My husband is a teacher, my oldest was a valedictorian, my youngest has a memory of an elephant and my middle daughter, well she marches to her own drummer.
I was truly disgusted by opening my middle daughter’s homework folder this evening. What did not upset me was the multiple pages of vocab words, the spelling list or the five pages of homework that needed to be completed. I was so frustrated by all the passive aggressive notes her first grade teacher felt was appropriate to write on several pages of school work. We have spent a lot of time all summer long working with this child and trying to have her utilize proper handwriting techniques that when the teacher left several notes in green, purple, pink and red ink on multiple pages, it makes one sick.
Some of the notes was on how the teacher wanted what parts of letter to start on the lines. Other notes (plural) with how to lift the pencil on different numbers. I would say the “lift” that looked a lot like wft (maybe it was supposed to be WTF) fail in comparison to my favorite note which was instantly etched into my long term memory. Being told about how if I worked on my daughter’s handwriting, it would be beneficial. I understand it is tough teaching and I do not envy that profession. However, sending a child home with eight notes on how she handwrites is a little overwhelming. Maybe the teacher does not understand that we work on this every evening and that she has made a lot of progress since last year. Or perhaps, she perceives the parents to be clueless about their kid’s work.
My middle daughter and I worked for over an hour with her spelling list, her vocab sheets and five worksheets. Packing backpacks, packing a lunchbox, baths and homework, it took two hours to get ready for tomorrow. After bedtime, I spent the time composing my thought and sent an email to the teacher. No bashing, no advice and certainly no passive aggressiveness. Just simply we will continue to work on it. Hopefully next time she will not bombard my child with notes in different colors and not cause my daughter to start hating school.
