Well the day has come - the day when Cody comes home and he has to tell me he got in trouble for being rude to a teacher. He's gotten levels before but they are usually for not following directions or not having self-control. This one, however, takes the level game to a whole new level. As you can see from the photo - the only information I have to go on is "being rude to the teacher". This told me the note was not from Ms. Davis but from the teacher intern. Obviously she wasn't very aware of her audience to send home a note like that without an email, phone number, or more information. So by the time this episode is over, I hope that Cody learns a valuable lesson about always showing respect to a teacher and maybe the teacher intern will learn something about parent communication.I remember the lessons I learned being in both Cody's shoes and Ms. McGivney's shoes. ...
Cody's shoes: I was in 6th grade and I couldn't stand my teacher. I rolled my eyes and made a comment under my breath and Mr. Hartzel saw it. He asked my mom to come in for a conference and I sat at home wondering what kind of trouble I was going to get into. Cody spent most of the day today in turmoil over the punishment that was waiting for him at home. The good news is that he has indeed learned from a previous "level encounter". He earned a level at school and didn't tell me on purpose because he knew I wouldn't take him to the Chik-Fil-A Fundraiser night. That earned him double punishment. So even though he KNEW being rude to a teacher was going to bring him triple the punishment, he still told me. (Good job Cody!) The minute I picked him up from White Tiger he blurted out the bad news. (Not that I couldn't tell something was wrong the way he walked with a hunch back and head down) ... so it all boils down to the teacher being wrong and Cody correcting her. Cody just knew that a dolphin was a mammal and the teacher intern kept saying it wasn't. By the end of the lesson the teacher corrected herself and Cody said with complete exasperation, "That's what I said!" ... little bugger loves to prove people wrong - wonder what job that could earn him someday ....
Ms. McGivney's shoes: I was a teacher intern for a 10th grade standard English class. It was parent-teacher conference night and the teacher was having me run all the conferences. It came time to meet with Bryan's mom (which was my most needed conference because Bryan was the one giving me the hardest time in class) and I stated that Bryan's behavior was obnoxious and disruptive. Well the next morning I got called down to meet with the principal and reprimanded for calling a student obnoxious. I tried to defend myself by saying I never called the child obnoxious - that I labeled his behavior as such. That fell on deaf ears. The supervising teacher and the principal had made up their minds that I was not going to make it as a teacher. It was an experience that gave my brain a lot to chew on .... Instead of helping me plan my words for the needed conference, she set me up for failure and I hated her for that and for running to the "boss" before talking to me about my error. I also removed the word "obnoxious" from my teacher vocabulary for many years to come.
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