According to an article I came across this afternoon, a written comment by a teacher scolding a 7-year-old for writing her name in cursive is making the rounds on "Facebook" and the internet. I think that this teacher must be out of their mind in this day and age writing "You've had several warnings" on a 2nd (?) grader's paper. What do you guys think? (Link Below) http://www.sheknows.com/parenting/articles/1096525/teacher-criticizes-student-for-writing-in-cursive
I think the teacher is an idiot and deserves to be shamed. Just because she doesn't' teach cursive doesn't mean a kid doesn't have a right to learn on their own.
I think it was blown out of proportion. They said the student was threatened??? The note on the paper said she was warned. Good grief, why does everything have to go viral? If the parent had a problem with it they should have talked to the teacher. Ridiculous. People seriously have too much time on their hands.
Yeah, I think writing that on the paper was in poor judgement on the teacher's part but I still think it could have been handled differently.
It kind of reminds me of Scout's first grade teacher from TKAM, the one who admonished her for already knowing how to read the newspaper.
Without context (because "her mom's a military veteran!" isn't context, it's just irrelevant details; thanks for nothing, article), I don't think it's fair to take sides on this. It seems to me there are two possible options here: 1. The teacher had a valid reason that the student should not be writing in cursive (i.e. the student has difficulty printing her letters, the student is spending a long time painstakingly writing her name out in cursive and is wasting time that should be spent working on the assignment, etc.). 2. The teacher doesn't have a valid reason (possibly the teacher doesn't think students should be doing anything above their "level," even if they can do it correctly). Whether the teacher's reason (presuming it exists) for warning this student not to write her name in cursive is valid is, of course, subjective. But without the necessary context, who knows?
I wouldn't be surprised to find out the photo was set up. Good ol' Internet trolling. Let's get fired up on cursive. But assuming it's legitimate, I also think it's too hard to make a call without knowing the full situation.
I also saw this on Facebook and one comment stated that this is just one example of how kids do not follow directions. The teacher told the student to print her name. She obviously did not follow her teacher's directions. That's a valid point.
TeacherNY, That makes a lot of sense. It's like when a kid calls out a really relevant, correct answer without raising their hand. Someone might think to acknowledge their answer and respond to their great idea, but in order to keep order in the classroom, it's best to either ignore them or deliver a consequence because they called out. It's hard to know in what context this is happening. Still, though, not something I'd write on a paper. I let kids write cursive. They're usually happy about it if they know how, and I wish we still got to teach it!
THIS!!! :thumb: I have said the basically the exact same thing on my FB page when I have seen this come up... The teacher comment does seem a bit harsh to me. However, bashing the teacher without knowing the backstory also seems harsh. I teach second grade. I tell my kids that they cannot write in cursive on their hw because most of our second graders have not received any instruction on it so don't know how to do it yet AND when my lil helper of the day goes to put papers in the cubbies, he or she cannot read the names. And we have talked about this as a class before. Can kids write in cursive during free time on paper? Sure. Can they sign their letters in cursive? Absolutely. These were two of my favorite responses to my posts: I was told I was stifling my students' creativity by a homeschooling parent. I was told that I should not have kids put papers in cubbies for me. In life, sometimes I am asked to print my name while other times I am asked for my signature...no different. We talk about this as well as in my class.
