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Primary education

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Original poster

Why on earth would a teacher do that?

14 replies

emkana · 28/04/2008 22:45

A teacher got her yr2 class to write down on a piece of paper who their best friend in the class was. One girl in the class collected the pieces of paper in for the teacher and saw that no child had named her, not even the one she had named as her best friend. This girl is now devastated and keeps crying every night, several days later.

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Janni · 28/04/2008 22:47

very very insensitive to get a child to collect the slips in whatever the reason for asking the original question.

Heated · 28/04/2008 22:52

Insensitive & weird, unless teacher was trying to work out group dynamics... no, I'm reaching, can't think of any reason really.

FairyMum · 28/04/2008 22:54

How brainless of the teacher

harpsichordcarrier · 28/04/2008 22:55

Original poster

emkana · 28/04/2008 22:56

I feel so sorry for the girl.

Her mother is at a loss how to make her feel better.

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mumofdjandbabies · 28/04/2008 22:57

That is terrible.!

Doodle2U · 28/04/2008 22:58

Were there other children in the class who were not named either, do you know?

cupsoftea · 28/04/2008 22:59

it was 'best friend' - kids that age can all choose someone who is popular in the class but isn't their actual best friend.

Original poster

emkana · 28/04/2008 23:09

Difficult for a 6 year old to rationalise it like that though.

OP posts:

windygalestoday · 28/04/2008 23:13

poor girl rotten teacher tho-i cant see what that activity could have been about.

cat64 · 28/04/2008 23:13

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Original poster

emkana · 28/04/2008 23:16

Not a difficult name to spell.

AS it was only one name on a piece of paper I guess it was very easy for her to read all the answers, and who wouldn't really?

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choccypig · 28/04/2008 23:23

Whoops! I think the teacher was a bit thoughtless, because if they are all naming one friend, then a handful of "popular" names will appear a lot, and there wil be quite a few not named at all. Though that doesn't actually mean they don't have friends. Poor little girl will feel awful, and a word with the teacher defo required.

DS class did some work like this, where they drew "friendship trees" showing different friends for different reasons, like x makes me laugh, y plays football with me, I like helping z etc. They shared them to some extent, and it really helped DS with making friends. Teacher had planned it specifically 'cos some kids were feeling left out.

Ispy · 30/04/2008 10:39

Regardless of the teacher's intention, the result of the exercise is that there is one very upset child in the class. It's the teacher's responsibility to reassure the child (or try anyway) as it's actually her fault the child has ended up feeling devastated. The mother needs to talk to the teacher.

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