<p>Bassdad: How funny!!!! Should the sports be "pre-recorded" too so the fans only see players scoring and never fouling?</p>
<p>BassDad -- that's terrible! I am speechless.</p>
<p>Jlauer re: post #74 -- Our schools used the "whole language" program called Writing to Read. I was so thankful my kids already knew how to read before starting school. My friend's son got a paper "corrected" when he wrote "apple", because he was supposed to write "apl" as taught in Writing to Read. (She pulled him out and homeschooled him.)</p>
<p>My daughter had a basic computer class in 6th grade. She got 100 on everyone of the class assignements, every homework and every test. When she got her report card it said 99. Of course to my daughter, the overachiever this was very upsetting as she felt she earned a 100. We all went to the parent teacher conf and my daughter asked him why she only got a 99. Teacher replied "the computers don't let us input 100, 99 is the highest I can give you". My daughter pulls out her report card, shows it to him and says "well, how did I get a 100 in french?". he thinks for a second and says "hmm, I'll have to find out about that", daughter looks at him and says "I really thin you should, after all you ARE the computer teacher, I would think it would be beneficial if you knew how to work the school computers". Don't know if he ever found out how to give a 100.</p>
<p>Another "reading in kindergarten" story: My oldest son and his best friend were both reading short chapter books upon entering kindergarten. The teacher had a game where she would sit down at the piano and play a song from sheet music. The kids were supposed to guess the name of the song. Son's friend said to the teacher, "What's the point of the game, the name of the song is written right there on the page!" She was an older woman, and very annoyed by the fact that these two could read anything they saw - ruined her lessons! Fortunately one day while she was griping about this in the teacher's lounge, the reading specialist overheard and volunteered to take the boys a few times a week for enrichment.
As an aside, this child of mine who read so early and his younger brother who didn't really read well until age 7, were of equal ability by about 4th grade in terms of comprehension and got nearly identical SAT scores.</p>
<p>Right after Columbine our school district decided that all students in the Middle and High School had to have see-through back packs made of mesh or plastic. It didn't take long to realize how stupid that was because at the same time sports kids were allowed to bring in their regular athletic bags (some of them could probably hide a rifle) and musicians still had their instrument cases. Also, a gun could even hide in between books in the see-through back packs or in a lunch bag. It was almost two years though until they dropped that policy. </p>
<p>I take partial credit because after being told (with a sigh) " I can't do anything about it." from the MS Principal, I spoke up at a school board meeting. Within a week the policy was changed. The MS Principal told me that they had been thinking of doing that before I spoke up. yeah, right. One of the administrators admitted to me privately that they did it to calm parents fears not knowing it looked like classic, wow, we better do SOMETHING and maybe they won't spot how silly this is for awhile.</p>
<p>these stories are incredible-they do remind me though of how glad I was my name was toward end of alphabet so my desk was in back of the room so I could read when I had finished my other work. We were just supposed to sit quietly- not read for some reason.</p>
<p>As an aside, this child of mine who read so early and his younger brother who didn't really read well until age 7, were of equal ability by about 4th grade in terms of comprehension and got nearly identical SAT scores.
My daughter who taught herself at 3 and her best friend( who didn't read till later) attended same- similar schools until they were 14/13, they took the SAT when in ( 7th for D- 6th for friend), D got barely over 1000 , her friend earned 1400 ( old scoring)
D went to high school, her friend went to college.
Reading is important in school, but the curriculum should not be meaningless if you already can read, or if you cannot- ( I don't expect K to be able to read or even 1st graders, but if they do- there should be something that is interesting in class to learn- but too often classrooms are not set up this way- its why my oldest went to private school- the K teacher was honest and told me that she wouldn't know what to do with her)</p>
<p>Kathiep, that story reminds of some stories one sees on the news, where a child gets expelled or suspended for carrying a plastic knife to school to cut up his/her lunch. Yet kids can have scissors in their desks. Anything can become a weapon if that is a child's intention.</p>
<p>At my son's elementary school, one needs to stop at the office for a visitor's pass. Mind you, this school is so small that everyone knows who the stranger is. The principal would stop you, if you did not pick up said pass. I walked out with this pass a couple of times, accidentally, and nobody called to get it back. Now I could have given this pass to anyone if this were my intention. Does one think someone trespassing, or wanting to do harm is going to sign in for a pass? Also, all doors are locked from the outside during school hours. One must buzz in. However, the kids just open doors for people they do not know at the hs everytime someone knocks on the locked door.</p>
<p>amethyst213,</p>
<p>Your story of the kids reading earlier than the teacher expected during the name-that-song game reminded me of my youngest son playing youth soccer in an under-6 league. After the game, my son came up to me and said, "Dad. When the other team throws the ball in, it is so easy to step in front and steal the ball. The coach keeps yelling, 'Throw the ball into Tommy (or whomever)' and the kids on the other team all have their names printed on the backs of their shirts."</p>
<p>it is great to hear these stories -- I am back at college now to get my teaching degree and I am sure I will also do some dumb things, but hopefully not this bad!</p>
<p>as far as my son reading early -- yes, some do and some don't -- and it doesn't necessasarily correlate to giftedness or high ability. my older son is very advanced academically and very gifted and he didn't read until the middle of 1st grade. It just seems to me that there are some kids who do read in kindergarten and accomodations should be made for them. the teacher told us the first week that we should skip our son a grade to 1st grade, since kindergarten would be boring. We talked to the school principle and psychologist about it (that was the procedure) and were told that a class observation was required. No problem -- except that by the time it was done, several weeks later, his boredom has manifested itself in some minor behavior problems. (not paying attention during circle time -- he also wasn't allowed to participate, disrupting others because he got his work done before the teacher finished the explanation, little things like that). We were told that his behavior had to mature before he could skip a grade. Instead, his behavior deteriorated -- to the point that he spent more time in the principals office than in the classroom (we didn't realize it at first). never did skip a grade and we ended up homeschooling him for a few years. He is now a happy, straight A student who is well behaved in our local IB program -- thank goodness!</p>
<p>Calmom--that was an incredibly interesting story. I skimmed your link to the Third Wave, and I really believe that this is a really dicey kind of stunt to pull with kids.</p>
<p>Kudos to your kid for sabotaging the thesis! I am particularly appalled that the teacher asked him to pretend--if he was truly doing an experiment, that would've been the equivalent of fudging the results.</p>
<p>It's nice to see that there are always kids who can think for themselves.</p>
<p>I have another story and it is unbelieveable -- but entirely true!!!</p>
<p>this was a teacher of mine way back in the late 70's. I was in 9th grade in a good middle school and we got a new teacher at the beginning of the year -- Ms. Mask. i will never, never forget her!</p>
<p>Se was tall, from texas (this was in kansas), her ears were pierced three times (which you never saw back then) and very intimidating.</p>
<p>She told us that "her class would be run differently". and she wasn't kidding. I could write a book on what went on, but these are the best -- </p>
<p>First, she always had extra credit -- but she had a special way of doing it. she graded on a curve and included the extra credit. so if you didn't do it, you would be lucky to get a C</p>
<p>the extra credit was not like anything you have ever seen -- she would talk at the beginning of class and say "I saw a green shirt I really liked at kmart, I wear a size 12, 50 points extra credit to the first person who brings it to me". Seriously! She would tell us what books and magazines she liked, jewelry, etc. I remember telling my mom that I had to buy Ms. Mask a subscription to TV guide and some earrings that had tiny teddy bears in a little plastic ball in order to get an A. My mom thought I was kidding -- I wasn't. i didn't get them and I got a C -- even though I had all A's on all tests and papers -- the curve killed me! </p>
<p>the ultimate was when we did our science fair projects. back then, they weren't as sophisticated. One of the kids in our class had a dad who ran a chinchilla farm. for his project, he did a display of the chinchilla -- all about them -- and had two in a tank (you could have live animals back then). we each brought our projects in to be graded in class and show them to everyone. Ms. Mask came around to grade them and ask each person about their project. When she came to the chinchilla project, the boy was telling her all about them. he took one of them out of the aquarium and was showing her the little animal and telling her all about it. she interrupted him and said "these are nasty little animals" and then she took the chinchilla and slammed it down on the table and broke it's neck. She then calmly dropped it back into the aquarium and went on to the next person. Unbelieveable -- we were all scared to death of her! thank goodness I didn't do my report on my cat!!</p>
<p>This is all absolutely true -- and so unbelieveable, that our whole class felt like we had an alien for a teacher. tons and tons of the parents complained from the beginning, but nothing happened (I was told that she "had a contract"). </p>
<p>Last day of school before break, she told us to enjoy break and she had a little project for us to do over our break -- we all had to write a 2 page paper on each of the elements on the periodic chart -- yes, 2 pages on each! We were told it was to be typewritten and illustrated. this was back when even a typewriter was something that wasn't commonly used in middle school (9th grade was still middle school to us). My parents actually had to buy a typewriter for me because of this -- before, I had always just borrowed one, but this project took me hours and hours!</p>
<p>We got back from christmas break and had a new teacher -- no one ever spoke of Ms. Mask again, we never know what happened to her. (my guess is that someone in our school with money took out a hit on here -- that was the rumor!)</p>
<p>hsmomstef--You really are not serious, are you? You had a teacher that killed a chinchilla? That is apalling. I read about a teacher like that in a book by Roald Dahl, "Matilda."</p>
<p>My three teacher sisters-in-law (one teaches h.s. & two teach elem) say that teachers tend to fall into a few "groups". </p>
<p>There are the smart ones who could have been research engineers, authors, lawyers, accountants or doctors, but chose teaching because of love for teaching and, for many women, the job "fits" better for moms (my sisters-in-law fit this description). </p>
<p>There are teachers who were once working "in the field" but now find teaching more rewarding and a "better fit". </p>
<p>There are smart ones, with all the right degrees, but are without "people skills" who are boring and have poor teaching methods -- But are paid the HIGHEST salaries because of their extensive education. (Some are PhD's and the schools "rave" about having them!) Anyone remember, "Bueller, Bueller" and all the kids were like zombies.</p>
<p>THEN, there are the educators who were "very average" themselves in high school (ask them what their SAT scores were - very average) but went to college because "everyone else is and it is expected by my parents." Guess what major these types often pick -- Elem Ed. Such teachers are often overwhelmed, annoyed, and intimidated by their brainy students (who often find their mistakes). Sometimes these teachers even have a grudge against their brainy students; these teachers get annoyed at their A students for being "obsessed" with their grades (the same teachers aren't annoyed when a B or C student is striving to improve his/her grades). These teachers "roll their eyes" when the Nat'l Merit Scholars are announced. Why? Because they could never have been one of them, so they childishly "pooh pooh" it. They dismiss these kids as "obssessed" with their grades and test scores. Newsflash to this type of teacher: The cures for cancer come from the "obsessed". People who are always striving "for better" are the ones who are up to all hours of the night trying to find the right chemical mix to cure AIDS or to cure someone's (possibly a teacher's) terminally ill kid. Yet, while these brainy "type A's" were students, some of their teachers were "annoyed" with them. (Have a former sister-in-law that fits this teacher description.)</p>
<p>There are probably a few other types, but these are the ones that my "teachers in the family" highlighted.</p>
<p>hsmom: You probably won't do dumb things because you are "clued in". Also, your son fits the standard that veteran teachers held -- first graders reading by Christmas (about the middle of first grade).</p>
<p>hsmom: UNBELIEVABLE!!!! ROFLOL (My husband wonders if something is wrong with me....LOLOLOL) She killed a chinchilla!!!! (Reminds me of my son's first grade class. There was a guest speaker and I was the "volunteer for the day" and a close friend of my son's teacher. The guest was going "on and on" about the evils of wearing real fur coats. She showed pictures of minks and chinchillas. She acted as if these animals were prized Arabian horses -- instead of the rodents that they are; bred to be worn!!!! yea! ( I wonder if the chin farmer complained?).</p>
<p>You know, over the years my kids have had a few teachers who were less than stellar and a few they actively disliked, but I see that on the whole we've been very fortunate. </p>
<p>When my son started reading before kindergarten, the principal suggested he go to first grade instead (the cutoff was a few days after his birthday, but he hadn't been to K because the previous state had an earlier cutoff). When my D wasn't reading in March of 1st grade, no fuss---just "let's wait and see where she is toward the end of the year." (By June, she was reading at 3rd grade level--she was a sight reader and it took a while to memorize the basic words.)</p>
<p>I guess the closest we've come to teacher stupidity was the math teacher who wanted my son to repeat Algebra II (which he took in 8th grade) because he had done zero homework. He'd gotten no test scores less than 99 on all the tests, though. But in the end, the next year's teacher simply had him write a contract agreeing to do 80% of the homework, and everyone was happy. The best part about that was watching my son learn to negotiate with teachers, since he started with his math teacher, went to the dept head, went to the principal, and ended with the pre-calc teacher. All of them knew that I could legally put him in any course I wanted, overriding the teacher's recommendation---but he didn't know that, and instead he learned to negotiate. It's a skill that has served him very well.</p>
<p>I can add a variation to your last teacher type: the one who has kids the same ages as yours, but perhaps not quite as bright, or talented, or whatever. It's happened to us several times, with predictable results. Took me awhile the first couple times to figure out why the teacher was trying to sabatoge my child's education, or felt the need to "take the wind out of his sails." Then I started hearing the inevitable comparisons with teacher's own kid and things started making sense.</p>
<p>My son was taking the accelerated 7th grade math (Transitional Math, the pre algebra year) in our public middle school. He was doing pretty well ... he had an 82. Every marking period he would get a letter from the teacher -- a midterm warning notice -- that if he did not have an 87 he couldn't be promoted to Algebra 1. </p>
<p>When we had a conference with the middle school 'team' -- I asked point blank why my son was failing math with an 82. The teacher explained that he wasn't failing -- he had a B -- but he would have to repeat the course if he didn't have an 87. It seems to me (and to most other people in the world) that every class is ultimately pass/go ahead or fail/repeat. And this teacher was telling my kid for six months that he was failing the course with an 82. (And so when he comes up with a 62 in April we are surprised?)</p>
<p>This was a TEAM conference. All the other teachers looked at the floor during this discussion, while the math teacher insisted that the students had to have an 87 to progress, but disagreed that an 82 (or an 86 even) was a failing grade.</p>
<p>My son is now in an independent school. And thriving.</p>
<p>Some teachers are really mentally ill. It took several years to "urge" a mentally ill teacher and a sexually inappropriate teacher to take leave or retirement. We also have a truly vicious teacher who annually terrorizes elementary students to the point of needing counseling and medication. It's the teachers unions that protect the worst among themselves. (Boy, do I have some stories :( ) Most of us would be fired from our jobs for transgressions much smaller than these.</p>
<p>EXCELLENCE IS NO GUARANTEE In 1990, Cathy Nelson, a Ph.D. history teacher at Fridley High School just outside Minneapolis, was named Minnesota's Teacher of the Year. But Fridley's students weren't enjoying the fruits of Nelson's outstanding teaching: She had been laid off months earlier, under a union-bargained "last-hired, first-fired" policy. A 15-year veteran and third-generation teacher, Nelson was the least senior of Fridley's five social-studies teachers. Ironically, she had been laid off under the same policy three other times. Her love of kids kept her coming back. But in 1990, she finally abandoned the classroom, fed up with being treated like a "yo-yo."</p>
<p>From: US News & World Report 2/26/96 Why Teachers Don't Teach
The nation's future lies in its classrooms. But teachers' unions are driving out good teachers, coddling bad ones and putting bureaucracy in the way of quality education
By Thomas Toch, Robin M. Bennefield, Dana Hawkins and Penny Loeb</p>
<p>**** Got the whole article from the USnews website (premium member) for Best Colleges.</p>