Barren Realms MUD

maybe not, but as a teacher it is your responsibilty to help him, maybe stay after school with him, assign special homework, definately have confrences with his parents to clue them into what's going on with his school work. There may be more to it than what you see too and that needs to be addressed, you can't just give up on him because he does badly. That happens too often in public school systems and kids are lost into the numbers and as you said, passed on to the next grade when they shouldn't be.

Have I mentioned I hate the public school system? Gar! When I teach I want it to be in a private school *nod self* Either that or a Waldorf school. I'm not sure which at this point.

*hijacks the thread completely*
yeah, private schools are definately the way to go, far less burocracy to deal with. the thing is, where do you draw the line between the responsibility of the student and the responsibility of the teacher? i've tried to get that kid to come in before school, at lunch, and after school. he's never once coem in. i've sent notes to parents, talked to them on the phone, with no effect. Currently, i'm still just a student teacher. When i do get hired full time though, i'll be hired as a jr/sr high math teacher, not as a grade 2 generalist with specialization in learning disabled kids. sure, i'll do my best, but i see no rational way that i could be responsible for teaching a kid like that when his situation demands such a specific background, which i don't have and was never a part of my job description in the first place. you wouldn't expect your family doctor to perform brain surgery on you, why is it that everyone assumes that every teacher should be able to do everything? *vents frustration*

Because as a teacher you have a responsibility to every single one of your students, not just the smart ones. Even the ones that probably should not be in your class, well guess what, they are. If you have to put him in detention after school where you can privately work with him on this, and if he doesn't show up for that, then you can try more drastic measures. When a student at my school skipped detention they got detention for 3 days straight, if they missed those they got a Sat. detention, if they skipped that they got suspended...etc...

yeah, that's a great idea, they don't want to show up for school, so as punishment you don't let them come to school ;P the thing is, you CANNOT force someone to learn. Philosophically, i'm strongly in favor of giving individuals the freedom to make their own choices, even if those choices seem incredibly stupid to me. And sure, i may be "responsible" for the kid, but there is no way that i should be held accountable for 6 years of utter failure of his other teachers. in my opinion, my responsibility should rest more in going to the principal and saying "this kid has no business being in a grade 8 classroom, i do not have the training to deal with learning disabled kids, and you did not hire me to attempt to do so. Please remove him from my class and place him somewhere where someone can do for him what he needs, and allow me to teach the class that I was hired to teach instead of teaching the class 6 grades below it."

bah. fine then I'm done arguing Talk with your principal then

disaster wrote:i gave my grade 8 kids a math test the other day. some of them did okay, but there was one who got 2/60. a trained monkey, randomly filling in bubbles, would on average get 15/60. i'm sorry, but when you write a test and a monkey does 7 times as well as you do, it's time to drop out of school and cut your losses.

Um, that monkey performed 7.5 times better than the student, Disaster. You're a math teacher? No wonder he failed the test...

no one is going to want to work with a teacher who thinks they are better off giving up and dropping out of school.

thank you! that's what I was trying to say

Sorry, folks, but I'm with Dis on this particular one. He has made efforts, repeatedly, to get the kid some private time, or to get the parents to make them come in for tutoring, and this child seems to have ignored all requests. As Dis said, he CANNOT force people to learn, and (put another way) teaching his class 6 grades below where he should be teaching only disadvantages the 20-some other students that are doing fine. This is the point where he should pass responsibility for this child doing well into the hands of someone more fitting to teach them.

Actually, I'm curious how you guys would feel about a student that performs at higher levels than the other students in the class. My math 118 professor normally has an attendance requirement, but he lets me get away with not coming in. Yes, I know I could test out, but the review before Calculus is helpful. I guess it really doesn't matter since I'm going to skip 119 anyway. As long as I prove that I know what I'm talking about, they let me get away with just about anything. It's about time that I get to learn what I want to, when I want to. I can't wait until I get through calculus and get into modern physics!!! *dances*

i'm strongly opposed to any sort of attendance requirements, ever. i'm also a big fan of letting people take any class they want to, and not being picky about prerequisites.

I'm against required attendance in college at least. If you're paying for it, it's your choice whether to learn or not.

I'm against required attendance in college at least. If you're paying for it, it's your choice whether to learn or not.

I found paying to be a big incentive for going to class. I had a serious attendance problem in high school and college. I missed every class I could. If we were allowed three absences before our grades suffered, you better believe I missed exactly three classes. I had one class where attendance was optional. I showed up the first day, the day of the midterm and the day of the final.

However, once I didn't have a scholarship and I was paying for my own education, my attendance improved dramatically. It meant a lot more to me since it was coming out of my pocket (and still is )

i still skip every class that i can, but that's because i find almost no value in the classes my faculty requires. back when i was still taking math classes i never missed one, but now that i'm supposed to be learning all this psychobabble touchy-feely crap i couldn't care less. you jump through the hoops, you get your degee. *shrug*

I paid for law school and that didn't do a damn bit of good for my attendance.