To be fed up hearing "oh s(he) is just bored at school" re badly behaved children?

[Caz10]

Met friends of DH today, they have a little girl in Yr2, I don't see them often and just asked how she was doing at school for a c bit of crap chat...anyway apparently she's been in constant trouble, letters and phone calls home all term etc etc - but of course it is "just because she's bored at school"

Grrrrrrrrrrrrr

Disclaimer - I am a primary teacher!

At my school if we had completed the work set out in the class we were allowed to read while waiting for the others.

yes, I'm bored of this thread now

:D

I used to say,'sometimes life is boring-get on with it'
I also used to say to my class ,'ok anyone who is bored put your head on the desk and have a little sleep,anyone who feels like being difficult copy out a page of the dictionary.The rest of you this is what we are talking about today......'I always seemed to have 100% attention most of the time!'

Message withdrawn

ds1 is dyslexic and gets incredibly bored at school because he sometimes cant understand the work.then he acts up and the teachers say hes a trouble making.he needs more help!

So what's wrong with them being a bit bored from time to time? I'm not saying bad teaching here as that's obviously far from good, but isn't it unrealistic to think school should be fantastically interesting for every second? Isn't it quite good for kids to realise they're one of a group, and sometimes Teachers focus on something they're not that into? Seems like a useful life skill to me. No excuse for being disruptive though.

my mum always told us that being bored showed a distinct lack of imagination.

that being said, i know DD got in trouble for awhile in school when she was young, but it was mainly because (according to the teacher) she finished her classroom assignments too quickly, and then got into trouble while waiting for everyone else to get done. The teacher's solution? tell her to put her head down on her desk while waiting for other kids to finish, effectively punishing her for being quick. She took a book with her to read, but teacher had told her she couldn't read while waiting as it wasn't fair to the other kids that she had free time in class to read. Teacher wouldn't give her extra work, as she again said it wasn't fair to the other kids. So DD figured out that if she messed around until the other kids were most of the way done with their work, THEN started on hers, she wouldn't have to put her head down. I actually had to go through the head just to get permission for DD to read quietly at her desk when done with assignments. How ridiculous is that? So I guess, yes, she was bored, and misbehaved because of that. But that was a bit more specific issue.

I think a sensible teacher should give the child a chance to read in class when they have finished the work. But naturally on condition that the book gets taken away straightaway if the work they produce is not of a sufficiently high standard: there are bright children who will do the minimum of work on a task and the proclaim that they are bored.

Pitchounette I take your point, absolutely. I think it's a balance - smees post above sums it up very well for me, BUT it depends on how often that is happening. I mean is that cropping up with your ds every week? Or just occasionally? Occasionally and I would say that's life, more often and I would say that's worth talking to the school about.

Message withdrawn

Good point Caz10, it most definitely is a balance.
fwiw, my son and his friend both reckon phonics is 'boring'. Friend's mother is concerned as her son is 'so bright', and believes that's why he sometimes plays up. He's not really naughty, just an imp at times. My son is apparently not disruptive, but does switch off given half the chance, but I know it's not because he's bright and finds it easy, it's more because he finds some of what they're doing rightly challenging and is a bit scared to show he can't do it, so switches off and doodles.. Having spent time with his friend, I suspect it's the same with him. Suppose what I'm saying is kids often say they're bored because it's an easy get out. Quite often it's not boredom at all.

I had a boy in my class this year who had dyslexic tendencies, and massive self esteem issues - he was way behind the other pupils in many areas - and very frequently complained of being bored. He was just terrified of failing and had a real barrier up against anything that looked too "wordy". I think it's a very common issue, and worth both the parents and the school investigating, because the child who complains of being bored might actually not be grasping something very important.

cory - oh, I agree - in this instance, her work was absolutely fine - not substandard or sloppy just to get done. She was just quick.

on the whole, I think my teachers got it right; I was allowed to take a book into English lessons (not my native language) and French lessons, and eventually into history lessons, but I also had to be prepared to answer questions and do the same tests, so the responsibility for keeping an eye on the curriculum was mine

prehaps her parents should find out why she's bored. Is it that she finds the work too difficult or not challenging enough?. Whatever the reasons the parents have a responsibility to work with the school on it and not let her disrupt everyone else's education.