Is this standard teaching style for Year 4?

[Rollergirl1]

DD is in Year 4 and the Deputy Head is their teacher this year. She has always taught Yr 6 but has been teaching Yr 4 for the last 2 years. She is renowned for being incredibly strict. DD is a very good girl, likes to do as she's told so it would be her worst nightmare to be told off. Teacher shouts rather a lot and as far as I can tell has very little patience. Apparently she refuses to say anything more than once. It's got to the point that DD really dreads having ICT as the teacher explains everything really quickly and wont say it again. There have been a few occasions where DD has done something wrong and has been too scared to ask again and as a result has not finished her work.

Today DD came home and said that teacher shouted at her in front of the whole class and she was quite upset. Teacher gave the following instruction "If you have not yet started work on your poster then don't stick them in your book. If you have finished then stick them in." DD says she had started but had not finished so she didn't know what to do so she asked. Teacher shouted at her and said "The answer to that question is in the sentence that I just said so you clearly weren't listening!" I as an adult don't think what she said was clear in the slightest so how are a class of 8/9 yr olds?

I get that as they get older that they need to be more self sufficient and responsible. But I just think this teacher sounds unpleasant.

Is this standard teaching for Year 4?

[hiccupgirl]

It doesn't sound like great teaching but I have come across teachers who use this style with KS2 before. They tend to be focused on pushing the children to be as independent as possible which isn't a bad thing in itself but doesn't always work like in this case.

If she's been teaching yr 4 for the last 2 yrs though she's not just a yr 6 teacher and I presume this style of teaching has been successful with the previous 2 classes? Can you have a chat with her and explain how anxious your DD is?

[rollonthesummer]

Did she not say, 'if you have not yet finished the piece of work then don't stick it in. If you have finished, then stick it in'

That would make more sense?

She seems unecessarily strict though-my teens get this at their v strict grammar but they are much older.

[Notcontent]

She sounds horrible.

I don't understand why adults think it's ok to be rude and unfair towards children, in ways that they would not be towards other adults.

Your poor dd.

[Bardette]

It's not standard teaching for y4 or any age in fact. Just reading your post made me angry. I hate teachers like this, it's very poor teaching practice.

[PastSellByDate]

Rollergirl1:

First off in the course of primary the likelihood is there will be one teacher (maybe more) that your child doesn't like/ doesn't get your child/ you don't like/ etc....

So first off accept this is that year.

Second - aside from being shouty and slightly unfair - is work otherwise proceeding more or less as normal. If it's just ICT and that's just 1 hour a week - and the other 29 hours of the school week are relatively o.k. - it isn't great - but perhaps it's liveable with.

Third - individually complaining about this teacher (especially as she is senior management) is highly unlikely to get you anywhere. It will be ye olde your child's word against hers/ No other parent has raised this (true or not - but a favourite answer from HTs to individual parents complaining)/ etc...

So take a breath and believe in the power of little whispers. At some point a friend (who's a governor or good friends with a governor) or another teacher will ask how is Y4 going for little DD. That's the time to say you're so very concerned - she's terrified of Mrs X and feels she's constantly being shouted at. You don't know what to do. You're seriously considering changing schools.... etc....

Sometimes 'off the record' comments like that are more effective than open attacks (reporting teacher to HT).

HTH

[mrz]

Truth is there isn't a standard teaching style all teachers are different and have their own style. It seems the teacher is used to working with older pupils.

[JimmyCorkhill]

Sounds like this teacher hasn't yet adjusted to the leap from Y6 to Y4. However, that's not your problem to deal with but hers. You could arrange a meeting and just explain that DD is constantly worried. If you don't want to raise this with the teacher go through the head teacher. I have known a couple of teachers where this exact situation has happened and when they had the meetings they did change their behaviour, at least towards that child (one child had been vomiting in fear before school - bloody awful). Usually the teacher either doesn't realise how scary they are or they are doing a blanket approach to ensure the whole class behaves (unnecessary with the ones who do behave anyway). If I were you I would request a meeting with the head and explain that it is a sensitive situation, you don't wish to offend Mrs Scary, but DD is suffering.

[ChoudeBruxelles]

She sounds horrid. Ds would have struggled until very recently with only saying things once as he has had grommets in and genuinely couldn't hear properly.

[JimmyCorkhill]

Just read PastSellByDate's comment and don't agree about the 'complaint going nowhere' part (but point two is spot on). I know in schools I've worked in it would always be taken seriously. You don't have to go in all guns blazing. Just tell the head you are unsure how to deal with this situation but it needs to be dealt with as your DD does not feel safe and happy at school.

[Rollergirl1]

I'm really sorry, i'd completely forgotten that i'd posted this!

DD is doing very well generally and the teacher in question gave her a glowing report at Parents Evening and even went so far as to say she wishes she had a class full of mini-rollergirl's. I did actually tell the teacher at Parents evening that DD was feeling a little anxious about ICT and she said that she would try and boost her confidence. Funny way of going about it!

We had another incident at the end of last week that occurred during ICT (the one I described in my OP was just in the classroom). They were doing some work on the computers and they needed to print their work out. DD says that she clicked the 'Print' button and she thought she saw a message come up but then something happened and her document was no longer showing so she didn't know if it had printed or not. She managed to get the document back but was then too scared to try printing again as apparently teacher "hates waste" and had told the class that she'd be really angry if she found anyone that had printed more than once. So once again she put her hand up and asked the teacher. To which the teacher shouted and said "This has happened quite a few times with you hasn't it?". DD said that she started crying in front of the whole class. Then the teacher softened a bit and came over and said that next time she needed to print something that she would come over and help her.

DD came home and was upset and embarrassed. She was worried that she would look like a cry-baby to the teacher and the other pupils. She was saying things like "What's wrong with me that I can't even manage to print something out??". To be honest I don't think I handled it particularly well. I was absolutely livid and DD could see me getting more and and more angry about the teacher. So now I think DD is worried that I am going to say something to the teacher. She is adamant that she doesn't want me to. And now I'm worried that she won't tell me about any other incidents for fear of me doing so.

I don't think it helps that I don't like the teacher. I have never got a friendly vibe from her. She comes across as very aloof and stand-offish. She won't acknowledge you when she sees you unless she has to. And she doesn't make eye contact when she's talking to you which I think is very rude.

I'm not sure about taking it further and making a complaint. I'm not sure if it will solve anything. She has been with the school for a long long time and is regarded very highly. I think she is a very good teacher and definitely gets results. I just don't agree with the manner in which she gets them.