I never had a problem with it when I was teaching. If a parent didn't want their kid to have me, then I'd rather not have them. Letting them have their way would save all of us a lot of stress in my opinion. I only know of one parent who requested not to have me for their second child and after having their oldest in my class, I can tell you that the feeling was mutual. ;)
Now that I'm a parent, I definitely want a say in who my child is spending 6 hours a day with during his elementary school years. There are "good schools" and "bad schools" and NCLB and all that crap - but what it comes down to is good teachers. I know that when I was in elementary school, I had at least one teacher that was a total idiot, and I should not have had to waste a year of my childhood in her classroom. My mom regrets to this day not standing her ground to get me moved out of there.
Not that I have an opinion or anything... ;) I could say tons more, but I won't totally hog the whole comment section! We can email if you'd like to chat more about it. :)
The unfortunate thing is that it's nearly impossible to please everyone. So as an administrator, you have to say 'no' to the teacher-picking. Sadly, this isn't really fair to the family either. Public schools just really aren't in a position to fulfill the requests of parents. However, I love the idea of competition and the possibility of a teacher losing his/her job if they were crappy and no one wanted them as a teacher. This is why I'd be curious to see how vouchers would work. If the school system were more like a business and good teachers & good schools would get those tax dollars and the stinky ones would have to figure out a way to shape up or ship out.
That parent was a chronic problem and I knew she didn't want me to have her second kid because she told me so. Class act, no? Gotta love it. Thankfully the requests "for" were much more frequent. :) Maybe that's why I'm okay with teacher requests???
My sister works for a school district with VERY involved parents. When parents pick teachers, it is known among all the teachers. It has caused some conflict among the third grade teachers with hurt feelings... I think it would be nice to work in a place with involved parents though... sigh.
I think it totally depends on what kind of reputation the teacher has. Some are there for for a check and others are there because it is their life's calling. (Thank God, there are those who really do care) There have been incidences (in our experience with 3 kids), where the teacher was totally incompetent and was eventually removed from the class room, in one of my son's classes.(My son, Cory is an example) She was a nut case and the principal and other teachers knew it and nothing was done until I complained with one other parent. She was behind in the studies and was verbally abusing the children. Chris had a teacher in 3rd grade who could barely speak English (She was American.....)and certainly couldn't spell. She put spelling words on the board for them to copy. When I told Chris he miscopied the words he said, no that is a how she spelled them. When I dropped him off at school, I looked at the board and sure enough there were the misspelled words. She would say things like axe instead of ask, dest for desk, etc. We removed Chris from that school, because the principal refused to move him into another class. It cost us a years worth of private school we couldn't afford. If a parent can't watch out for the protection or his or her child, then no one else will either. Sorry, this is a hot topic for me. Whew, I'm glad I got that out of my system.
On a brighter note, I am so proud of Jen and her teaching abilities. She is what every teacher should strive to be. She is interesting, is always looking for better ways to teach curriculum and is always looking for ways to make her class a better, more enjoyable place. I'm proud of you Jen. She makes kids want to come to class to see what she is going to teach and do next. That's my kind of teacher. It is a shame there weren't any like that when Chris, Cory and Casey were in school.
You don't know me, but I feel the need to comment since I just did this very thing tonight. My daughter has had 3, count them, 3 sucky teachers in her 5 years at school. I am determined that this will not happen again. I asked my child to be moved into a homeroom that will benefit her. The teacher she was supposed to have has a reputation of just not being an excited teacher and just not very attentive to her students. I work hard at that school. I am a PTO officer and I am there every single school day in the afternoon and never say no to a request from a teacher or staff memeber. Doesn't this give me a little bit of wiggle room? Sometimes I feel like it is a little imposing, but then again, I left it up to the roster gods and my daughter got a teacher the year she retired (guess how much work she did) and a hypochondriac who was allergic to everything the kids wore and was out almost a whole 9 weeks and had to be replaced 1/2 way through the year. Sorry to get bloggy.
I used to teach in a system where parents were allowed to request teachers for their children. I have lots of experience in being one of the "most requested" teachers when I taught. Jen, you know I worked very hard to take care of all my babies. However, the problem is that I was one of the top two requested. That means that almost all of the 200 kids in my grade would request me, leaving about 175 parents upset that I wasn't their child's teacher. I certainly understand a parent's desire to request a teacher. (I have even requested for my nephew and neice.) However, it can frequently backfire. Inevitably, there are always pitiful students with really crappy parents who don't care enough about them. (This does not mean that all parents who don't request are crappy.) Nonetheless, those students could really benefit from being placed in the classroom of a very loving, caring, considerate, and "most requested" teacher...even if there is no one to request this teacher for them. When I knew of children like this (like a dear student of mine who was murdered a year later), I would go to the principal and request for them to be in my own room. I knew I'd take care of them. I'd also request their teachers for the next year.
My peers and I always wished that we could place our current students in classes for the upcoming year. It always made sense to us. We knew what the parents were like from experience. We knew the students' abilities, and we knew the teaching styles/personalities of the next grade's teachers. We could make sure the classes were balanced and kids weren't placed with those who bullied them in the past. Of course we never got our way, but I think it was a good idea.
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I never had a problem with it when I was teaching. If a parent didn't want their kid to have me, then I'd rather not have them. Letting them have their way would save all of us a lot of stress in my opinion. I only know of one parent who requested not to have me for their second child and after having their oldest in my class, I can tell you that the feeling was mutual. ;)
Now that I'm a parent, I definitely want a say in who my child is spending 6 hours a day with during his elementary school years. There are "good schools" and "bad schools" and NCLB and all that crap - but what it comes down to is good teachers. I know that when I was in elementary school, I had at least one teacher that was a total idiot, and I should not have had to waste a year of my childhood in her classroom. My mom regrets to this day not standing her ground to get me moved out of there.
Not that I have an opinion or anything... ;) I could say tons more, but I won't totally hog the whole comment section! We can email if you'd like to chat more about it. :)
I only hear about it when I'm "wanted" by a parent, not when I'm not. That's the way I want to keep it. ;)
The unfortunate thing is that it's nearly impossible to please everyone. So as an administrator, you have to say 'no' to the teacher-picking. Sadly, this isn't really fair to the family either. Public schools just really aren't in a position to fulfill the requests of parents. However, I love the idea of competition and the possibility of a teacher losing his/her job if they were crappy and no one wanted them as a teacher. This is why I'd be curious to see how vouchers would work. If the school system were more like a business and good teachers & good schools would get those tax dollars and the stinky ones would have to figure out a way to shape up or ship out.
That parent was a chronic problem and I knew she didn't want me to have her second kid because she told me so. Class act, no? Gotta love it. Thankfully the requests "for" were much more frequent. :) Maybe that's why I'm okay with teacher requests???
Wow, it sounds like it would create a whole lot of problems...
Growing up I didn't really think about whether my teachers were 'good' or 'not good'. I'm pretty sure my parents didn't either.
I wonder why everything seems to have changed??
My sister works for a school district with VERY involved parents. When parents pick teachers, it is known among all the teachers. It has caused some conflict among the third grade teachers with hurt feelings... I think it would be nice to work in a place with involved parents though... sigh.
I think it totally depends on what kind of reputation the teacher has. Some are there for for a check and others are there because it is their life's calling. (Thank God, there are those who really do care) There have been incidences (in our experience with 3 kids), where the teacher was totally incompetent and was eventually removed from the class room, in one of my son's classes.(My son, Cory is an example) She was a nut case and the principal and other teachers knew it and nothing was done until I complained with one other parent. She was behind in the studies and was verbally abusing the children.
Chris had a teacher in 3rd grade who could barely speak English (She was American.....)and certainly couldn't spell. She put spelling words on the board for them to copy. When I told Chris he miscopied the words he said, no that is a how she spelled them. When I dropped him off at school, I looked at the board and sure enough there were the misspelled words. She would say things like axe instead of ask, dest for desk, etc. We removed Chris from that school, because the principal refused to move him into another class. It cost us a years worth of private school we couldn't afford. If a parent can't watch out for the protection or his or her child, then no one else will either. Sorry, this is a hot topic for me. Whew, I'm glad I got that out of my system.
On a brighter note, I am so proud of Jen and her teaching abilities. She is what every teacher should strive to be. She is interesting, is always looking for better ways to teach curriculum and is always looking for ways to make her class a better, more enjoyable place. I'm proud of you Jen. She makes kids want to come to class to see what she is going to teach and do next. That's my kind of teacher. It is a shame there weren't any like that when Chris, Cory and Casey were in school.
Awww, Mimi. Thank you so much. You are an awesome MIL!!!! ;)
You don't know me, but I feel the need to comment since I just did this very thing tonight. My daughter has had 3, count them, 3 sucky teachers in her 5 years at school. I am determined that this will not happen again. I asked my child to be moved into a homeroom that will benefit her. The teacher she was supposed to have has a reputation of just not being an excited teacher and just not very attentive to her students. I work hard at that school. I am a PTO officer and I am there every single school day in the afternoon and never say no to a request from a teacher or staff memeber. Doesn't this give me a little bit of wiggle room? Sometimes I feel like it is a little imposing, but then again, I left it up to the roster gods and my daughter got a teacher the year she retired (guess how much work she did) and a hypochondriac who was allergic to everything the kids wore and was out almost a whole 9 weeks and had to be replaced 1/2 way through the year. Sorry to get bloggy.
I used to teach in a system where parents were allowed to request teachers for their children. I have lots of experience in being one of the "most requested" teachers when I taught. Jen, you know I worked very hard to take care of all my babies. However, the problem is that I was one of the top two requested. That means that almost all of the 200 kids in my grade would request me, leaving about 175 parents upset that I wasn't their child's teacher. I certainly understand a parent's desire to request a teacher. (I have even requested for my nephew and neice.) However, it can frequently backfire. Inevitably, there are always pitiful students with really crappy parents who don't care enough about them. (This does not mean that all parents who don't request are crappy.) Nonetheless, those students could really benefit from being placed in the classroom of a very loving, caring, considerate, and "most requested" teacher...even if there is no one to request this teacher for them. When I knew of children like this (like a dear student of mine who was murdered a year later), I would go to the principal and request for them to be in my own room. I knew I'd take care of them. I'd also request their teachers for the next year.
My peers and I always wished that we could place our current students in classes for the upcoming year. It always made sense to us. We knew what the parents were like from experience. We knew the students' abilities, and we knew the teaching styles/personalities of the next grade's teachers. We could make sure the classes were balanced and kids weren't placed with those who bullied them in the past. Of course we never got our way, but I think it was a good idea.
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