Today I want to give a shout-out to a teacher. I’m not going to give his name because I don’t want to inadvertently embarrass the student involved.
Yesterday, my daughter told me about a girl in one of her classes who realized, too late, that she studied for the wrong quiz. Apparently, the teacher alternates Type A quiz and Type B quiz, and she had studied valiantly for Type B on a Type A day.
When the student realized her mistake, she was genuinely horrified and upset.
Before my daughter told me the outcome of the story, I thought about how I would have handled the situation as this student’s teacher.
I’m sorry to say that, as a 5th grade teacher many years ago, I probably would have told the student that she should have checked her agenda and I hope she learned from her mistake.
Inwardly I hoped that my daughter’s teacher was better than the rookie teacher I was 20 years ago.
My daughter told me that the teacher didn’t say anything. However, as the teacher passed out the quizzes to the students, a Type A to each, he silently gave that one girl a Type B quiz instead.
What an awesome teacher. He realized what took me too long to realize – that you never discourage a child’s effort to learn!
Plus, way to be organized and have the other quiz ahead of time 😉
This makes my heart happy. I always think of classroom things from the eyes of my daughter now “What would I want Lulu’s teacher to do?” and this is it. Always choose kind. This teacher is awesome. Thanks for sharing this story as a reminder to us all to always build kids up.
Interestingly, another teacher shared a story with me today about a high school teacher who gave zero points to her daughter who had worked hard on answering 25 questions he gave them to turn in for extra credit. The reason? She forgot to define a word on one of the questions. 🙁
That is just the kind of teacher I would like to be.
Me too!
I love this too! Awesome! Can we send this out as a motivator?
P
Philip R. Riley Jr. Principal St. Monica Catholic School The St. Monica Mission: To develop a lifelong passion for learning and foster in each child their fullest spiritual, intellectual, physical and social growth within the teachings of the Catholic Church
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engagetheirminds posted: “Today I want to give a shout-out to a teacher. I’m not going to give his name because I don’t want to inadvertently embarrass the student involved. Yesterday, my daughter told me about a girl in one of her classes who realized, too late, that she stud”
Absolutely! It certainly motivates and inspires me!
I love this as well. Just sat through a very long meeting yesterday where teachers were discussing homework and how it was the principle of it-that we are preparing kids for their futures so we should be tough about what we give and how to grade it. I do believe we are preparing them-but I also believe that our choices should not be ones that discourage their learning, that is the example we can set. Thank you for sharing!
I think we should be “selective” about homework rather than tough. It should be meaningful if given at all!