AIBU to this this is a bit much??

[highfive]

My dd is 6 and in Year 2. Her Literacy homework this week involved reading a lengthy poem and answering comprehension type questions. We were told to leave them entirely to it on their own and hand in the work without altering it. Question one said "which word in this poem means hidden?". I looked and found the word "concealed" about half way down. dd struggled to find it and left the question blank. She answered all other questions correctly (some quite awkward ones). Her teacher wrote the following comment "whilst you have made a good attempt at this homework, I am disappointed to see a question left unanswered". dd was very upset. I was furious! AIBU or should she really have known this word? I have no other children to compare with her but feel this seems a bit harsh. Not helped by the fact that her best friend DID know what it meant!

YANBU. This sounds quite insane. She clearly tried. Not sure what the teacher wanted her to do.... She is only 6.

It sounds like a school I used to work in! I left.
Mind you, I don't believe in homework for anyone below year 5.

I bet her friend had more help than your daughter.

It really depends if the homework is based on work that has been studied in class that week or totally unrelated.

Mmm, never thought of that Panzee! Thank you. Poor little mite thinks she's useless at literacy now.

They had been looking at poetry in general mrz. Not a specific poem. If she had read it before then I could understand it a bit more.

you asked if she should have known the word "concealed" and as I said it depends what has been taught in school prior to the homework

I wonder if the comment was more about the fact that she hadn't even attempted the question - It may be the case that the teacher is trying to encourage them to 'have a go' with all comprehension questions, rather than not putting anything. Perhaps she should just have chosen a word, even if it wasn't the correct one.

I agree with Galena as that is what I immediately thought when I read your post, op.

Maybe the teacher has just worded it rather harshly. Maybe ask her if she can have a go at synonyms for disappointed next week.

Very badly worded comment - doesn't say much for the emotional intelliigence of the teacher. I think using the word "disappointed" is too strong whether she was in Yr2 or Yr6 - and whether she should have known or not!

A more poistive approach would have been to encourage your dc to "have a go" at answering all the questions even if she was unsure of her answer.
BUT you don't encourage kids to "have a go" at something they are unsure of by critisizing their attempt in such a harsh way.

silly thing to say, given the type of question - the reason she left it blank is that she couldn't find a word that meant hidden - so to show she'd tried, she would've had to write down a different word which wasn't in the poem, or a word which she knew didn't mean hidden! so she'd be writing something she knew was wrong.

Sorry I misread this to start with thinking your daughter was in year 6! Not 6 years old in year 2!

Not sure I would have written this comment in a year 6 piece of homework! "A Fantastic work"/ "Well done" and smiley face or sticker is all that should be written on work for a child this young. Sounds like this teacher is experienced with much older children or perhaps not experienced at all.

Is the whole school like this or just this teacher? Not sure I would want my child in a school that puts such store on academic performance at such a tender age. What ever happened to excitement in learning and discovery, awe and wonder?

No wonder kids end up so disaffected with learning by the time they start secondary school.

Well, my daughter calls her teacher (out of hearing!) "Mrs Shouty Knickers" as apparently she yells at them constantly. One little girl came out of school the other day from my dd's class in tears running to her mum saying that she had been shouted at because she forgot to bring her homework book in... her mum was SO angry because it was actually her that had taken it out to fit the lunchbox in and then forgotten to put it in!! The teacher, in my opinion, is under a lot of stress this term - it's an independent school and they are sitting entrance exams in jan so I realise it's a busy time. But surely, there's no excuse for treating kids like this?? I've made an appointment to see her to discuss... not sure how best to approach it but just wanted some perspective in case this is the norm in other school!?

If they are sitting entrance exams in Jan, I would be almost certain that they are working on 'exam technique' until then. Hence why they were to do the homework independently, without support or correction. I am also almost certain that she will have said to them that an unanswered question is definitely wrong, while a guess may be right. Even if she didn't know which word in the poem meant the same as hidden, there will only have been a small proportion of the words she didn't know the meaning of, I guess, so she could have chosen one of those as her answer - she may have chosen the correct one.

As for being told off for not putting the homework book in, she's probably trying to develop independence in the children - At 6/7 they should be beginning to take responsibility for checking their stuff is in their bag before leaving the house.

Galena - are you a teacher by any chance? I see that what you say makes sense in lots of ways now that I've calmed down a bit. I suppose I just feel they are so young! Surely it's never right to really shout at a child in class though, over something like this?

Highfive, yes, I am. I know they are young, but teaching them to 'have a go' is actually an important skill - otherwise children can panic when they can't do a question.

As for shouting, I agree it isn't right to shout at a child over homework not handed in. However, I have had parents come in to see me because their child was upset that I had shouted at them over something minor, when I didn't shout - or even raise my voice - I simply stated something in a firm manner. Sometimes children perceive something as shouting when there was no shouting involved. It's fascinating, and I never believed it until it happened to me.

Of course, I'm being all level headed now and so on, but once DD is old enough for school, I'm sure I'll be writing posts like the OP!

I'm not a fan of shouting at all but:

'her mum was SO angry because it was actually her that had taken it out to fit the lunchbox in and then forgotten to put it in!!'

These excuses become so annoying when you're a teacher and there are so many times when it is obvious that the parent is just saying it. I even had it once when a parent said to me 'Lets just say I did the wrong thing, so he won't be upset' Yes this one is a genuine case but seriously many are not!

Yet another example of people paying good money for their children to he shouted at and have their confidence undermined!