has 2000 pupils.

We've just gone through choosing her options and it's been a nightmare. We've had to deal with 6 different teachers, all of whom gave conflicting advice and non of whom had any incling of what the others had said.

We found it diffcult to get a straight answer from anyone and when I did manage to get meetings they were non commital and generally refering to someone else for a decision.

Overall the quality of education at this school is good, as well as the facilities, but once you veer off the standard it's easy to get lost in the sheer volume of pupils there.

We have to continually keep on top of this with regular visits. Of course it doesn't help the our 14 year old is in full Kevin the teenager mode and we get little more than grunts rather than constructive conversation.

14 year old girls! Aaaarrrgghhhh

My experience of 16 year old boys is they get no better.

ETA to Developer. Sounds like you've got a rare one there!

 

[DITTRICH]

The secret of education is that it takes both parents and teachers to educate someone. I get to see my son's teachers twice per term at which views and comments are exchanged and discussed with my son later. I also make a point of reviewing ALL his homework and signing it all off too - in his planner book and the homework itself. Where learning is required, I test him. If his homework is not of an appropriate standard, I make him go back and do it again. If he doesn't get 100% when I test his vocabulary homework, he does it again. His ability is quite high but only in subjects in which he is interested. The other activity I encourage is reading. He has just in the last year started to read lots of books by himself and borrows alot from the school library. He can be "independently" minded though like all kids. But to get back to the original point, the teachers are critical. His current school, for which I pay, is excellent. His previous school were simply miles apart (worse) in terms of calibre and expectations of pupils. Lack of homework, lack of feedback, and so on. You are lucky: good teachers are to nurtured, so my 2c is to give them good feedback and to their head too: knowing one is appreciated and has the support of the parents is a big part of their job satisfaction.
Les

 

[Red C220]

The secret of education is that it takes both parents and teachers to educate someone. I get to see my son's teachers twice per term at which views and comments are exchanged and discussed with my son later. I also make a point of reviewing ALL his homework and signing it all off too - in his planner book and the homework itself. Where learning is required, I test him. If his homework is not of an appropriate standard, I make him go back and do it again. If he doesn't get 100% when I test his vocabulary homework, he does it again. His ability is quite high but only in subjects in which he is interested. The other activity I encourage is reading. He has just in the last year started to read lots of books by himself and borrows alot from the school library. He can be "independently" minded though like all kids. But to get back to the original point, the teachers are critical. His current school, for which I pay, is excellent. His previous school were simply miles apart (worse) in terms of calibre and expectations of pupils. Lack of homework, lack of feedback, and so on. You are lucky: good teachers are to nurtured, so my 2c is to give them good feedback and to their head too: knowing one is appreciated and has the support of the parents is a big part of their job satisfaction.
Les

This is a little like comparing the NHS to BUPA.

You're paying for education, I'd be damn annoyed if my child were not getting top notch tuition if that were the case.

Take our daughters Science class for instance.

In the last school year, she's not had the same teacher for more than a three week stretch, such is the turnover of staff in that department.

The thing is, our daughter has no intention of going to university (for what's it's worth these days). She simply isn't achedemically inclined.

By no means is she daft, she's just not cut out to be a rocket scientist.

When kids fall into this category at school, they seem to get a little neglected and if you don't push, just left to their own devices.

 

[developer]

Well, I 've just collected him.

11am until 6pm on a Sunday - this was no "for effect" measure.

I'm mightily impressed .

 

[grober]

Where learning is required, I test him. If his homework is not of an appropriate standard, I make him go back and do it again. If he doesn't get 100% when I test his vocabulary homework, he does it again.

If I had to single out the one skill that today's educational system fails to imbue into pupils its exactly that. Many of today's youngsters leave school without possessing the knowledge of what actually constitutes "successful completion" of any task set. The system has failed to get across that "going through the motions" doesn't mean you have done something successfully. This is not their fault they are simply unaware of the intellectual concept of completion because they have never been taught it-- inherent in this process is the acknowledgement and acceptance of failure. Without knowing what it is to fail- how do you really know when you have succeeded.

 

[Deleted member 65149]

This is a little like comparing the NHS to BUPA.

There are a lot of truly excellent NHS services, just as there are lots of wonderful community schools (state schools). For schools to succeed they need the support of the parents. I'm not talking about money through the PTFA but a partnership in their children's education. Good teachers need encouragement to stay at their school; from the attitude and performance of the children, from the Senior Leadership Team and from parents. Losing any one of those three leads to losing the best teachers and a downward spiral of the school.