Education

I think that it is good that I keep journals.  I was recently able to look back on a post I had made when Ben was in 3rd grade and the substitute teacher had called him a "jerk."

I would volunteer in Ben's classroom from Kindergarten on up.  I was "that" mom that wanted to know what was going on in the classroom.  He had a "precious" teacher for 1st and 2nd grade.  He kept the same teacher for both grades; however there were times that I saw kids misbehave and get sent to the office at about 10:00 a.m. and by noon they were still not back in the classroom.  I remember asking the teacher, "Do their parents know their child is just sitting at the office and not in the classroom learning?"  No, we don't call the parents for that.    WHAT!?!  It kind of made me wnat to "show up" every day.

Well this "jerk" name calling has gone on throughout the years.  I will give you the fact that the kids Ben goes to school with are "rough" kids from "rough" families.  Joe just happened to get a GREAT group of friends to go through life with.  In fact many of Joe's teachers have said that Joe's classes were their best classes ever.  However, many teachers have said to Ben and his classmates that they are the worst classes they have ever had.

Years of being told how awful you are - it's got to wear on you.  Some of you know about the music teacher in 7th grade that berated Ben often and who called another student a "cancer."  "You are a "cancer" and you are spreading your disease throughout my classroom."   Geeze - thanks for that.  I finally had to pull Ben from Band.  He's back in Band at his new school and I am so happy.

Well before we changed Ben to this new school I was called in to the Vice-Principals office to witness a disciplinary action with Ben.  I was not happy with Ben, but I really wasn't happy at all with how it was handled either.  That VP was so exasperated.  His fuse was sooooo small.

That was when Ben and I began speaking about Caprock Academy.  Ben wanted the change.  So we did.  We began January (third quarter) at Caprock.  It is a rigorous academic load.  Another boy started the same day as Ben did.  He had been expelled from his previous school and he did not want to be at Caprock.  He kept being drawn to Ben because they had in common moving from other schools to Caprock.  The only thing is he was getting Ben in trouble - simple things like talking out of turn, etc.  But these infractions are addressed quickly at Caprock.

Last week something came up that involved the two boys.  The teacher asked me to come in last Friday.  I asked for the Caprock VP to be there also so we could handle it all Friday and start with a clean slate on Monday.

This is how it was handled.  Ben, from the day you walked into my classroom, I saw you as a leader.  This behavior is "following" C (the other boy).  I think you could turn it all around and be the leader I know you can be.  Tell C that you are not going to behave that way.  And it went from there.  It was handled positively.  My boy did not shut down.  He opened up and they talked strategies and virtues.  IT WAS UNBELIEVABLE!!!!   Whale Done to the "t."

If you want to motivate my child, he responds to people believing in him - not people shaming him.  It was incredible!  I am so thankful for this new school.