Friday, March 13, 2009

If This Had Been My Class, I Would Be Writing This From The Rubber Room



I heard a rumor ( I really don't know if it is true or not so I am making no claims to its authenticity) that an AP informed a bunch of Suits that the class they were about to enter was one of the lowest functioning groups in the school. The kids heard this. When the group entered, the kids protested and refused to speak. The teacher ended up doing a chalk and talk lesson all period.

No matter how I come across on this blog, I really am a meek, mild mannered person who gets intimidated easily. But, when someone I love or care about gets hurt, I bare my teeth and my inner beast breaks loose.

Had it been my class, that beast would have made an appearance. No one hurts my kids and gets away unscarred. I might not be the best teacher around as far as discipline or even getting material across but no one cares about these kids as much as I do. I would have stood up to that AP and the Suits and shouted as loud as I could
"HOW DARE YOU COME IN HERE AND INSULT MY STUDENTS? THESE KIDS ARE SOME OF THE FINEST KIDS IN THE BUILDING AND MAYBE EVEN THE WORLD. HOW DARE YOU LOOK AT NUMBERS AND PUT THEM DOWN WITHOUT KNOWING WHAT IS GOING ON INSIDE OF
THEM?
Now, come in, and apologize to them. Tell them that the only thing low functioning was your mouth a few minutes ago."

I would have held my ground until the rubber room police came to escort me away.


Disclaimer: Do not assume that this happened at my school. I have no way of knowing whether any of this is true or not so take it with a grain of salt. This is just another way for me to avoid posting what I am avoiding posting--my reactions to the Quality Review.

5 comments:

HWHL said...

Keep the faith. My son (who was in Special Ed for several years), has benefited tremendously from the public school system in our county... we have a fabulous public school system here.

Good teachers are GEMS.
Even though I don't know you, let me say THANK YOU for being an advocate for your kids.... and THANK YOU for not giving up on them.

Chaz said...

How interesting that Administrators can get away with verbal abuse in direct violation of the Chancellor's regulation A-421 but when a teacher tries to discipline a student the teacher can end up in the "rubber room".


By the way, there is no "rubber room" police. The Principal just gives you a letter saying you are being reassigned and that an investigation is underway based upon allegations.

Pissedoffteacher said...

I didn't think there are rubber room police either. The comment was my sad attempt at humor.

ms-teacher said...

At my school site, a former principal hated the fact that we were in the only middle school in our district that had special ed students. She made no bones about how this "hurt" our test scores.

One day, we had visitors on campus touring it with our principal. She stepped into the special ed classroom and one of the students quipped something to the effect of, "why are you only nice to us when you have visitors at our school?"

The special ed teacher was so proud of this kid and no, it was not rehearsed. All kids are a lot smarter than some give them credit for!

Profesora de espaƱol said...

This past week, an administrator needed my help with some technology in another class. She sent that classroom teacher to my room. The teacher entered saying, "Administrator X sent me to babysit for you." I got immediately angry and yelled at the teacher, "THERE ARE NO BABIES IN HERE! THESE ARE TEENAGERS!" Needless to say, by the time I got back to my room, the students weren't doing what they were supposed to be doing, probably because they were insulted by that teacher's comments. So inconsiderate. No wonder the high school students continue to act immaturely - it's expected of them!