Q

I'thousand principal of a Thou-eight building. Recently the parents of a third grader came to run across me. They were concerned that their son Ernie had started proverb he doesn't desire to come to schoolhouse. His teacher is e'er yelling at him, he says, and worst of all, she makes fun of him in front of the other kids. The parents admit their male child is "kind of an crawling," only they suspect that Ernie may be right when he says that his teacher doesn't similar him. I'm wondering if his teacher is a bully. Any ideas?

A

We certainly don't like to think about adults bullying kids, but your question reminds me of a similar experience I in one case had. I was making the rounds and I stopped exterior a second form classroom. The door was open, and I observed a teacher calling a student out in a mode that I idea was embarrassing for the student.

Subsequently, with my role door closed, I said, "Y'all know that nosotros don't tolerate bullying in this school – not from kids, and certainly not from adults. I think you were bullying this child."

"You don't know what a challenge that kid is," she said.  She paused. And and then, to her credit she added, "But I should non have ridiculed him in forepart of the form. That was wrong."

Sometimes teachers get frustrated with certain students. Frequently, the kid in question is an active male child – an "itch" as Ernie's parents described him.  Some kids can actually try a teacher'due south patience. Simply there is an enormous inequality of power betwixt teachers and kids in the classroom, and bullying is like shooting fish in a barrel – and totally unacceptable.

Inquire the parents to meet with you and the teacher so they tin can express their concerns to her directly.  The teacher will have the opportunity to talk about the kid's behavior in her course.  Often just putting the issue on the table brings an end to bullying beliefs. No teacher wants to meet with parents a 2nd time on the aforementioned topic with the chief nowadays. You may want to follow upwards privately with the teacher to be sure the message was delivered clearly and that there is a plan in place to work with Ernie.

In my experience it's not often that a teacher resorts to this kind of behavior, just information technology happens. And when it does, the best thing to do is to face the trouble caput-on and be sure your faculty knows where you stand on the issue of bullying.

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