I've been on the M forum a few times posting about ds. I really feel like I'm obsessing about this!!
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A little background: ds is 6yo ('1st grade'), this is his first year with M and is doing really well with the environment, working on his own, mixed-age, etc.
His teacher, though, just isn't sitting right with me. I volunteer in the class every other Monday for a few hours, so I hear her say things to some of the children that are not 'ideal'. This is her first year at the school ~ although, she's been teaching M for about 8 years now. This school has an excellent reputation and I'm really surprised this teacher is there based on the reputation of the school. She's not extraordinarily patient with the students. Ds is super sensitive and rarely needs to be redirected due to being disruptive, etc. But, when she speaks to another student, ds gets upset because she's firm and 'a little yelly' as ds describes her. She's told students that their notebooks are a mess and she doesn't like their scribbles in the book. When ds told me about her saying this, he said to me that he can understand what she's frustrated about, but she could've used kinder words.
The kicker for me was when she said to ds "Look at this notebook (another student's) and look at your notebook. Look at how neat your work is." She never said to him the other student's notebook was messy (ds knew who the notebook belonged to, btw), but it was implied and ds got what she meant by it. It bothers me to think she's comparing students with one another and then saying something about it to said student/s.
I had a brief discussion with the director this morning about the above incident and the director agreed it was inappropriate for her to say that and that she will be speaking with the teacher. The teacher could've just noticed to ds how neat his work was, there wasn't any reason to involve another student's work in her observation.
One parent has pulled her son out of the school because she was unhappy with this teacher. I know that another parent is also considering pulling her son out of this class and homeschooling.
My concern is that if they keep the teacher, ds will be in her class for another two years. At times, I think I'm expecting absolute perfection from anyone related to ds's education. But, then I think it's these little things that may affect ds's love of learning in a negative way.
If anyone has any suggestions or experience, I'd greatly appreciate any feedback! Because I really am obsessing over this!!
:A little background: ds is 6yo ('1st grade'), this is his first year with M and is doing really well with the environment, working on his own, mixed-age, etc.
His teacher, though, just isn't sitting right with me. I volunteer in the class every other Monday for a few hours, so I hear her say things to some of the children that are not 'ideal'. This is her first year at the school ~ although, she's been teaching M for about 8 years now. This school has an excellent reputation and I'm really surprised this teacher is there based on the reputation of the school. She's not extraordinarily patient with the students. Ds is super sensitive and rarely needs to be redirected due to being disruptive, etc. But, when she speaks to another student, ds gets upset because she's firm and 'a little yelly' as ds describes her. She's told students that their notebooks are a mess and she doesn't like their scribbles in the book. When ds told me about her saying this, he said to me that he can understand what she's frustrated about, but she could've used kinder words.
The kicker for me was when she said to ds "Look at this notebook (another student's) and look at your notebook. Look at how neat your work is." She never said to him the other student's notebook was messy (ds knew who the notebook belonged to, btw), but it was implied and ds got what she meant by it. It bothers me to think she's comparing students with one another and then saying something about it to said student/s.
I had a brief discussion with the director this morning about the above incident and the director agreed it was inappropriate for her to say that and that she will be speaking with the teacher. The teacher could've just noticed to ds how neat his work was, there wasn't any reason to involve another student's work in her observation.
One parent has pulled her son out of the school because she was unhappy with this teacher. I know that another parent is also considering pulling her son out of this class and homeschooling.
My concern is that if they keep the teacher, ds will be in her class for another two years. At times, I think I'm expecting absolute perfection from anyone related to ds's education. But, then I think it's these little things that may affect ds's love of learning in a negative way.
If anyone has any suggestions or experience, I'd greatly appreciate any feedback! Because I really am obsessing over this!!
