Punishment 3rd Class

traleespud

Hi all just looking for some advice!!!

My young lad is currently in 3rd class he attends a small country all boys school and there are only five other boys in third class with him. As with many country school he shares his teacher and classroom with 4th class.

For maths each day the 6 boys from third class are taken by a different teacher solely for maths.

The last week or so they have started the + times tables. The homework for maths has consisted of learning a particular set from the tables. My young lad spent 40 mins one night learning them and we signed off his homework happy that he had a good knowledge of them!!!!

The following day he received "lines" because he failed to recite them in seconds as required by the teacher.

Does anyone else think that receiving a punishment for something like this that a child has tried his best at is totally appalling???

Am I over reacting ??? I always had the thinking that punishment at school should only be administered for behaviour or discipline and never for educational efforts.

Please help!!?!?

Sulla Felix

Especially for things that involved learning off by rote, it's always a good idea to come back to them a few hours later and do one last check. Need to make sure they're in long term memory or however you'd say it, rather than just knowing them because he just did them.

traleespud

Sulla Felix wrote: »

Especially for things that involved learning off by rote, it's always a good idea to come back to them a few hours later and do one last check. Need to make sure they're in long term memory or however you'd say it, rather than just knowing them because he just did them.

Appreciate that. I'm by no means disputing that he may have had difficulty reciting them the following day.

What I'm having difficulty understand is the punishment recievied!!!

morobar

Totally over the top punishment. Hardly going to foster a love or even a like of maths and rote learning is by no means the only method of learning tables. Very OTT and wouldn't happen in any primary school I've worked in.

Big Bag of Chips

Go and speak with the teacher. I'd be very surprised if he got lines for not being able to recite them in "seconds". That sounds like a child's interpretation of what happened.

If you think he shouldn't do the lines, then try to see the teacher Monday morning before school. If this is not possible, due to work or whatever, then send in a note and arrange to call the teacher, or have the teacher call you at an appropriate time during the day.

I'm not calling your child a liar, by the way.. but sometimes a child's version of what happened, and the teacher's version might vary slightly.

If what your son said is exactly what happened, then you have a right to raise it with the teacher.

traleespud

Big Bag of Chips wrote: »

Go and speak with the teacher. I'd be very surprised if he got lines for not being able to recite them in "seconds". That sounds like a child's interpretation of what happened.

If you think he shouldn't do the lines, then try to see the teacher Monday morning before school. If this is not possible, due to work or whatever, then send in a note and arrange to call the teacher, or have the teacher call you at an appropriate time during the day.

I'm not calling your child a liar, by the way.. but sometimes a child's version of what happened, and the teacher's version might vary slightly.

If what your son said is exactly what happened, then you have a right to raise it with the teacher.

Apologies I should have mentioned the teacher sent a note accompanying the lines explaining that each child gets two lives or chances when the tables are being checked. She said that tables are the fundementals if maths and that he should be able to "recite the in seconds", her exact words written in the note. Obviously my child lost his lives in the allocated time which gained punishment!!!

Jimmy Iovine

traleespud wrote: »

Apologies I should have mentioned the teacher sent a note accompanying the lines explaining that each child gets two lives or chances when the tables are being checked. She said that tables are the fundementals if maths and that he should be able to "recite the in seconds", her exact words written in the note. Obviously my child lost his lives in the allocated time which gained punishment!!!

Stone-Age teaching methods on show there.

I didn't think the idea of 'lines' still existed, nevermind, the notion of having to learn off the times tables.

silverharp

wow, what an awful teacher. put a note in his book that you explained to your kid that this was bad practice and you are not allowing him to do the lines

spurious

I would never punish a child for difficulty doing their work. Refusing or failing to do it, yes, but not for trying and not doing it as well as others.

I'd go in and talk to the teacher.

pooch90

silverharp wrote: »

wow, what an awful teacher. put a note in his book that you explained to your kid that this was bad practice and you are not allowing him to do the lines

A note like that won't help anyone.
Go and speak to the teacher face to face and iron it all out. Notes to and fro do nothing but annoy everyone involved.
Child shouldn't have been punished and the way of checking the tables is stupid.

However, I don't feel rote learning should be completely disregarded by everyone, especially when it comes to tables. That's another argument altogether though.

sausagefingers

very bad practice, talk about knocking a child's confidence, id be nervous if I had to recite tables in front of a class with the threat of lines hanging over me. I'm a teacher myself and know that positive reinforcement works far better then the negative a[approach this teacher is taking. The teacher introduce a rewards system or make a games out of reciting tables as this would be far more motivating for the children.

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