Have You Ever Requested a Change in Teachers for Your Child?

You do realize that teachers on campus and especially in the same grade levels are usually buddies. What happens when the classes merge for team teaching, parties, teacher's swap classes as they like teaching concepts that the other does not, etc.?

Peg M. you say the teacher was at retirement age yet you wondered why she was still teaching---probably becase she needed just a few more months to go. We will probably all be burnt out in whatever careers we have when we get to retirement age--but need the few months to pass. Be gentle--we all will be there at some point.

I pulled my daughter out of kindergarten and put her back in a daycare she liked. She had come home crying every day for the first week, but because she was used to interacting with new adults and other children, I didn't think it was the newness of the situation. She thought the teacher hated her.

Even with a parent watching, that poor retirement-age woman was so burned-out and crabby I couldn't believe she still had the job. She yelled, insulted, sneered at and bullied the whole class for the hour I was there, and I was truly afraid my daughter would be emotionally scarred. I told the office staff why I was removing my daughter, starting immediately. I didn't want to threaten that teacher's job, but her behavior was a long way from professional. I never heard further about the issue.

Interestingly, this month's issue of The Science Teacher magazine has a news feature about how bullying can, indeed, change a young child's nervous system by altering the behavior of a gene. The result is a body that produces less cortisol, the stress hormone, but increases the likelihood of mood and behavioral problems, including aggression and depression, by the time the child reaches the age of 12. Here's a link to that press release: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-12/uom-bbc121...

Other than that, my daughter had pretty good to amazingly wonderful teachers, and nobody else who scared her. At home, we also did lots of enrichment activities, which we both enjoyed.

My friend recently did that.
Her son is in 5th grade.
Long story short: his Teacher was a meanie! Picked on her son for no reason. She just seemed to not like him personally. He was a normal kid, not a brat or anything. And she favored the other kids, who are, brats.
Anyway, my friend and her Husband documented everything. They complained about it to the Teacher. No results, the Teacher would just reply back in a snotty manner. They reported it to the Principal. The Counselors etc. And now, he was put in another class and has another Teacher. Her son, is now, happy. He was getting so stressed/anxiety problems and was a bit depressed, because of that one, teacher.
She is, a meanie.
But, this was not about academics or her teaching style.
For you, what exactly is the school's grade level curriculum and requirements?
All grade level teachers, have to teach according to the school's curriculum. As a grade, level.
But if it is not being taught, then speak to the Department Grade Level Chair and/or the Principal.
Document your concerns, for yourself, so you have an organized "list" to call to mind. With examples etc.
But if your daughter is struggling academically, then make an appointment with the Teacher. Address this.

I wouldn't say "request" as much as demand. When my children could not flourish in a class-when the joy of learning was entirely squelched, when the teacher was a complete buffoon, etc. It was rare-but even in Montgomery county Maryland-even in private school-it happened.

I changed my daughter's class last year. Her teacher was horrible. He had scared her to the point that my straight A child couldn't perform simple tasks. She could write sentences that she could have conquered in first grade. When he yelled at her for an issue I had with him and Valentine's Day, I pulled her from his class. I had no trouble doing it because we had worked with him, the principal, and the counselor for months with no improvement.

Yes, the whole 3rd grade team works as a TEAM, and I have two more kids going through that grade level, but I know for sure they will not deal with him ever. And the "leader" of the grade level will not teach my kids either. She pulled my daughter aside last year after the old beast man teacher yelled at my daughter after she was removed from his class and told her not to tell me. Yea, if I had known about that when it happened, I would have had her tail too.

I have GREAT relationships with every other teacher my kids have had an some my kids haven't had, but this third grade team as a whole rubs me the wrong way.

I made it happen for myself in Highschool. It was easier because my mother supported me as well as the difference in grades from one class to the other. After that I actually had a hand in choosing my teachers because my councilor realized that I actually cared.

I think I would talk TO the teacher regarding the math issue and proceed from there - I too needed a tutor in math because it can be a VERY difficult skill to learn in a group setting.

One thing about American schools is that most of them have a very limited math program. They skim over important material, and kids wind up not really learning the basics. It may not be the teacher as much as it is the curriculum. We enrolled our daughter in Kumon because all the schools in our district use a horrible math curriculum. It's possible that the teacher isn't the problem.

That's probably what the school will tell you...they all follow the same curriculum.
I don't know too many people who were successful changing teachers...unless the kid was moved to the gifted program.

I homeschool, but through an online program. My daughter technically has a "teacher" who hosts one homeroom meeting a week, and looks over work samples I submit every month. She also gives them Study Island quizzes once a week.

If this woman were ACTUALLY her teacher, I would've already requested a change. She spells things wrong in her emails to me, has actually messed up the there/their/they're in writing, and told us parents not to have the students review their wrong answers on her online quizzes because it "messes her up and changes the number of problems." Um, okay.

I guess it would depend on the issues I was having. What are yours? If you are okay with sharing, I'll tell you whether or not I'd request a change.

Hi There!

I am a teacher also, but I am not sure of all the issues at hand so it is hard to respond.

How old is our daughter? What grade?

What concepts is she missing? Is is that she did not understand them, or were they never addressed?

I don't think I would request a change over a few math concepts, to be honest. I would probably just help my son.

I have to say that I do not feel that American schools have a limited math program. Especially if they are following the CCSS now in place. Not sure what grade or subject you teach, but look at the Michigan MDE site for math to see what she is going to need. That may help :

My daughter loved school in K, said she wanted to be a teacher when she grew up. By the 2nd week of 1st she was crying before school, didn't want to go, said her teacher hated her, she hated school, etc etc. Her 1st grade teacher was very remote, not outgoing, not warm, very stern. Her personality just didn't mesh with my daughter so we asked for a new class. That turned out to be another issue (pregnant teacher who didn't come back after baby and long term sub who allowed girl drama to flourish), but after moving once we didn't want to move again so we dealt with it. If my child was bored and not challenged, or was falling behind, or if the teacher didn't have control of the class and my child was suffering; those are all reasons I would consider moving teachers.

Someone on here recently did but I can't remember who. I want to say it was Rachel from DC. Does anybody remember? She would be a great resource because her daughter thrived after the move.

I almost asked just because the teachers been hard core towards my daughter and haven't been teaching her well. If she's been there. The subs they put in her class she has to teach herself the work.

I have a very strong-willed daughter.

I moved her in preschool, because the teacher actually told me, in front of my daughter, that my daughter intimidated her. At four years old. We moved to another teacher, who was NOT afraid to say "no," to the kids, and never had a problem.

In kindergarten, DD had a classroom that had an assistant, whose personality did not mesh with my daughter's. She was the sort of person who expects children to follow orders with no question. DD is the sort of kid who expects routine, and logical explanations, and if you can't or won't provide either one, then you won't get her cooperation. That teacher was promoted to being a first grade teacher at the end of that year, and we specifically requested that DD not get her. (Though I'm willing to bet that the teacher also recognized that their personalities didn't mesh, and probably wouldn't have tried to get her in her classroom, anyway.)