Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Insensitive

Calvin had 2 great days at school, he is coping well and teachers seems to realise that when he says he needs help )he needs it right NOW! All good. We went to therapy today and he is not paying me back (yet) for making him work hard there. He played outside with Fudge and no one came in tears. A good day.

I opened his agenda a few minutes ago a found a notice from his afternoon teacher

Personal Time Line Project

Please answer the following questions so that we can create timelines for our measurement unit (I am parapharsing the letter intro). We will use these timelines to calculate elapsed time, duration of events and amount of time between events.

1) When did your child learn to walk?
2) When did your child learn to talk?
3) When did your child get his or her first tooth?
4) What were 3 important family eventsand when did they take place?
5) What were 3 significant world events that occured your child's first decade and when did they take place?

You and your child may wish to select photographs to provide visual representations for the time line.

Yours in  Catholic Eduction
The Clueless and Insensitive Afternoon Teacher.

- added in pen to Calvin's note - Can be done as a research project of you're not sure of some of the info.

Can you tell that I am a little bit unhappy. Let's take the 2 adopted kids in this class and make them stand out a little bit more. Calvin who was adopted from foster care at 8 and another who was adopted from Ukraine as a toddler. There is already bullying going on in the school about adoption ( not just in their room) but let's make those kids stand out a little bit more because my goodness they don't already stand out enough. This will really make Calvin feel as though he fits in, when he is one of 2 children in the room who does not know 3 or 4 of the 5 questions and has no pictures. When the significant events in his life are moving from foster home to foster home and finally being adopted.

He is not participating in this and if she is not willing to change her plans he will be coming home at lunch each and every day until she is finished.

I am teacher, I would never for a minute try something like this in class where I knew there was already tension and stress for kids whose families where not like everyone elses.

4 comments:

The Accidental Mommy said...

UUUUUUUUGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

Clueless teacher is right! As well as a few other descriptive terms I will avoid leaving here.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GB's Mom said...

Unfortunately, there are a significant number of teachers who would be insensitive enough to give this assignment. Way to stick up for your son!

Anonymous said...

Not to mention the kids whose development isn't typical... Why would a teacher want to point out the kids who were challenged to learn to walk or talk? Yikes

BT said...

I'm right there with you on this. I couldn't believe it the three times it has happened in P's school career to date, even after we carefully explained all his "issues" (older adopted child, international adoption, abandonment issues, trauma, RAD, complete lack of much sense of identity or roots prior to age 5, no photos, no knowledge of who he looks like, etc etc etc) to every teacher he has ever had. Year after year, there are these supposedly education units that get taught around "your life since infancy." I never know how to handle it, and it always -- always -- causes severe regression in our boy. And he too is not the only adopted kid in his class. It just strikes me as totally unfair. So far nothing yet this year, so I am hoping that grade 4 represents the start of when teachers no longer think they have to make things all cutesy by going back to people's babyhood. No offense to any teachers out there.

I am so sorry you are having to deal with this, and after Calvin pulled off two good days. So sorry.