Defensive teacher

[swissrole]

When i collected my yr dc from school i noticed her name on the whiteboard beneath a sad face. I casually asked why and was told that it was a behaviour management thing and the smiley face was for good behaviour. I asked what she had done and was told that the teacher could not remember and that she has to deal with 100's of things that happen during the day. Is this not a strange response? If the teacher cannot remember then it is surely not a very good behaviour management strategy and if the teacher cannot remember then her name should not be under the sad face. What do you guys think? I know it sounds petty but i think she was rather defensive.

I think it depends on how big a part of the behaviour management strategy it is. I teach secondary, and we have a sort of "3 strikes and you're out" thing where we write students' names on the board for misbehaviour, and then if they're up there three times within a lesson, they get taken to the isolation room for the rest of the lesson. During the lesson, I know exactly why each student is on the board, but come the end of the day, I probably would be hard pushed to explain exactly why each student had been put on the list. This is because it's a strategy for dealing with behaviour immediately, but the slate is wiped clean at the end of each lesson. If a student did something particularly awful, something I'd want to discuss with their parents, then the strategies for dealing with that student are completely different, and I would definitely remember what it was for, IYSWIM.

Does that make sense? I would say, if it was something the teacher couldn't remember, then it was probably a fairly minor thing, and the name on the board was an immediate sanction, but one which probably won't need to be followed up.

It must have been something very tame if she can't remember what her name had been put there for. Or perhaps she didn't want to turn a minor misedemeanor into a home issue by reporting whatever it was to you.

I think she will have written it down at the time of the 'offence' and then, as she says, had a class of 30?, or so children to teach, so will have forgotten what the offence was. The fact that she hasn't remembered probably means that writing her name on the board with a sad face was effective in this instance as the behaviour wasn't repeated... if it had been, the teacher might have remembered.

Writing names on the board is normally for things like talking after warning and other low level stuff. Not unusual at all not to remember the specifics. I'd've thought the teacher could have given you a brief rundown of the sort of thing your dd did. Obviously nothing important though.

Verbal warning, followed by name on the board.
I usually rub it off at the end of the session if the child has made an effort. If not, they start losing minutes off playtime. Then the name is rubbed off. Sometimes I can't remember exactly what. If it's a tricky child or parent, I make a little note next to the name. Perhaps you could suggest it to the teacher.
Most children redeem themselves within the session.
Does your DD remember what it was?

Thanks everyone - your comments have put in perspective for me.