from a teacher's perspective

I’ll resist the urge to tell you some of my child’s teacher horror stories. (They weren’t Sped teachers, by the way. His Sped teachers have all been a delight.)

I would like to say that teachers participating on this board probably should not take any teacher-bashing posts personally. You are here taking the time to hear other perspectives, learn new tools, and seek help for your students. The teachers that are getting bashed are probably not looking at this board at all.

You’re not the bad apple; you’re the good egg!

:-)

Good teachers don’t cause us problems so we don’t often talk
about them.
(But I’m sure the board, like myself, lets the good teachers know
how much we appreciate them.)

Bad teachers…… bad programs….. bad administrators are hung out
to dry here because it is safe. Vent, crab, complain, whine, grinding of
teeth. Best to do it here and not in the IEP, family dinner hour or
homework hour(s).

Anne - who is going back to college to become a teacher
––- a good teacher I hope.

Charlene I could not agree with you more. Yes, we need to explain to the teachers about our children because as you say each is unique and does not come with a guide book. I am a firm believer that the best approach for working with our children is a team approach. We as a team, the teachers, the parents, other school personnel and the community working hand in hand to get our children where they need to be. When my son was dx’d with PDD-NOS when we were ND, the school did not know a lot about the disorder, as I learned I shared the information. MOst of them were receptive and appreciatted my efforts. I have purchased programs for my sons current teacher because their budget is so tight. I gave a copy of RR, and gave a program called Rock-N-Phonics. I share with the teacher at every turn, and this school year as been outstanding. My son went from reading at a K level to a 2.2 level! This was a team effort, the spec ed teacher, the SLP, the social worker, and we as parents communicatting what we have found works. There are good stories out there but like other parents said we share that with those who helped us to get there. It does not feel appropriatte to share the negative—at least not the way we would want. I credit the Air Force with instilling in me the sense that team work is what is needed to get a job done. When I “graduate” from this institution I hope to get into education and hopefully bring the teamwork attitude with me. First I need to go to school myself and become a better speller, better and grammer, ect. Thanks for listening.

I agree with just a mom, if you are a teacher and you’re on this bb, then you’re one step ahead of the teachers that we all come here and bash and complain about. You care….these teachers we are referring to, don’t. There are bad apples in every profession. But other professions don’t have tenure.
If you or the other teachers on this board, truly care about your students then you shouldn’t be offened by us parents. I think we all state, several times, we know there are some good teachers out there. This BB is our outlet, it’s where we come to laugh, cry and have other that know what we’re feeling to talk to.
I used to say that every teacher should have to raise an LD student, but I’ve since changed my mind, because there are some
teachers out there, who if their child had a learning disability, they would probably make their life a living night mare. Some teachers actually think that LD students are just lazy kids who don’t apply themselves.
So teachers, please don’t be offened. We parents need this safe haven to come to, to cry, piss and moan. I’m sure out there in cyber land somewhere is a BB where teachers can complain about students and parents.
If I didn’t have this BB, I would blow up with all the stuff going around in my head, with no one to talk to who understands.
It’s a little hard to talk to your best friend about these problems when her son is bringing home straight A’s. I know before my son started school and was found to have a learning disability, I might have listened to a friend complain about her LD child, but I wouldn’t know how to really felt or how to help.
So please give us space, without having to constantly apologize to teachers.

as a teacher i am not offended by parents that are bashing teachers- i just felt the need to suggest a way to deal with it constructively.
i agree that we do need a place to vent as parents.

I agree, constructive would be nice, if possible… Have we ever heard of a parent refusing to help a child? Have we ever heard of a teacher trying whatever he/she can and being reprimanded by a parent? It is correct that the participants of this board are already a selected group of either parents or teachers- they already had made an effort to educate themselves to do more.
What bothers me the most is the fact that as “little lulu” had said once- we expect the teachers to be professionals. If they are not, the damage that they can cause is just so big that we, as a society, should not accept it. The same way as the parental right can be terminated if the parents are not up to the task- it should also apply to teachers- if they cannot teach the students- they should not be doing that!!! I have not yet experienced any sign of accountability for my son’s special ed teacher. I only hear he is an LD; putting blame on a student is just so easy to do….and so unproductive.

But parents don’t have tenure.

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I am in agreement with Charlene’s suggestions of working together. God knows I try I am just not fortunate to have a teacher with the same idea.

I know by mistake I have offended teachers on this bb. If they are here they aren’t who parents are frustrated with.