Ode to a 5th Grade Teacher
I just came from my son's 5th grade graduation...truly a proud moment for his mother and I. Anyhow, while I was there I talked to his teacher, who by the way read my post from this morning. To my surprise she informed me that she asked all the kids if they put sun screen on, and Conner did not respond (he conveniently left that part out last night). She informed me that she can't give sun screen out but they could call home to get permission to use someone else's (also something Conner failed to mention).
Anyhow, I want to publicly apologize to Conner's teacher, who in mine and Tracy's opinion is probably the best teacher he has ever had. We both know that our son is a kid with a very vibrant personality, and it takes a special teacher to handle said personality, and Mrs. Tomlin certainly has done a wonderful job. So... many kudos to you Mrs. Tomlin.
It's important to me that she and everyone else knows that my comments were not directed towards her or even Willis Elementary school, but to the overall system in general. The schools and teachers are only doing the job that is expected of them and for that we are all grateful.
4 comments:
I guess that was rather a big ooops, but as a parent of a boy we know from experience that there are ALWAYS two sides of a story. Benjamin has a few times this year come home with tales of a repremand for something that he didn't do, or that the teacher mistook for his fault and which lead to unfair punishment.
It is hard to wait until the next day to meet with the teacher when you feel your child has been innocently punished or slandered, and it is even harder when they have a good story.
However, we too have learned that a good story often has significant ommisions; maybe not on purpose, but significant enough to change the story 100%.
Benjamin has also had a wonderful teacher this year, we were blessed with a Pastor's wife (God must have been smiling on us), and so when stories of unfair treatment came home, we always had to take a few breaths and wait for the teacher's story, it was quite often enlightening...........
Tricia
Tricia...thanks for the comment. I have always said there are two sides to a story and I always try to give the benefit of the doubt. I made the mistake of jumping to a conclusion way too fast...live and learn:)
i see both sides of this discussion. i too, have a son, that doesnt always give me the 'total' story, or has misunderstood the situation. that said, i feel that our generation(30-40ish) parents didnt have the same strict guidelines that today's school systems have. we would have been allowed to slather on whomevers sunscreen and been done with it. with no worries of lawsuits or "getting in trouble". personally, if i was a teacher of this class, i would have insisted that your son call one of his parents, or I, as the teacher would have done this for him. i know at a certain age, all childern have got to become responsible for themselves and their bodies and actions, but i wouldnt have left any of my students out all day in the sun to burn to a crisp. he may have been given options to use, but ultimately, some teachers need to try alittle harder. we do entrust our sons and daughters to them all day. i dont feel some really understand this anymore...nuff said.....
Well, to be fair to Mrs. Tomlin, she did all she could...But when someone, like my son, doesn't speak up then that becomes his responsibility and he must deal with the consequences. I can't even imagine how hard it would be to keep up with 20+ kids...I have trouble keeping up with my 2
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