unfair - secondary teachers what do you think

8 replies

trofeewife · 14/01/2013 17:09

Y7 ds was doing a spelling test in English today. The children marked each other's work and then handed the papers back. Somebody had drawn a willy on ds's work so he told the teacher. Nobody owned up to it so the entire table was given detention (including ds). The children on the table then spent the rest of the lesson complaining about what a pain ds was.

So what could ds have done to have avoided being punished and ostracised due to another child drawing on his work?
Handed it in?
Ignored it?

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FireOverBabylon · 14/01/2013 17:15

The teacher should have known who was marking whose work, because it was highly likely that someone would be stupid enough to write on another student's work, even if it's only "tut tut" where they got something wrong.

The teacher handled it badly, but your DS certainly should have alerted the teacher to it.

Original poster

trofeewife · 14/01/2013 17:16

Thanks for answering. That's what I thought. Seems he was in a lose-lose situation with this particular teacher.

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Original poster

trofeewife · 14/01/2013 20:11

any other views before I fire off a pointed letter?

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trinity0097 · 14/01/2013 20:26

Could your son not have waited until the end of the lesson and spoken to the teacher then? It would avoid the reaction your son got for being what the other children would perceive as being a tell tale.

Original poster

trofeewife · 14/01/2013 21:10

possibly he could have but I very much doubt if he has the skills to predict the reaction of the other children at his age having never experienced anything like this before. Also he would very likely forget to say anything if he left it to the end of the lesson (as he has dyspraxia)and he would then be in trouble for handing in the work as it was.

I really don't think he deserves a detention for bringing it to the teacher's attention that somebody had drawn a willy on his work either way. I'm very confused as to what lesson the teacher is trying to teach him here. Don't tell? Lie?

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Original poster

trofeewife · 14/01/2013 21:10

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tiggytape · 14/01/2013 22:38

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Madmog · 15/01/2013 14:36

If you're going to write a letter, then I'd want to know if the teacher thought there was any chance that your son could have done. Not saying he did, but his should only have had detention if there was a chance it was him.

At my daughter's school they sit in rows and swap with person next to them, so teacher will clearly know themselves who the culprit is. I guess all schools are different though. Your son did the right thing bringing it up straight away, I know that meant everyone else knew, but it gave the teacher time to deal with it in lesson time rather than when everyone was on their way to the next lesson.

Hopefully it won't happen again, but it might be worth suggesting your son tries to see who is marking his work then he will have a fair idea who is responsible.

I know your son doesn't deserve detention, but my daughter had it recently (much to my horror) and her tutor made her read for an hour. She loves reading and choose a book she is studying for homework which her tutor knew, so she actually enjoyed it. Told her it might not be like that next time though! Hopefully it won't be too bad for your son.

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