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Forum -> Chinuch, Education & Schooling
S/O let's hear from the teachers
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amother
Azure


 

Post Thu, Sep 14 2017, 8:07 pm
So among the many members on this site there must be some of those cruel teachers and I want to hear what on earth they might have to say in their defense.
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PinkFridge




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Sep 14 2017, 8:14 pm
You really think so? Did they chime in on any other relevant threads yet?
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amother
Forestgreen


 

Post Thu, Sep 14 2017, 8:17 pm
Unfortunately the reason usually is they are usuallystressed from home, kids spouse Parnasa ect. And they come to work just to bring in some money. They could not car less about the students.

They do what's convenient and comfortable fir them then get their paycheck
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thunderstorm




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Sep 14 2017, 8:24 pm
As the original OP on that thread, I will be the first to say that the majority of teachers, do have the best intentions in mind. And DO care, and even show it. Unfortunately there are bad apples in every bunch. Not all teachers are insensitive, horrible people. For the most part they are in this field because they love children and are passionate about what they do. So please teachers out there or spouses of teachers don't assume you are doing something for nothing. The fact is I loved my teachers and principals. My sister unfortunately did not have the same principal as I did and she was not as lucky. But I know that there were many teachers who cared about my sister and tried to make her feel extra special because they new she was suffering. My post was not a teacher bashing post but an awareness post. And we now see how many people really do suffer . But those are a minority. Please keep that in mind. I don't think any teachers will come on here and say that they tortured a student. I think the teachers were not aware of what they were even doing ( which is a problem) I highly doubt anyone is going to come on here and take blame.
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chocolatecake




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Sep 14 2017, 8:29 pm
amother wrote:
Unfortunately the reason usually is they are usuallystressed from home, kids spouse Parnasa ect. And they come to work just to bring in some money. They could not car less about the students.

They do what's convenient and comfortable fir them then get their paycheck


I am not a teacher but I think your post is very harsh. I am very appreciative of my kids teachers. For the most part they do an amazing job. You put a teacher in front of a class of 20-30 kids with different personalities strenghts and weaknesses of course certain kids will do better than others with that specific teacher. Yes teachers work for the money.but they.chose teaching because they.want to help shape the future generations. To all you teachers on this site thank you for all your hard work time and effort that you put in your job and just letting you know that some of us out there do appreciate you.
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octopus




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Sep 14 2017, 8:30 pm
amother wrote:
Unfortunately the reason usually is they are usuallystressed from home, kids spouse Parnasa ect. And they come to work just to bring in some money. They could not car less about the students.

They do what's convenient and comfortable fir them then get their paycheck


I think there is a component of power trip to the equation.
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InnerMe




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Sep 14 2017, 8:42 pm
chocolatecake wrote:
I am not a teacher but I think your post is very harsh. I am very appreciative of my kids teachers. For the most part they do an amazing job. You put a teacher in front of a class of 20-30 kids with different personalities strenghts and weaknesses of course certain kids will do better than others with that specific teacher. Yes teachers work for the money.but they.chose teaching because they.want to help shape the future generations. To all you teachers on this site thank you for all your hard work time and effort that you put in your job and just letting you know that some of us out there do appreciate you.


Yes, I think this was harsh, as well as the OP's post. Teachers are humans. Teachers make mistakes. Yet the overwhelming majority does pretty ok. Ever hear of the concept of the "good enough mother"? It's the mother who tries her best. Who loves her children to ends of the world. Who takes care of the emotional well being of her kids. Who is there as a healthy loving parent. And yet she makes mistakes. She sometimes fails to attend to a child needs. She sometimes has an inappropriate response to a child's action. But overall she's "good enough". And that is "good enough" for the children. Such children grow up to be healthy and stable. Because there's no such thing as a perfect mom, or a perfect teacher. So yes, there probably teachers that made horrific mistakes, that hurt their students for a life time. But let's differentiate from those scenarios to the ones that are in the bigger picture not that major.

And I am not a teacher. But I used to be one. And I know the hours and thoughts and energy and feelings that goes into those children can never fully be explained.
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Maya




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Sep 14 2017, 8:43 pm
octopus wrote:
I think there is a component of power trip to the equation.

Absolutely, at least in my experiences.

My school hired teachers straight out of high school for Judaic studies, and straight out of 11th grade for general studies. There was no training or education involved; the requirements for the majority were mostly having come from the right family and/ or having the ability to give over a lesson to students relatively well. There was no awareness of student relations, how to treat them or be sensitive to their feelings. It was strictly about the lessons, and discipline. It wasn't half bad in general studies, but when stupid uneducated young women felt empowered to mix their own brand of radical religion into the lessons just because they could, the results were nightmarish for those students they deemed not religious enough.


In my school it was not about the money; the biweekly salary of $160 that I received was not enough to support anyone. Teachers in high school earn a little more, but I don't think many do it for the money.

(I'll admit to having been one of those stupid right-out-of-11th-grade teachers in a 7th grade classroom, but I do remember having a bit of an awareness about sensitivity to students. My students may have a different recollection, I don't know.)
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Fox




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Sep 14 2017, 8:51 pm
I worked for 20 years as a teacher. I've taught at vocational colleges; junior colleges; a regional university; a year of Limudei Kodesh at an elementary school BY; part-time classes at a BY high school; and probably a few things I've forgotten.

I hope I didn't damage any of my students, and I would certainly like to consider myself more professional -- as well as kinder -- than some of the teachers described on Imamother.

However, I have one observation I'll share: poor teachers almost invariably mean poor administration and poor supervision.

When I started teaching, my supervising director was in my classroom at least five or six hours a week. She met with me after class every day to review what she'd seen; coach me regarding classroom management; and make suggestions. We constantly reviewed the curriculum and discussed ways to enhance it. She built my confidence by helping me recognize when a student was simply being obnoxious and when it was a sign that I needed to adjust my own attitude.

Hiring well-qualified teachers is meaningless if you're not going to have a well-planned curriculum in the school and/or if you're going to dump teachers in classrooms and wait until parents complain before you check in with them. Unfortunately, that's what happens in too many schools -- both Jewish and non-Jewish.

Though this story about Tiferes Bnos may be outdated, it shows that you don't need to have fabulous, amazing teachers in order to get good results. You need constant training, coaching, and supervision. Tiferes Bnos
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amother
Khaki


 

Post Thu, Sep 14 2017, 8:52 pm
The prob as I see it and having been on the other side of the desk many yrs is that unfortunately there isnt a big jerk alert on these mechanchim. They mean well in their own way. However an overall problem is that many ppl are immature and emotionally underdeveloped. It's the job of a terrific menahel/menaheles to be keen, observe and guide or if need be fire. Many of my teachers were young insecure and needy and used the students needs to feed their egos...unfortunately these days headstaff is too busy trying to please ridiculous demands from parent's...
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sequoia




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Sep 14 2017, 8:53 pm
Back in the USSR, my mother taught straight out of high school (10th grade) in a rural school that went through 8th grade. I can't imagine the fear being faced with a class full of kids who are taller and tougher than you. She said the boys gave her hell.
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amother
Seagreen


 

Post Thu, Sep 14 2017, 8:55 pm
Maybe they are simply living out a legacy that was passed on to them. They haven't gotten around yet to "breaking the cycle".
I have done some awful things as a teacher, early on.
Over the years I have done deep introspection and I'm a changed person. I've broken the cycle.
I want to add that whatever horrible things I have done to my students were nearly always a result of top down leadership issues. Meaning, in each situation that I can recall, the principal directed me to do the awful things. I overrode my intuition and went along with the principals' recommendations.
I have seen the underbelly. I did not like it.
Eventually, after I'd broken the cycle, I got out of teaching because it was too painful for my sensitive soul to bear witness to what I was seeing in the school systems I was teaching at.
This has been my personal experience and may not reflect on your child's school or school principal or teachers.
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sweetdimples




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Sep 14 2017, 9:32 pm
Maya you were considered a fabulous teacher, I know Wink Though I wasn't of the straight out of 11th grade breed,
(I actually graduated 12th grade) I was overcome with gratitude for being given the opportunity of a teaching job, never mind the long commute from BP and my tendency to extreme motion sickness, this was a dream job and I was supposed to feel honored to be one of the special chosen ones 😂 Anyway you were a veteran teacher by then... onto your second year of teaching! The girls went gaga over you I hear. I remember you walking the halls confident, poised and beautiful Very Happy
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chestnut




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Sep 14 2017, 9:38 pm
sequoia wrote:
Back in the USSR, my mother taught straight out of high school (10th grade) in a rural school that went through 8th grade. I can't imagine the fear being faced with a class full of kids who are taller and tougher than you. She said the boys gave her hell.


How was allowed to teach without a degree?
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sequoia




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Sep 14 2017, 9:43 pm
chestnut wrote:
How was allowed to teach without a degree?


I imagine a high school diploma was enough. She graduated with a gold medal (straight 5's). The school where she taught was in a village. Grades 1-8 were all in one room. I guess they were lucky to have any teachers at all! For my mom, as an educated urban girl, it was a pretty big culture shock.

She taught for a year, then went on to university.
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yehudis1056




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Sep 14 2017, 10:05 pm
amother wrote:
Unfortunately the reason usually is they are usuallystressed from home, kids spouse Parnasa ect. And they come to work just to bring in some money. They could not car less about the students.

They do what's convenient and comfortable fir them then get their paycheck


Well I'm a teacher. And yes I work for the money. Do you have a job? Would you go if you weren't getting paid? I really love what I but no I'm not doing it as a chessed I'm doing it to help support my family. I don't think teachers need to apologize for that.

That being said yes I do care about my students. I think of strategies and motivations and exciting lessons all the time. Am I perfect? Probably not. But I try hard to be a good teacher. BH I have found that most of my colleagues do as well. And BH the teachers that my children have had have also been wonderful for the most part.

I'm not denying that there are bad teachers out there who do terrible hurtful things. As a kid I've run into their particular brand of ignorance and intolerance more than once. But your post was untrue and unfair in that you painted all teachers with the same brush.
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InnerMe




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Sep 14 2017, 10:12 pm
InnerMe wrote:
Yes, I think this was harsh, as well as the OP's post. Teachers are humans. Teachers make mistakes. Yet the overwhelming majority does pretty ok. Ever hear of the concept of the "good enough mother"? It's the mother who tries her best. Who loves her children to ends of the world. Who takes care of the emotional well being of her kids. Who is there as a healthy loving parent. And yet she makes mistakes. She sometimes fails to attend to a child needs. She sometimes has an inappropriate response to a child's action. But overall she's "good enough". And that is "good enough" for the children. Such children grow up to be healthy and stable. Because there's no such thing as a perfect mom, or a perfect teacher. So yes, there probably teachers that made horrific mistakes, that hurt their students for a life time. But let's differentiate from those scenarios to the ones that are in the bigger picture not that major.

And I am not a teacher. But I used to be one. And I know the hours and thoughts and energy and feelings that goes into those children can never fully be explained.


Umm.. Why the hug?
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notshanarishona




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Sep 14 2017, 10:25 pm
I am a teacher. I have never done anything horrible or demeaning that I am aware of but as too how things can happen:
(1) teachers can say insensitive comments just like anyone else. Sometimes you say something without thinking
(2) there is a lot of stress/pressure and sometimes it's a struggle to keep yourself from getting angry
(3) classes are huge, it's a big effort to really get to know your students especially in the beginning so you dont know what strikes a raw nerve in people
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amother
Babypink


 

Post Fri, Sep 15 2017, 12:34 am
I posted over in the thread about students being mean to teachers. I was the one who was driven to quit after only a few years. As I said there, I made mistakes, humans tend to do, but I can confidently say that I never ever did anything cruel or demeaning to any student, no matter how frustrated I was and no matter how awful the students were being.

I think the really awful stuff stems from a lack of training. And I don't just mean inexperienced fresh out of seminary girls. I also mean older, experienced teachers who refuse to bother to keep up with the latest developments in the education field because "what I've been doing for the last 30 years works perfectly fine". Also, at least in my experience, these horrible teachers are rare. When I look back at my K-12, yes, there were 3 teachers that I remember as truly being the worst and who caused real damage. But I remember many more as being amazing, caring, teaching us not only the material but lessons that are more important than anything academic. There are many more teachers that I remember fondly than bitterly.
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wife2




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Sep 15 2017, 5:02 am
Sometimes it is just a misunderstanding. I had a teacher accuse me falsely of cheating. She wasn't trying to be mean but she didn't understand the situation. I am not excusing her behavior, and to this day I am still scarred by it. But she wasn't being malicious - she just never asked me what happened and jumped to conclusions.
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