I teach middle school. I fill out about 3 of these per year. Most of the questions I don't have a freakin' clue about. Parents looking for something "clinically wrong" with their child to blame the poor grades, piss poor attitude, or just plain apathy on.
There's also the flip side where parents have to wade through paperwork because the school thinks your child had a behaviorial problem and you know darn well it isn't anything a little discipline wouln't fix. My son was placed in special ed, was sent to a counselor at the "suggestion" of the school (he needs to go or we may have to expel him) and spent most of his kindergarten year in isolation because of his "behaviorial" problems. This year his teacher let him stand in the back of the room and throw a fit until he decided she wasn't going to give him extra attention or allow him to leave the classroom. His "behaviorial" problems are a thing of the past now.
I just had to fill out a battery of these assessments for a kid I had last semester. He was destructive, sneaky, untruthful, nasty little piece of work. Yet I was assigned to assess him and go through what amounted to three different 200 question surveys. I have no idea if he feels bad about himself because most of the time he wasn't doing any work or arguing with classmates. While I tried to be sympathetic, I think it's passing the buck to have classroom teachers fill out forms that have far too many questions that simply do not apply to the average classroom. I don't know if he has an eating disorder. I don't know if he can't sleep. Why do they ask these questions? Why don't they ask me why he failed? (he did absolutely nothing and turned in the same) What his problem is? (His parents have spent too much time and money sending him to doctors and now he has a vegetable soup list of excuses for not working in class) I really do care about these kids, but there are kids that we simply cannot serve due to the nature and depth of their problems. Rather than inflict them on the classes and other students, take the initiative and explain about special schools for kids with learning disorders, behavioral disorders, mental illness issues or any and all of the above. I am tired of writing the same survey over and over for kids who have been through this rigamarole since kindergarten. Take action and stop putting it on the teachers.
I teach middle school. I fill out about 3 of these per year. Most of the questions I don't have a freakin' clue about. Parents looking for something "clinically wrong" with their child to blame the poor grades, piss poor attitude, or just plain apathy on.
ReplyDeleteThere's also the flip side where parents have to wade through paperwork because the school thinks your child had a behaviorial problem and you know darn well it isn't anything a little discipline wouln't fix. My son was placed in special ed, was sent to a counselor at the "suggestion" of the school (he needs to go or we may have to expel him) and spent most of his kindergarten year in isolation because of his "behaviorial" problems. This year his teacher let him stand in the back of the room and throw a fit until he decided she wasn't going to give him extra attention or allow him to leave the classroom. His "behaviorial" problems are a thing of the past now.
ReplyDeleteI just had to fill out a battery of these assessments for a kid I had last semester. He was destructive, sneaky, untruthful, nasty little piece of work. Yet I was assigned to assess him and go through what amounted to three different 200 question surveys. I have no idea if he feels bad about himself because most of the time he wasn't doing any work or arguing with classmates. While I tried to be sympathetic, I think it's passing the buck to have classroom teachers fill out forms that have far too many questions that simply do not apply to the average classroom. I don't know if he has an eating disorder. I don't know if he can't sleep. Why do they ask these questions? Why don't they ask me why he failed? (he did absolutely nothing and turned in the same) What his problem is? (His parents have spent too much time and money sending him to doctors and now he has a vegetable soup list of excuses for not working in class) I really do care about these kids, but there are kids that we simply cannot serve due to the nature and depth of their problems. Rather than inflict them on the classes and other students, take the initiative and explain about special schools for kids with learning disorders, behavioral disorders, mental illness issues or any and all of the above. I am tired of writing the same survey over and over for kids who have been through this rigamarole since kindergarten. Take action and stop putting it on the teachers.
ReplyDelete