Sunday, December 11, 2011

Semi-Homeschooling

It is a problem that many parents face: Your child has a class mate who is THE troublemaker. In Aidan's class, there is a boy who has some serious problems. He disrupts the teacher and bothers the other students. He blocks the flow of learning when children are trying to focus and do their work.

At the parent/teacher conference last week, Aidan's teacher told us that she just doesn't know what to do anymore and that she plans to have a behaviorist come into her class to give her some advice because she's used up her "bag of tricks" with this troubled boy. She admitted that when this boy was absent for a few days last week, the entire vibe of the class completely changed. That is such a shame!

Aidan talks about this boy frequently and mimics his antics. This child has infected the behavior of a few boys in this class, influencing relatively well-behaved children to misbehave. My child is included - he's picked up some bad habits.

So Aidan's teacher, instead of teaching, has to spend a lot of her time giving this troublemaker individual attention. This gives the kid additional attention from the entire class. Ms. Teacher has to stop her instruction and deal with this kid's antics. Classmates think that the troublemaker is being funny and, well, since that gets attention, they copy that behavior.

It's utterly disgusting and my child is being cheated. And there is nothing I can do about it.

But the only thing I CAN do is make up for it at home. Already for an hour each day Aidan and I hang out together and do homework, read and play this coin counting game, which involves math in a fun way. But I want to make sure that what the class is lacking is made up at home.

Have you dealt with this problem with your kid(s)? What did you do and how did your child turn out long term?

4 comments:

bill starkey said...

i guess i will have to come over and do some ass whipping on the parent

Mrs.K said...

I had a student that was extremely disruptive like that. A regular school environment was not the correct placement for her so I followed the procedures to get her into a placement that was. The teacher shouldn't have to go through a "bag of tricks" to deal with this student - she needs to get him into a better placement, or get him an aide. Her answer is unsatisfactory. I would speak to the principal.

Anonymous said...

I'm sure it's frustrating that your kid's education is being derailed. However, from what you've said, this kid in his class needs empathy and support too. I'm a bit put off by the tone of the post--demonizing this kid in the class. It sounds like he really needs some adult out there to step up for him.

Anonymous said...

I'm sure it's frustrating that your kid's education is being derailed. However, from what you've said, this kid in his class needs empathy and support too. I'm a bit put off by the tone of the post--demonizing this kid in the class. It sounds like he really needs some adult out there to step up for him.