although I believe everyone can have it - if they let themselves.....
Our little heart-to-heart was....ummmmm......both interesting and enlightening.
Mrs. W. was amazingly angry and offended that anyone would say that she's been mean to Brady and that I would listen to them - except for maybe at the beginning of the year, and even more amazingly unwilling to admit that her methods of discipline even cross the line from being "firm". She told me that since I have high expectations of Brady and want him to function and fit in to society, then he has to follow the rules. I'd already thought about it long and hard all and week and I knew that she would do the same to ANY child that didn't follow her rules, but I personally think that she could redirect with a little more kindness, after all, they are only five years old! And, I thought she might feel a little more sensitivity to her student who was upset about the whole thing - but nope - just a lot of being offended and feeling resentment.
The truth is - I DO expect Brady to follow the rules and learn to act just like the other kids, but I also know that he doesn't learn things quite as quickly and that it will probably take him a few more tries to "get it" than your typical kindergartner - one would think that she would "get it" too, and show him some patience when she's redirecting him. I just found from our conversation that she just isn't a really warm and fuzzy person. She is more about programs than children, per se, her programs are great, her nurturing abilities, well, maybe not so great.
But, she honestly thinks she is a nurturing person and she told me that she loves Brady and is happy to have him in her class. She told me that she sees the positive that having Brady in the class has done for her students and that her class motto is "We are all alike, we are all different".
So - can I blame her for being the way that she is? She thinks she is something totally different, she sees herself in a totally different light than I see her. She sees her treatment of Brady as being "helpful" in teaching him how to function in the real world. She sees herself as having high expectations for him - well socially anyway - I don't think she has any expectations of him academically. She sees her programs and her including him in her "fun" activities as what a general education teacher should be doing. She also doesn't get why I don't want him in special education full time.
We have two totally different visions. And, I don't think she's willing to change hers.......
So - here we are - with two choices - keep him or change him....... With four months left of school....
What to do....... what to do..........
p.s. through this all, our administration has been great - especially our assistant principal - she is amazing. Brady and I are lucky to have her for a friend and supporter!
p.p.s. Little K shared her croup with Brady - so I'm keeping my fingers crossed it only lasts two days for him and doesn't turn into something worse.
Life is always an adventure!!!!
6 comments:
WOW!!!! How frustrating. You handle it all so well. This is the part I am not looking forward to as Austin gets older. Good luck with the croup hopefully it passes soon and hopefully you can manage to get some sleep. We are very familiar with that one.
I'll be she would be shocked if she saw a video of herself doing these very things. She probably doesn't realize how she comes across to a 5 year old.
Hugs.
Why is this woman teaching Kindergardeners? She sounds like she would be perfect to teach those in Jr. High, or even HS!
Strange woman, that Mrs W!
And for what my .02 are worth, I'd keep him in her class to the end of the year. Maybe she'll end up learning something from him, but it seems like it would just be too confusing to change classes at this point.
Hay at least she said something postive. I know it seems that she is being mean. I say keep him in the class and sign him up for t ball or something where he can just be a 6 year old boy and have fun.
I know how hard behaveing well is hugs to y and brady
ps where has andi been
I really struggled with my daughters teacher last year. I kept her in the class and had a lot of anxiety about it. She was an angry teacher and yelled a lot, she had the class very segregated, causing a whole awarness of her own skin and made her feel like she didn't belong. My girl spent all of her time helping another little girl pass 2nd grade and my child started to fall behind in the mean time. We had just moved across the country and I didn't feel like I could change classes on her. The year was stressful for me, but my daughter was just fine. Infact she has good memories of her teacher - go figure (hopefully she'll be the same way about her parents!) I made sure she had a very kind teacher this year. It is a totally different experience and she is catching up quickly. I don't know how Brady is responding to his teacher, but if he is okay I'd keep him in! You're a great mom and I know that he'll really appreciate all of your love concern! I can only imagine how frustrated you must feel! Hang in there!
I'm so sorry you're having to deal with this and need to make a decision. It's so hard to know what the right decision is to make because we can't see in the future! How is Brady doing in school otherwise? Do you think he can handle the last 4 months, would making the change now be too much on him? It was so hard for me to decide to change schools when Kayla only had 5 months left (granted for different reasons, but it's still hard!) Praying you'll have peace w/whatever decision you make!
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