To be pissed off with DS's science teacher?

[teameric]

DS started secondary school for the first time Monday. He was really looking forward to it and came home on the first day in high spirits.
This continued until wednesday, he was a bit quiet when he got in and I knew something was up. Eventually he told me that in his Science lesson the teacher shouted at him ....for scratching his nose.
I thought he was joking but apparantly, the teacher slammed his fist down on DS's desk and got in his face shouting at him that no fidgeting or scratching was allowed in class and that if he did it again he'd get detention.
Apparantly he shouted at another boy for something as equally stupid as well.
I have tried to downplay it a bit, and said that maybe the Teacher is just setting an example of how he wants the class to behave, but inside I'm fucking seething, DS was really anxious this morning (not usual for him) because he has Science again today. He's a good kid and wants to do well, I know his school days aren't going to be all plain sailing but ffs surely this teacher could have gone about it in a different way?

[Mij]

That's clearly idiotic, but there are idiots in every profession and teaching is no exception. Perhaps he's taking that 'be scary for the first week or so to get order and authority established and then you can back off a bit' a tad too far. What I'd want to do is write a letter to the head of department, but what I'd actually do, it being a new school and not wanting to get black marked as a trouble maker that early on, is be sympathetic but try to get your DS to see the behaviour as bonkers as it is, and wait a couple of weeks to see if the teacher's outburst calm down a bit.

[teameric]

Yes Mij, that is probably want I will do.
Just really angry that my DS had to take the brunt of the pricks power trip.

[teameric]

what I will do even

[clpsmum]

thats awful poor thing i feel for him but not much you can do, i fear if you approach school it may embarrass your son. really disgusting behaviour from the teacher though

[BalloonSlayer]

Sounds awful.

The teacher may well be attempting to [over]do that thing of scaring the class to death in the first term, with a view to relaxing later in the year. Teachers who can get this right often end up the most popular of all, with perfect discipline in their classes. However it sounds as if this one has gone a bit OTT.

In your position I'd sympathise with your DS but not take action until anything else happens.

[Olifin]

Sorry to play devil's advocate but is it possible your son was exaggerating?

Sorry to ask, it's just that I work in secondary and know that children often fib or exaggerate about teachers.

It's just that it sounds unlikely. Scratching is unavoidable, surely. Might as well tell someone not to sneeze on your lesson. Fidgeting is another matter. Some kids are expert fidgeters and do it solely to irritate people.

Hope you get to the bottom of it either way.

[Olifin]

sneeze in your lesson, not on it. Ha!

[teameric]

Olifin I work in a school too, I get where your coming from, but I also know DS, don't get me wrong he is no angel, but I would be very surprised if he had been deliberately trying to irritate, not his style at all.
And it has obviously affected him because he's not usually an anxious kid.

[Olifin]

Sure. You know him best and it's a shame it's made him anxious.

Hope it proves to have been a one-off and that his relationship with this teacher improves.

[sharbie]

We had this happen to OP few years back but first week in sec school - some teachers seem to go off the deep end at the beginning (just to warn the class maybe?) trouble is with my ds anyone who shouts like that loses respect - he got a bit of an attitude too.its a shame there has to be teachers like this but there are only one or two at their school.

[trixie123]

If your DS continues to be worried I would suggest a phone call to the form tutor. They expect this sort of thing in the first few weeks and it can be dealt with in a low key way that won't make any waves. She /He might be able to clarify matters for you or have a word with the science teacher in a conversational way - as a secondary teacher myself that would be the way I would probably go in the first instance.

[Galena]

The other possibility that I've seen in the past is that the class 'clowns' decide on a particular 'inoffensive' action which they are going to keep doing very obviously. This then becomes a game during the lesson, leading to the teacher becoming cross with it and making a comment. Then an innocent child does the action because they have an itchy nose or similar and receive the brunt of the teacher's anger. So yes - maybe he did just scratch his nose, but maybe it came on the back of an amount of other low-level irritation.

[teameric]

yes Galena, but this was at the beginning of the lesson and was the first time they had ever met this teacher.

[Mammie81]

Can I ask... is this a school in North London? DP is a science teacher, I hope to god it wasnt him!

[slugz]

Ds got sent to the head's office once for sneezing in assembly.
When he told the head why he was there (when asked) the head thought it was so ridiculous that she assumed he must be lying and so he got into even more trouble.

[belledechocolatefluffybunny]

It's actually very dangerous to scratch your nose/put your finger in your mouth in a science lab as it's highly likely that he's touched a chemical that has been spilt and it would then go up his nose/in his skin/in his mouth. Would you rather his teacher put the fear of god into him or allowed him to stratch acid onto himself?

[MmeBlueberry]

You obviously only have one side of the story, teameric.

[sorrento56]

One teacher made my son cry so I complained to the deputy head and the teacher had to apologise to my son.

[TheFallenMadonna]

If you are worried about it, ask for clarification from the teacher or HoD. But I would probably hold fire until he's had a couple of lessons. What were they doing btw?

[cleo78]

belledechocolatefluffybunny...I can only assume you're joking!? If there were chemicals on the benches, then it's the schools responsiblity to get them cleaned up quick smart. And if that was a reason for the shouting, then this really should have been explained, or what was the point?
I'm a secondary HoD of Science and I have NEVER heard of kids not being allowed to touch their faces (obviously within reason you could - depending on what they're using I suppose), BUT I have seen some incredibly awful teachers!!! It may well be that this is a new teacher who has been advised to take the 'don't smile till xmas' route?!!?
If it continues to be an issue then i think you should definitely contact someone at the school- or is there a parent's day/evening soon that you could use?

[loopyloops]

I agree completely with Cleo, was also going to mention "don't smile til Christmas" - is the teacher an NQT do you know?

[belledechocolatefluffybunny]

I'm not joking cleo, there's always another aspect to something.

[TheFallenMadonna]

Well, I'm also a secondary HoD and tell my students not to rub their eyes when we a re doing practicals after one girl pushed up her safety specs and rubbed in some citric acid she's got on her hands. No harm done, but eyewashes best avoided IMO.

However, in the first lesson of year 7, surely they weren't doing much more than lighting a Bunsen Burner?

[TheFallenMadonna]

Agree re "don't smile 'til Christmas" though Crappy advice. Love them into submission is my motto!