20120905
Another dumb teacher act
My niece's class was recently asked by their teacher who liked maths; a few, including Mavis put up their hands. The teacher, trying to be...who knows...witty? said they were 'brainiacs'.
So, labelled, singled out and given a daggy name. Real smart. My niece was reduced to tears, and had to talk it out for hours that night that she was teased by friends for being a 'brainiac' and the birthmark on her forehead must have been her 'brainiac badge'.
Class one stupid thing to do, teacher! Making children look and feel different, leads to being singled out; young children hate being different in any way from their peers.
It was also psychologically offensive to 'name' or 'label' someone, giving ammunition to detractors that could follow them for years! Sure, acknowledge their love of a subject, but don't turn it into a 'name' by which they could be (will be) lampooned and made to feel bad by their peers.
A real richard-head act.
20120129
Friends of Science in Medicine
Great! Some others who want to lift the lid on chiropractic and other forms of witchcraft. The Friends of Science in Medicine have recently gone public.
It was picked up in the UK too, where it got the usual comments from alternative boosters proclaiming the excellence of 'treatments' based on water (homeopathy) or changing the 'energy flows' in the nerves (chiropracty, based on the Eastern occult notion of chi).
It was picked up in the UK too, where it got the usual comments from alternative boosters proclaiming the excellence of 'treatments' based on water (homeopathy) or changing the 'energy flows' in the nerves (chiropracty, based on the Eastern occult notion of chi).
20111106
Witch Doctors
A mad bloke, so mad he killed someone said:
to police, as reported: ''I believe in chiropractors … I think they're witch doctors.''
Now he's dead right, of course, chiropractors ARE witch doctors...and just as effective!
to police, as reported: ''I believe in chiropractors … I think they're witch doctors.''
Now he's dead right, of course, chiropractors ARE witch doctors...and just as effective!
20110728
10 Solid Lessons
There, a good solid ten lessons for teachers (see previous posts). Teaching is a tough job, I think everyone knows this, that’s why we agree to compensate teachers by paying them. We also know that most teachers are committed, which is why we agree to give them charge of our children, although they suffer the same frailties as we all do. This article aims to help them understand how their frailties might bring harm, and to get aware.
20110710
What Parents want Teachers to Know: 11. Got!
Got: I know this is number 11, but I’m on a roll. Got is an English word. Its use is legitimate, its banning is simply silly. What other words are you going to ‘ban’ psittacine, transmogrify, floccinaucinihilipilification?
20110628
What Parents want Teachers to Know: 10. Modelling
Modelling: A lot of this comes down to modelling: what teachers do will tell children what adults do and how therefore, life works and what they should do; children will watch how teachers treat other children, each other and parents. Mostly they will see interactions between teachers and children and what they learn may stink.
A child may be singled out for scorn, inadvertently; that sets the child up as a target of scorn by other children.
A child might be excluded from an activity in a travesty of discipline: here’s a target for playground exclusion.
A teacher may disregard a child’s earnest complaint about another child: that models the behaviour ‘your concerns aren’t important’ to the child, and ‘the teacher won’t do anything’ to whomever is perpetrating: the seeds of bullying sown in a few distracted moments!
A child may be singled out for scorn, inadvertently; that sets the child up as a target of scorn by other children.
A child might be excluded from an activity in a travesty of discipline: here’s a target for playground exclusion.
A teacher may disregard a child’s earnest complaint about another child: that models the behaviour ‘your concerns aren’t important’ to the child, and ‘the teacher won’t do anything’ to whomever is perpetrating: the seeds of bullying sown in a few distracted moments!
What Parents want Teachers to Know: 9. Communication #2
Communication #2: The teacher is the power, the authority and the point of reference for children at school. I think teachers know that. So do children, because children come to teachers for assistance, clarification, and by way of learning to develop judgement. So children ending up ‘dobbing’ from time to time, and for a whole range of reasons: to be petty tyrants, to ‘get someone in trouble’ and to defend the rules they comply with, but others don’t. So they simply want to see justice done in a uniform, equitable and disinterested manner.
That’s fair, and what’s wrong with it? Nothing, of course, until teachers apply the apparently random filter of ‘dobbing’. Ah, you find out as a child, some reports of wrong doing are themselves wrong. So now a child, rather than err on the side of caution and provide opportunities for teachers to help them develop judgement, will probably err on the side of self-preservation and reduce their contact with the teacher to below a safe threshold.
Let me see, will I risk telling the teacher on duty that some children are trying to erect a flag on the assembly hall roof, or will that be dobbing, after all, they’re not hurting me?
That’s fair, and what’s wrong with it? Nothing, of course, until teachers apply the apparently random filter of ‘dobbing’. Ah, you find out as a child, some reports of wrong doing are themselves wrong. So now a child, rather than err on the side of caution and provide opportunities for teachers to help them develop judgement, will probably err on the side of self-preservation and reduce their contact with the teacher to below a safe threshold.
Let me see, will I risk telling the teacher on duty that some children are trying to erect a flag on the assembly hall roof, or will that be dobbing, after all, they’re not hurting me?
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