For teachers- do your pupils learn something new every day?

[jasper]

I am asking this due to the thread about taking kids out of school outwith holidays, where some of you explained it disrupted the teaching programme.

My question is do you really teach your pupils something different every day? This is a genuine question, not intended to provoke or criticise. I admire anyone who chooses teaching as a profession and the friends I have who teach are , to a woman, remarkable and inspiring individuals.
It's just that my memory of school (particularly primary school ) was of weeks and weeks of repetition of the same things.

That was my biggest compliant about school - it was boring and repetitive and I felt I hardly ever learned anything.

We were taken out of school for a week or two most years and there was never any notion of having to catch up or missing anything. Have things changed or am I suffering from false memory syndrome ? Might I have gone on to acheive greatness if it hadn't been for those fortnights in Harrogate?

So to repeat my question,which was not intended to rehash the holidays issue, do you teach a different thing every single day?

Tigermoth - I help out in school and definitely feel welcomed and valued by the staff there. 'All I do' is listen to readers 1to1 - in year 3 atm. But I talk to the children about the books they have read recently, their favourite authors, my favourite authors, the story so far, etc., etc. When I come in half the kids are desperately keen to come and read to me first. I think I do a good job in that role.

But I do not feel equipped to do anything on my own with a large group of children (i.e. more than 4!) and would definitely want/value training if I were to do this. As far as this parent is concerned, I VALUE the training the staff in my school have had, and would not want people with limited experience and qualifications responsible for the education of my children.

Robimw you said

'Thought I'd better answer the questions about violence. I don't approve of anyone using a knife. Without knowing either the teacher or the child how can I say more than that? Teachers are not saints and neither are children - I won't assume one must be in the right. Do I think the education system had failed him - probably. By the time a child gets to secondary school they've had years in which school has been a major influence on their life. If the only way they know to handle a problem is by violence it doesn't say much for their teachers. '

So you are saying it is the teacher fault that a child took a knofe to school and pulled it on a teacher. I give up.

Annswer the questions. I see the results of crap parenting every day. Does that give me the right to call YOU a crap parent. You are infering that because you child had a bad theacher than all teachers are bad, So shall I replay the compliment to you and say that you are crap at parenting????? Answer the question, or can't you??

FFS. Violence OK if child provoked by useless teacher, presumably.

And short of an act which would have made the press by the teacher, what could give a kids the right to draw a knife on someone!!!!!!!!!!!!

I repeat, I give up.

If this is your attitude, please don't send you child to the school I work at.

Thank you for the support Jan, I needed it!

Don't worry about it, it didn't upset me, teachers can be iffy (no disrespect to your sister either!!) I'm just getting very hached off with the impication that because some teachers are crap, we all are. I think that most teachers are good, some are bad and some are exceptional.

Frankly since robinw has so little respect for teachers and schools I think that she should do the 'right thing' by her child and take her out of school and do a better job. Goes to school for social reasons, my arse.

Agree 100%. Which is why I'm annoyed at the implcation that Robinw makes that were are all failing our kids.

I see children for a maximum of 2 hours and 20 minutes and day. They have a total of 4 hours and 40 minutes in school a day. How can we be held responsible for the violence that some children learn when for the vast majority of the time they are not with us, they are with friends and family.

I don't think that we should give up on these kids, and I try to do my best with them. But other people have mose responsibility that me for the bad behaviour of some children in our schools.

I am no longer going to get wound up by the points that Robin makes.

What is the point? Criticising all teachers based on the fact that your daughter's teacher doesn't change her reading book is ludicrous.

Please point me in the direction of the article where it says that untrained staff are not welcome in school - I would love to read it.

PLease think for one moment - replace some of your comments with another word - replace the word 'teacher' with stay at home mum, or asian or gay and see how insulting and out of order it sounds.

Hulababy has had here messages deleted and I am seriously consdiering doing the same.

Are you being straight up here, Robin, or are you taking the mick? And it seems that it is not just the teachers who think this.....please correct me if I am wrong non-teachers!

Nope, with you all the way, popsycal!
(a non-teaching tamum)

I think we are a profession that is very easy to knock. We have all spent many years on the receiving end of education, and we are now entrusting the futures of the most precious things we will ever have in our lives - our children - to teachers. So it is understandable that people will have heated feelings.

It is exacerbated by the fact that the majority of people who go into teaching do so because they are deeply caring people who want to do the best for young people and the society of tomorrow. Most of my colleagues and teaching friends desperately endeavour to teach and nuture children in the best way possible, but we are painfully aware of how hard this is and of our shortcomings. This is why the kind of comments we have received on here upset many teachers so much.

I am sorry that people have had bad experiences of teachers. I hope that you have better luck with teachers in the future. I hope too that, while the system has, unfortuately, failed you that you are able to hide your emotions and encourage in your children a love of education which you are so painfully aware that you are missing.

For what it's worth, when I had a teacher in year 4 who regularly kept me waiting several weeks with no reader before allowing me to graduate to the next book, I got on with reading other things while I waited. I don't really feel I could have been any more successful or happy in my life than I have been, and I often reflect on that teacher's poor management style when thinking about how I lead and manage, and what beaviours to avoid. I think my most important education was from my parents - to always make the most of what you have and to be positive about it. I hope that your children are able to grow from their experiences and be as happy as I am.

This is just a comment on something I read waaaaay down the thread regarding the class hmb is so proud of (oops! ..of which hmb is so proud?).

I know you're thrilled they did well on the exams. But I want you to know the thing that has always stuck with me from secondary education was the feeling that I could accomplish more than I thought. It wasn't in my best subjects, but when I had done something that no one (not even I) thought I could do, except the teacher. That boost of self confidence still lingers in me 13 years after I finished high school.

Anyway, that's what you gave those kids. Just wanted be sure you knew it.

I just want to go back to the original title of this thread ie. do pupils learn something new each day. From my perspective as a parent who's DD has just started school, she most certainly does. I have just seen my shy, unconfident DD totally come out of her shell. She is much happier, confident and articulate. Her teacher is absolutely fantastic. DD has problems with her motor skills and now finally, purely thanks to her teacher is getting the help she needs and I can see huge improvements as a result. Her best friend is brighter than average and is also catered for extremely well. I feel very sad at the criticism I have seen levelled at teachers. As people have mentioned, in any profession there are those who are poor at their job, but so far in my admittedly limited experience of teachers I have seen a dedication that amazes me. I've just witnessed a very close friend do her PGCE and start teaching a Year 5 class. The amount of hours she puts in is absolutely staggering. I can only hope it's appreciated - I fear not.

I'm with you, Popsycal.

To lay the blame for violence on teachers is ridiculous. I suspect it might just be a teensy bit more complicated than that.

I've just read this entire thread and it's made me really angry - and I'm not even a teacher. Why am I not a teacher? Because they are undervalued, underpaid, belittled, and slagged off for doing one of the most important and valuable jobs there is. Of course there are bad teachers (there are also bad doctors, bad vets, bad road-sweepers, bad waitresses, and even...bad Mums!) On the whole though, they are dedicated and caring in the face of the most overwhelming indifference and ignorance as to how hard their job really is.

All those people who reckon teaching is such a doddle (short hours, long holidays, go in and waffle on about something with no preparation) should actually try it. Perhaps they'd like to have a go at teaching maths to 15/16 year olds in inner city Manchester like my friend does? She has been pushed, spat at, sworn at and threatened..even while heavily pregnant. Perhaps they'd like to teach the 14 year old boy in another friend's class who likes to make himself vomit to liven up the lesson? Perhaps they'd like to try and find appropriate reactions to a constant stream of sexual innuendo and suggestive comments that another friend was subjected to by a 15 year old she was trying to teach?

And it's not just secondary school. My Mum (thankfully now retired) was physically attacked by a 7 year old boy, 6 months after she'd had a heart attack. Another colleague in her school was attacked by a parent.

Even if you are lucky enough to teach in a nice school - you are completely shackled by the National Curriculum, everything is bound up in league tables and results. This isn't something teachers are responsible for - they just have to implement it, and try and make it work on the front line.

The teachers I know (and I know a lot) are hard-working, caring, and utterly professional. I have nothing but admiration for them.

And robinw - if you are really so disillusioned with the teaching profession and primary school education as a whole, and convinced you are doing a much better job (you probably are, I think any teacher could do a fabulous job if they only had classes of one!) WHY is your dd still in school? If I felt as strongly as you do that school was failing my child so badly I'd be damned if I'd let her spend one more day there.

Hear hear, Marthamoo. Great post.

Hugs, marthamoo, you almost made me cry. Thank you.

It is also the best job that I have even had (other thank motherhood) and it is a priviledge to work with most kids.

message withdrawn

Oh, absolute bollocks, you are talking rubbish. You haven't seen my lessons, you don't know what methods I use (many and varied), and the last thing I need is for you to post the obvious in the guise of 'educating teachers'. I'm not going to post on this thread any more, are you are obviously set in the belief that we are all crap. Well fine. Just tell that to the almost 100 kids who's grades

PS it may be that your dds school are happy to have untrained staff, prehaps they just don't want to have negative, self satisfied people who have such an appaling attitude to teachers and schools.

Goog bye.

La la la,
Not listening any more.....who am I like!

Bit unfair Robin- teachers are assessed more these days than ever before. Their teaching comes under scrutiny again and again.

Regarding violence in schools etc Here in the UK the parents are seen as being responsible for their children- if a child gets into trouble with the police the parents are called, the parents have to sort it out. In Japan - where I taught in several state schools, the school is called if children get into trouble. The school does have quite a lot of responsibility to a child. They therefore have far more influence (alhough I still saw pretty appalling classroom behaviour in one school I have to say). IN the UK teachers have very little infuence over a child's behaviour as they have no responsibility outside of the classroom/school gates.

I do find it surprising that your shcool doesn't want help robinw. I recently went to a meeting at ds1's school and they said they were happy for any parent to come in and help (subject to police checks of course). They were very keen to get more parents involved in Juniors.

Calling teachers and untrained helpers in schools, what happens when an untrained person makes a suggestion about teaching methods and approach to a teacher? come on, there must be some nice positive stories!

Robin, Just picking up on your point about private tutoring - yes, lots of children in my son's class have tutors as well. The children are of all abilities, so some of the tutoring is for catching up, some is for the 11+. Perhaps the parents are too busy to support the children as much as they want to. Schools expect parents to back up the classroom learning, but obviously parents who both work and have several children will have less time. It's worrying though if you feel that lots of your dd's classmates' parents are unsatisfied with the school. Have you grouped together to discuss this?