>>> Part 4 of 4...
 
teachers here.  I get so sick of seeing all the recent articles about how
the school system is upping the grading scale to make the kids work harder
for an "A", and how they are going to expect more from our children.  You
know...why is it that our children are always expected  to do this and do
that...but the teachers are so many of the times, allowed to get away
with things that they shouldn't?  Why aren't these teachers taking classes
on how to deal with normal IQ children that have special needs?  Why
don't these teachers have to deal with children like mine, and whoever
gave them the right to choose whether or not they are going to help one
child and not another?  When I called the principal about this letter that
I got from her teacher about keeping her back in first grade, he said
he didn't know anything about it.  He said that first we should have been
contacted for a conference, then after the conference the letter is sent
home and a copy of it sent to his office.  This never happened.  I told
him how disappointed I was at the lack of attention my daugher was given
as far as her education was concerned, and I told him that Chelsea's
Chapter One Reading Teacher did now work with her more than 10 days from
March 17, to the day in which I was speaking to him.  I also told him that
she was to be working with Chelsea 2 to 3 days a week...he asked me who
told me that.  When I told him Paula Arnold and Ann MCGoy from the
Special Education Department, all he could say is "Oh really?  I didn't
know that..."  Then he tried to side step the issue by saying "Mrs. Long,
we try to help all of our students, and we try to focus our attentions
on those that need more help than others.  Perhaps Chelsea wasn't doing
poorly to require Mrs. Emmert helping her...?  I got very irrate at this
point and said to him..."Mr. Whitfield, in February, my daughter brought
home a report card with 8 U's on it, and now she has been recommend to
repeat first grade with a note that she is reading below first grade
reading level...where do you see that MY daughter didn't need help???
His reponse..."Well, you got a point there, Mrs. Long."  He suggested
that my husband and I come in for a conference with Ms. Schmader,
Mrs. Emmert and himself, and get these questions answered.  As much as
I wanted them to spout their excuses to the principal, my husband and I
decided that here it was...4 days before school was out for the summer,
it was a rather moot point now...Would it matter what their reasons were
now?  Would it make a difference after nine months of Chelsea's education?
No.  We opted to not get into it with them...we wanted to know, but at
the same time, I didn't want to here their lame excuses for total and
complete failure to do their job.  I'm very protective of my children,
especially my daughter...and I'm sure I would have said or done something
to either of them or both of them that I would have regretted.  Damn them.
If they don't want to teach children, but teach a set of rules for of
curriculum, I think they should go to a higher grade...such as high
school.  Children are to empressionable at this age, and need all the
encouragment and insight as they can possibly get.  If they don't get the
attention that first graders need in order to read and understand what is
being taught, they get more and more discouraged as time goes by and they
get more and more behind, till finally, they don't even want to go to
school.  Learning HAS to be fun at this age...it just has to be.  Children
of this age learn how to play games, they learn how to work a Nintendo,
they learn how to work a game boy and what buttons do what...why and how
do they learn these?  Because they are fun.  Children retain that which
is fun and interesting, and block out that which is boring, taught with
strictness and monotone voices, and without color.  So why can't learning
how to read and write, and do math and history, science and health be
fun, colorful, and exciting????  It can if the teacher is willing to put
that little bit of extra effort into what they teach, and WANT to teach
children, not just a curriculum as you stated above.  Until these teachers
learn this, you'll never see them on "American Teacher Awards"!  Maybe
they all need to watch that and see what these teachers are doing to get
there!
 
 DT> I'll dig into this a bit more...since I am interested in your
 DT> questions  as well...
 
Chelsea will be tested the first week of school by Paula Arnold!  She IS
the first child already scheduled for testing, which is unusual...they
usually test the LD students first, and then students such as Chelsea
later in the year.  Because Chelsea should have been tested after being
diagnosed with epilepsy, she is being tested first!  God Bless Paul
Arnold...eh?  :)
 
Well, I better close this up...it is 1:38 am, my hubby just went up to bed
and I've had a very stressful day...Chelsea had two seizures yesterday
due to the heat, and one today...I think I aged about 10 years in the last
36 hours!
 
My apologies for the long letter...but my husband is the only one that
I have to talk to about this, and it is SO nice to be able to talk to
someone else who understands, can relate, can appreciate my efforts and
understands the needs of my daughter!  You have no idea how much I
appreciate your interest in my story and in my daughter!  :)
 
Thanks Dan!
 
Stay Well!
Karen :)
 
... I can't live without my coffee and my PC....
 
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