Blog 2 for journal entries

Kerry Wright EDU7666 Journal Entries Blog 2 Dr. Signer

Topic Heading

On 10/4 there was a topic on the discussion boards under the Teacher.net, teacher chat boards, and primary elementary initiated by a parent. According to the parent, her daughter’s teacher was punishing the whole class for the actions of a few boys in the class. The punishment has escalated to a silent recess for thirty minutes for the whole class. The parent also claims that the teacher openly complains about her class to other teachers in the hallway. The discussion had several entries that lasted from October 4 to October 6.

The majority of the entries on the discussion board condemned this form of discipline. All of us felt that there are situations where a teacher does have to discipline a whole class, for example when the class gets out of gets out of control and the teacher can not determine the main offenders. However, we all felt that with good classroom management skills this type of occurrence should be very few.

I found it very interesting that only I and one other writer suggested that the parent speak with the teacher first before jumping to conclusions. The child is only eight years old and sometimes children do not always express an accurate version of the events. I think parents have every right to question teachers about unfair procedures. However, I do find it upsetting that this teacher was condemned by this discussion without inquiry into her side of the story.

On the other hand, I do feel that the mother needs to follow up in order to ensure that her daughter is treated fairly. If this teacher did handle the situation the way it was described in the posting, I do feel that he/she is unfair and almost abusive. Therefore, this teacher should be removed.

A classroom is filled with many personalities in one room and it is only normal to get on each other nerves. Being a teacher is a very demanding because we need to control over our emotions and maintain productive environment for our students. The teacher does not have the ability to take a coffee break or longer lunch to calm down on a bad day. Since our actions can have a big impact on children, it is important to develop effective coping skills for these bad days.

Questions I posed with responses

This discussion reminded me that importance of making sure the crime fits the punishment. There are days when I felt I should be more patient. I also will think hard before I discipline the whole class.

I also felt that our society is hard on teachers and condemns them before their side is presented. While I do feel we need to protect our children, I am concerned that if many teachers are judged too quickly, we may start losing good teachers because of the pressure of the job.

Responses to other questions

I wanted to join this discussion because I was upset to read that the teacher openly embarrasses the class in the hallway. I see other teachers do this in my school. I am not comfortable with this approach but I feel helpless. In my posting, I strongly encouraged the parent to follow up on the situation in order to prevent any more emotional harm to the children.

First Jouranls Entry

Kerry Wright EDU7666

Journal Entries Dr. Signer

Topic Heading

On 9/14 there was a question on the discussion boards under the Teacher.net, teacher chat boards, primary elementary about a class having low vocabulary test scores. The discussion had entries from 9/14-9/15. There were several entries that requested clarification of vocabulary tests. I had assumed that it was to understand the meaning of words but the originator meant word identification skills. This transaction surprised me because I assumed that vocabulary was the meaning of words. However, I learned that vocabulary has different meanings to different teachers.

There was not direct response from the originator but the discussion revealed the following suggestions: drawing pictures of the words so the children can show if they understand the words; doing extra work during guided reading with the words; meeting with the students daily who did poorly on the assessment to work on those words using chants; doing PowerPoint presentation with pictures and sentences; using the web page usehttp://homepage.mac.com/chrisbiffle/FileSharing37.htmlkto for activities. One teacher gave a schedule of activities to conduct each day during one week. These activities included introduction of the words, drawing pictures, writing sentences with two of the words and answering yes/no questions.

Although I suggested drawing pictures of the words, I have used some of the techniques listed above. I do plan to investigate the web page listed above and singing chants.

Responses to others’ questions

I chose this question because I had learned about drawing pictures of words from Dr. Robinson literacy class. I used this approach in my classes and found it to be very accurate at assessing the students’ understanding of words. When I read the problem on the discussion board, I felt compelled to share that approach.

Thanks for the invitation

Hi Kerry:

Thank you for inviting me to join your Blog.

Dr. S