I wonder if there's any middle ground between switching classes and doing nothing. I liked what pregnant@40 had to say about talking to the teacher about the problems you have encountered so far.
We had a not very inspiring teacher for first grade last year and we didn't act on it until March because we kept saying, it's the beginning of the year, let's wait for P/T conferences, it's winter break, etc. I don't know if a switch would have been possible, but the principal had some suggestions of how to improve the classroom experience that could be implemented fairly quickly. She was also very grateful for the information that we weren't happy. Now, we're both educators so we went into it in a possibly overly-polite way, but on the other hand, that approach also pretty much worked. Our son got assigned to a teacher this year whom he absolutely adores and who is a much better match for him. I do sort of wish we had spoken up sooner.
I would try talking to teacher first and be as specific as possible about what you are observing with your child that you find troubling. If you don't say any change, I would contact the principal a week or so later.
We had a not very inspiring teacher for first grade last year and we didn't act on it until March because we kept saying, it's the beginning of the year, let's wait for P/T conferences, it's winter break, etc. I don't know if a switch would have been possible, but the principal had some suggestions of how to improve the classroom experience that could be implemented fairly quickly. She was also very grateful for the information that we weren't happy. Now, we're both educators so we went into it in a possibly overly-polite way, but on the other hand, that approach also pretty much worked. Our son got assigned to a teacher this year whom he absolutely adores and who is a much better match for him. I do sort of wish we had spoken up sooner.
I would try talking to teacher first and be as specific as possible about what you are observing with your child that you find troubling. If you don't say any change, I would contact the principal a week or so later.
) to us and to dd. I was NOT happy, but let it ride. Then when I dropped dd off for her first day, the woman was borderline rude to me, and again was very abrupt with dd. She wouldn't make eye contact with me, didn't smile at ALL, and did her best to shoo me out of the room as quickly as possible. It was dd's FIRST DAY! I wasn't planning to stay for an hour, or even 10 minutes! She's a very sensitive kid and had never been in anything remotely resembling a classroom setting or left with anyone but family or the family friend who kept her during the day. I was so upset at the teacher's behavior that I went home, called the principal and set up an appointment for myself and dh to meet with her that day.
