Originally Posted by CalCare:
I would wonder when was her most recent classes in ECE and why doesn't she work there full time during the year. Think about it- summer is second string staff at centers. Its true. The other teachers wanted time off, they gave the part timers their shifts. Why isn't she full time? She works at heard start? Is she a lead teacher or an assistant? Part time there? Why? I've worked at a few centers and fccs. I know what goes on. Parents don't realize. Hopefully she is great and this is a totally random tangent. But, it sounds like she has a hard time with conflict resolution and guidance if she is talking about time outs, letters and apologies when it isn't developmentally appropriate. I don't want to offend you or put her down. I guess I'm just trying to respond and this is the way it looks from my POV. In my opinion, I wouldn't feel comfortable having my own children in that environment. But every parent does things differently and has different expectations.
She is a lead teacher at head start. She works part time at the center and full time at head start. She's not picking up shifts from other teachers during the summer. She is in his classroom, full time from 6:30-4:00, as his teacher, this summer.
Head start is her priority; during the school year she works the evening shift and comes in after she does head start and works at the center until they close, she's been doing this for years according to the director (who would love to have her full time at the center). She already knows the kids, from working with them for those few hours in the evening. She really truly is a great lady. It definitely sounds like she missed her chance to intervene.
The letter/apology thing had nothing to do with his teacher. That was me, maybe not appropriate, I don't know. I really didn't know what to do. It seemed appropriate, maybe not for a typical 4 year old, but for a boy who can spell/read/write several words, it seemed appropriate to me. He's my oldest/first kid and I'm just trying to do my best.
He came home yesterday with this elaborate story of a boy who accused him of something minor (coloring on his page). He tells me "I told him I didn't do that, and then I told him again, and he still said I did, so I walked away and I didn't even hit him" So perhaps he learned, he had a lot of pride when he told me that he just walked away.
Adults and other kids don't always listen to him. He ALWAYS wants the floor. We are working with him to learn that sometimes he needs to let other people talk first and then he can have his turn. He is constantly talking over people and interrupting. Trust me, we have been working on it.
He has definitely had some aversions to the center though in the recent past, there's certain kids who just really bug him, but that's life. I work with people who really bug me, too
I talked to her and her story was the same one I got when I picked him up that day: The "bad word", then the attack, then he had to be restrained by a second because he was fighting his teacher so hard. She showed me where it happened and where she was and she was within ear shot and should have intervened. I'm sure she didn't think it would escalate since he's never done anything like that before.
He was so worked up over getting accused of something he hadn't done. It comes back to home though, my son is not getting enough sleep (we are talking about seeing a specialist because even though he is in bed at a decent hour, he lays there for sometimes 3+ hours before he is asleep at 11pm/midnight), he is so much better at controlling his emotions when he's had enough sleep, but he has such a difficult time falling asleep. His mind just races and he worries about things his little 4 year old mind shouldn't be worrying about.
I'm sad and embarrassed.