Friday, February 22, 2008

How Sweet

Originally posted on my AOL journal 12/11/07


We all know how mean kids can be. Of course all of us were perfect little "angels"; however, we all have experienced the really mean kid in school that does not get caught. This is the one that always whispers mean things to the kids and always manages to be nasty when the teacher is not looking. Well Meghan's class has one that was so out of control that a few weeks into the school year, I had to go in a speak to the teacher. Meghan (the child who looked so forward to school that she counted down the days last summer) did not want to go to school. I was the third parent to come to the teacher with concerns about the same child so the school set her up with in house counseling, and the kids were to let the teacher know when she began doing these things. This "mean" kid came to school in the beginning of the school year dressed like a little doll - you know the type.
After the intial situation began to be handled, the little girl seem to stop being quite as malicious, but then gradually began to step it up again. Well today Meghan came home to tell us the little girl told her she was fat. This was right after she told another child his mother was fat and his sister stupid and that Ms. Kennedy was a loser. Well this time the child was not as slick as she had been in the past and the teacher walked up as she was saying it and heard everything. As a result, the child might be getting moved out of the classroom.
Now I remember the "mean" kids that I had in school never seemed to caught. The only ones that seemed to get caught are the non-mean kids that retaliate after having had enough. Frances, if you are reading this please correct me if I am wrong because I sure remember lots of mean kids in elementary school and middle school. Middle School's mean kids were the worst and I still remember my nemesis and her full name 21years after I last had to deal with her. So those of us that were not the "mean" kid should take a moment to rejoice with Meghan that the "MEAN" GIRL GOT CAUGHT BY THE TEACHER.
Perhaps this child is crying out for attention because she did this after having spent the morning with the principal for writing notes to another student. The other student turned them in to the teacher which got the "mean" girl senmt to the office. With the zero tolerance policies that the schools now adopt once she is moved to another classroom over this behavior and it continues, she will be asked to leave the school.
Those of you that might questioning my music selection, especially if you do not have kids going through the current generartions "new math " concepts - let me explain. Years ago when I was in school, I learned my multiplication tables by flash cards and writing them over and over again. Alan had the added incentive of a ruler and his dad.(ha ha) Apparently the educators thought that way old fashioned, boring and not very cool so they developed these key looking things with a string. Each key is a series and set up with the a number on the left and the middle is the number you are multiplying by and the answer is in the right. To see if you are right, you flip them over on the back and see if your pattern is the same. Now I truly see nothing wrong with the old way, it worked well for generations and we all know are multiplication tables well. I do question this new math way because I do not think the kids are getting the same reinforcement that we did. We have proved this by asking Meghan a week later and she has problems remebering the answer so now we drill her constantly even though she is getting 100s on the quizzes for each group. Flash cards and writing them worked very well in my opinion. Ask Alan, even the ruler worked well.

No comments: