To think that my DSs teacher shouldnt have behaved like this

[startofnewterm]

Namechanged on this in case anyone recognises this story.

DS1 is in year 3 and is age 7. He has gone back to school after the half term today and has come out of school rather upset because the teacher has shouted at most of the class.

Apparantly, what has happened is that on the last day of term the teacher gave them some homework to do over the holidays (a kind of story to write about a particular subject). This teacher is now on sick leave and today (the first day of term) one of the other teachers has taken the class and will be doing for the foreseablee future. It appears that 90% of the class didnt do the homework and the teacher raised her voice and said how disappointed in them she was and that if they didnt do it tonight and hand it in tomorrow then they would miss play tomorrow and have to do it then.

I overheard a few of the other children in the class saying the same thing to their parents and one little girl was visibly upset.

After speaking to a few of the mums it turns oout that non of our children received the homework in their book bag and there was nothing written in their homework diary, as there normally is when homework is given. Apparantly, it was a verbal request for homework to be done over the hols by the teacher on the last day of term.

I wasnt happy about the teacher upsetting my son so I nipped in to have a quick word. She played it down and said she hadnt shouted and just addressed the class as a whole and in view of the fact that the homework wasnt given out on a sheet or in the homework diary then to forget it for tonight and tell my DS not to worry. She seemed to brush it all off as nothing.

My DS is now saying he doesnt want to go to school tomorrow even though Ive tried to reassure him that it doesnt matter now about the homework and that its going to be ok.

What a rotten start to treat the children in this way on her first day with them. And I dont particularly think its the childrens fault seeing as their homework is normally in written form and also in their homework diary.

This is why homework is bollocks.

They're seven FFS.

The original teacher was daft for not writing the homework down.

The new teacher was not wrong for telling the children off for not doing it (although I agree if 90% of the children didn't do it, she should've thought more, it's an extraordinarily high percentage).

YANBU for being annoyed at the whole situation.

Tbh, it sounds like both teachers made a mistake, the original one for deviating from routine, and the replacement for being harsh without checking the circumstances. But I don't think anyone has been particularly horrible, just slightly misguided.

I also agree with tethersend though, homework for such young children is bullshit IMO.

Was about to write almost word for word what tethersend said. I teach secondary age children and have to insist they write it down. Otherwise it doesn't get done.

The bit I don't get is it was important enough to tell the children they would miss playtime if it wasn't done tonight but when challenged by an adult it suddenly became unimportant. Either it was important or it wasn't important and if it wasn't important why haul the children over the coals if the teacher wasn't sure of the usual procedures. Be a bit stern but if it's not important don't make threats; that to me sounds rather like bullying.

What the teacher should have done:

1st teacher should not have set homework on the holiday.
I have never done this except for senior students taking exams, and never will. Entirely unnecessary.

However...if the numpty insists.....

Homework should never be verbal.

2nd teacher should have said on day one that she understood homework was set for today, remind them, and set a date two days later for collection.

As for loosing time at break for not doing homework; the clue is in the name; home-work. And for 7 year-olds!!! FFS.

I would actually be more worried that your son may have a "shouty" teacher. My third ds had a teacher like this in year 3 and he became extremely distressed and refused to go to school. I think this situation is more about her shouting than the actual homework. Keep an eye on this and if you need to make an appointment with the head to discuss.

YANBU, homework should always be given in a memorable form, written or put on any Moodle the school has and the children told where to find it.
New teacher needs to be very clear to the whole class that as it was set verbally and presumably not following homework policy, then she will not be chasing them for it.
Few would remember verbal homework on the last day, especially if they were given reading and comprehension too.

more than 90% of my upper sixth didn't do their holiday homework last week. I certainly showed my displeasure though unfortunately they are a bit old for cancelling playtime!

verbally set to 7 year olds isn't going to work but I am sure it was simply that he new teacher didn't know it hadnt been set correctly

Why make an issue and intimate to your DC that it is ok to question his teacher? You need to support the teachers, they have a hard enough job and making a fuss about homework is ridiculous. Help him to settle down and write the story tonight and get in handed in tomorrow.

The teacher spoke to 90% of the class ffs, it wasn't as if your DC was singled out or publicly humiliated!!

Yes, actually, two of my year 12's didn't hand in their essay yesterday and they certainly got the rough side of my tongue!!

The overwhelming majority of teachers have good intentions, but need to set clear limits for their classes. The teacher, I'm sure was just making sure that the class knew that if h/w was set, she expected it to be completed on time.