Parent Teacher ConferencesEvery school year I dread the same thing - parent teacher conferences! And every year I always here the same thing from the teachers…Caleb is such a wonderful kid, he has a heart of gold and he likes to help others (great right? yes it would be if they would stop there!) but BUT (I really have come to despise this word) he talks too much, he really struggles with writing and reading and spelling (then they mention that he excels in math - which is beyond me how the kid got any math genes because I stink at math & it’s not his dads favorite thing either…lol).
Ok I would be satisfied and ok with all that if the teachers could leave it at that but again they don’t. They always ruin it by bringing in another but here. So back to the conversation - blah blah blah but blah blah blah but he fidgets too much, he angers easily, he disrupts the whole class. I’ve tried moving him away from so and so and that didn’t work so I moved him again and that didn’t work so I moved him by desk away from all the other kids…blah blah blah.
I KNOW my son likes to talk, I KNOW he fidgets, I KNOW he can be disruptive but quite frankly I’m sick and tired of hearing it from every teacher every year! I hate the fact that he’s been labeled as a ‘bad’ kid ever since kindergarten and that this label has followed him around each year. I hate the fact the teachers get notes from the previous year teacher and have this preconceived idea about my son before they even meet him. It just isn’t fair.
Public school has been nothing but a nightmare for my son and I hate to think that he’s only in 3rd grade (should be in 4th but I held him back in 1st grade) right now. (sigh).
Oh and for the record - my son is doing fairly well in reading now, his writing still stinks, he hates spelling and now the one thing he used to excel in (math) he is falling behind in so he’ll be getting some extra help in that area.
December 5th, 2007 at 8:35 am
Sorry you have such a hard time with these teachers. That is absolutely not fair that he has this label, especially if they can see what a great kid he is. Have you tried speaking to the teacher outside of the conference or along with the social worker to try to form a plan of action to help curb the classroom disruptions? Maybe you need to educate them about ADD and some effective ways to handle the fidgeting.
I have a neighbor who went through a VERY similar experience with both of her sons and she eventually found a teacher who was willing to work with her and her sons and who wasn’t judgemental. Those teacher are out there!
I hope you find a teacher soon who can just accept him as he is.