How to thank teachers

[kmg1]

The 'teachers' thread has left me feeling really fed up.

My boys attend a fantastic (state) school, and the staff there are ALL absolutely BRILLIANT. I want to thank them and encourage them and make them realise they are appreciated by me. I try to do this - obviously we sent Christmas prezzies and cards with notes in ...

Clearly teachers get some satisfaction from seeing the progress the children make, but I hate to think that my boys' teachers might think that we regard them in the way some posters on here regard their teachers.

So ... on Thursday ds1 came home with a little leaflet about the forthcoming term's work (Year 2). And it was fantastic - brief, but extremely informative, and very well put together. Both dh and I commented how helpful it is. ... Also on the first day of term he had written a book review for her (unrequested), and she read it, and wrote 3 or 4 really inspiring sentences for him about it, and about books/reading in general - on the first day of term - I'm sure she had plenty of other things to do with her time ... I don't see ds1's teacher at all during the week unless I seek her out specially. Should I seek her out specially to thank her and comment, or is that too creepy? I could put a note in his reading book, but that seems even more formal and uncomfortable.

So you teachers out there - do you get thanked/encouraged enough/at all by parents. What do you think?

What I'm trying to say (and messing up) is, well done for all your present and future posts, and the sentiments expressed in them, but don't be stewing about it when you're offline, because it's just not worth it.

hmb, I've had visions of you upset for days on end (not easy when I don't even know what you look like!) and it would be awful if this episode coloured your view of parents in general.

I know what you mean about mums and teachers being the perpetual whipping boys. I saw the words School Run on a questionnaire this morning, and in my brain, the words unleashed all those unfair things people say about mothers and cars and school runs (not businessmen and cars and work-runs, note) and I had a stew about it for 5 wasted minutes. Even my own mother gets at me over this issue, so I know what it's like to be villified.

Don't be like me and stew, is all I'm saying.

Do the children in your class get enough sleep? I help out at school on a Monday morning, just listening to children read one-to-one, and every week there are a fair number who are quite clearly too tired to concentrate and learn ... and that's with one-to-one attention. (And I'm talking about Yr3 year, not teenies). It really winds me up that they are not able to get as much out of school as they could do, simply because they've not been in bed early enough.

Sorry, a bit of thread but Kmg1 - I agree, but its not just sleep. Its also lack of breakfast or a decent lunch. There was an article in the Daily Mail (I think)last week about the rubbish some children have in their lunchboxes.

Sorry that should say 'off' thread.....you see I haven' t had my lunch yet

Don't worry about me 'stewing' Droile I'm fine! But it was very sweet of you to be concered

Re the sleeping thing my answer would be yes, as I have had one boy fall asleep in my lesson. I could just have been extra dull I suppose ( ) But he also had great big bags under his eyes, so I think it was lack of sleep. Many, many of them also come to school without having a proper breakfast, and some of them are eating sweets and drinking fizzy drinks at 8.40 in the morning. Thankfully we have now stopped selling them fizzy drinks which was making things worse and sending them the wrong message about diet.

Todays comment from a girl who never concentrates in class. 'I don't understand any of this miss', me 'Come and see me at lunch time and I'll go over it again for you', Her 'But that is a waste of my time!' And as I told her, that is her choice, but I will bring this up with her parents on open evening!

Most parents do feed their kids (she says, stateing the obvious! ). But some of the kids I teach come from very chaotic and difficult homes. Some of them do come to school without having breakfast. In other cases (and we are talking about older teen ages here) the parents may leave for work telling the kids to get food. And even though the food may be there some kids will not eat, and instead pick up sweets and fizzy drinks on the way into work. So it is the case of the kids chosing to eat junk.

Some children come into school, flithy dirty with unwashed clothes that are often torn. Some have to be asked to shower in the PE department. And I don't teach in a 'bad' inner city school. There are schools where the deprivation is much worse.

I find it hard to believe myself, it is so sad.

I am shocked that you have to ask some teenagers to shower before school - what a sad state of affairs. I suppose with older teenagers missing breakfasts in not necessarily a sign of neglect - if they won't eat the food, you can't force it down their throats, but I am saddened that some of your pupils come to school in dirty, torn clothes - and not as a fashion statement, I take it.

hmb, I too hope you are not stewing.

I agree abot the older teenagers, you can't force them to eat well I suppose Re the torn clothes, some are fashion statements (esp at the bottom of their huge flares) but some is plain old neglect. Uniform is a while blouse and some kids come into school in shirts that are almost black with dirt. They tend to be the kids who are asked to have a shower.

And as for the state of their teeth! I have one 12 years old with the most awful gum disease. We were studying what makes up a ballanced diet and she proudly told me how much squash she drank all day. It had to be good, becuase it had vitamins, she said. It was also full of sugar and E numbers, but she didn't understand that.

As I mentioned before ours isn't a bad school. Most of the cases of neglect seem to be caused because the paerents can't be bothered to look after the kids either because their parents were not good, or because of drink and drugs. The parenst are not evil people that want to hurt the kids. In many cases you can see that they obviously love them. They just don't seem to get their act together. But some are handy with their fists, and you have to remember that when writing reports etc. You don't want to land the kids in a beating.

I came from a 'nice' working class background. And I have been shocked at some of the things I have seen.

At our school we now have a breakfast club before school where the canteen is open for things like bacon or egg butties. Also at break time for pizza, sausage rolls and crisps - no healthy stuff you note!

I watched some children selecting lunch today too - so many just have chips and beans, or a slice of pizza or sausage roll. Very few select the full meal option. And it is all accompanied by fizzy pop or juice.

And we wonder why they can't concentrate afterwards!!!

We also have some problems regarding tiredness and cleanliness.

I have been known to sew buttons on shirts before for a pupil. And I often want to take clothes (esp. white shirts) home to wash.

I had a sixth former in my class 2 years ago who really did smell It was so bad the other pupils complained and his parents were called in to discuss it. Unfortunately it did not rectify the problem. We couldn't even get hima work placement as the employers refused to take him for hygiene reasons.

My teacher sister says that a lot of her REception/Year 1 pupils are quite grubby and obviously don't have baths or get their clothes washed much.

Oh and at the start of last term I watched the same children (3 from same family) with head lice - clearly visible crawling all over their hair - for at least 3 weeks running, if not longer. I did tell their form tutor who told their parents the first week. I spent the whole lesson itching!!!

I would just like to say:
I think ALL you teachers do a great job - after parenthood, it must be the most difficult job in the world...particularly as the media often have you take on the mantle of "scapegoat" for society....
My DD1 has had wonderful teachers: Nursery, reception, yr 1 and now yr2.
I always make a point of thanking them at parents evening as well as Xmas/end of term.

SDo hold your heads up and be proud - you are doing a fantastic job!!

Hulababy what sort of effect can all that have on his self-esteem? It seems so sad that this neglect is so common as some of you report.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't anyone interpret this as teacher-bashing - but is there any opportunity for teaching kids about personal care at school? I remember being told in no uncertain terms which bits of ourselves we were supposed to wash before we went to bed, and which in the morning!

I have taught it to my year 11 Biology group.....but they are 15-16 years old! And they are already very clean! We all ended up laughing like mad theings when I solomly told them that they had to wash their ano-genital region every day! We do cover it in biology when we talk about preventing disease etc. I'm sure that it must be covered in PHSE.

That said, it must be very difficult for children, even those of 16 plus to be clean if the rest of their household is dirty. We can teach them the facts, and ads etc do the same thing, but for some kids being dirty is the norm, and it seems to take a lot to counter that

There are some kids that I would love to kit out in new clothes and give their uniform an overnight bleach and then a hot wash! It is so sad to see them.

We don't have a breakfast club, I wish that we did. I'd rather them have a bacon roll than go till 10.30 without eating. It is no wonder that they can't concentrate. I also find that most kids go for the high fat snacks than the full meal option (which is always excellent, the kitchen staff are great at their job). It is such a shame as for some of them it is the only chance they get to eat 'real' food, ie veg, something with complex carbohydrates and fibre.

thanks hmb - that is interesting

agree that very hard for individual kids to be clean if the rest of the household is poggy

And to be fair it isn't that common, but there are several kids in each year who are very dirty. The poor food thing is a much greater problem in my experience. The kids who bring in packed lunches fall into two separate groups. The very good, wholemeal rolls, fruit and veg, yoghurts, and the very bad, crisps, sweets and fizzy drinks.

When I was growing up, a family lived in the same street were filthy dirty. They didn't have a bathroom, or toilet, they used to cr*p in the garden. They stank, to put it mildly, but were nice people. They all stayed dirty, except one of the girls who became quite normal. When she had kids of her own the pressure became too much and she reverted to the family norm.

And I do mean in the garden, not in a loo in the garden.

But hmb in a way the fact that it isn't that common makes it worse. Surely the child must realise at secondary school age that they are dirty/smelly in comparison with the rest of the year group. Hulababy mentioned a 6th former who couldn't get work exp because of it which seems so sad. I can remember the "smelly" kids at school and I'm sure they must have been aware of their reputation.

Yeah I can remember a family and kids used to cross over the road to make a point of not walking past their house. How cruel.