If You Are a Teacher....PLEASE Realize Your Impact on Your Kids!

My son has always struggled a little with school.  Because of his birthday, right before the cutoff, he is always the youngest in his class.  He also has some developmental issues – ADHD, sensory processing issues and very poor fine motor skills – that make things just a little harder than for the average kid.  Every year I’ve had conferences where we have discussed concerns, most of those years I’ve been promised evaluations which never happened.

His grades through the 4^th grade weren’t the best, he usually had what would be the equivalent of a “C” (in that whole system where they have a number grade but Unsatisfactories, Satisfactories, etc, as if calling it something else meant something different), with a “B” or even the occasional “A” thrown in there.  He wasn’t an honor roll student, but he wasn’t a poor student either.  State tests were another story, he has never done well on those, but in earlier years his grades always pulled him through.  The evaluations that hadn’t happened, I didn’t push, because he was doing OK and was happy, and he is actually a pretty bright kid.

In the last half of his 4^th grade year, parents were informed that his school was becoming a magnet school, and we would need to apply.  My child didn’t get picked in the lottery.  I enrolled him in a brand new charter school a couple of miles from our home, which promised “individualized” learning.  It sounded wonderful, this would be what would finally bring out his potential.  His first quarter, HE MADE HONOR ROLL, for the first time in his life.  We were ecstatic.

Then…his teacher left.  He was put in a class where I got phone calls weekly that my child just didn’t pay attention, etc, and his grades dropped.  Then, another teacher, and his grades dropped more.  Finally, in the second half of the year, he got a new, dedicated teacher, but unfortunately he had really fallen behind at that point and how he managed to pass 5^th grade is a mystery to both him and me.  But that teacher, she encouraged me to get private evaluations done, and she was awesome in getting questionnaires filled out for our doctor in a very short period of time.  I got the documentation I needed to get him a 504 plan.  He started on medication, which has tremendously increased his focus.  I was very hopeful for the next year, it would be the second year of the school and teachers would be more stable.

Ha!

He is on his second teacher of the year for History, 3^rd for Math, 4^th for Language Arts and Reading, 3^rd for Science, 2^nd for Computers (his elective).  How is an AVERAGE child supposed to do well with that, much less one that has huge issues adjusting to change?

He HATES his school.  He would rather I homeschool him and he knows he doesn’t want that!  He’s going to repeat 6^th grade.  Look at his grades each quarter and they vary WIDELY, depending on who his teacher was.  And it’s not all his fault.

You can have the greatest teaching abilities in the world.  But if you don’t realize that taking a job when you know you have a situation where you are going to leave 3 months later to move somewhere else, or that you took a middle school job when you can’t handle middle schoolers, or that you just want an extra $2000 a year and will leave your current job at the drop of a hat for it, YOU ARE NOT A GOOD TEACHER.  I understand there are unforeseen situations.  I understand that people would like the opportunity for better jobs than what they have.  But if you are a teacher, you need to be able to dedicate at least 9 months of your life to it, barring some emergency.  My kid is NOT the only one who is suffering both academically and socially for a teacher’s  lack of dedication.  And it sucks.  Really sucks.  My child’s whole life could be impacted by this.  If you can’t be a dedicated teacher, please turn down the job and let those who can have the opportunity.  For the sake of the children.

I don’t hate teachers, I have an awful lot of respect for what they have to put up with.  I know what they deal with.  My mom just retired from her job as a Special Education teacher a little over a year ago.  She’s left jobs…for money, because she didn’t want to teach at a school who just “taught to the test”, because she had philosophical differences with principals…but NEVER in the middle of the year.  And she agrees with me.  You can’t just leave kids high and dry and expect them to succeed.  They are our future.

I’ve been re-doing my budget, refinancing my mortgage, and doing anything I can to set money aside….I’m determined to send my son to an established private school next year, one for kids with learning disabilities, one where the teachers realize the impact they have on a child’s life. 

I may even have to switch to cheap wine.  But it’s worth it.  If you are a teacher, please realize the effects of your actions.  And for those who don’t, well, that’s why I have wine!