Evening. What a horrible way to end a horrible week. When I picked kids up, found out daughter had chorus concert tonight. She had to be dressed a certain way (which she wasn't) and she needed to be there at the same time I needed to be somewhere else. After much swearing and hair pulling, it worked out, but I just sat through 90 minutes of a "concert" that was, let's say, torture. To top it off the band teacher took the time to yell at the parents for not turning in weekly practice sheet and basically said your kids suck. My jaw dropped that he would even say that. On a good note, the chorus part (10 minutes out of the 90) sounded good and even better was that daughter had fun.

dontwantaname wrote:Sulking.

Ms. Name,

Stop it.

Don't worry.

Be happy.

dontwantaname wrote:No. Not a woot related sulk.

Hope whatever it is works out. Hugs to you.

daj59 wrote:I would be talking a) to the teacher and b) the principal tomorrow if it was that bad.

Take a deep breath, let it out, relax.

He mentioned his "blog" - here's a snippet of what he wrote:

"I am very surprised that our warm-up doesn't go any better each week. It's been the same one since feb., but still some of the kids just don't get it! Will they ever? They all do play better during combined band, so I have that to look forward to today. "

and then there's...

"The other 2, well, one of thenm, has never played their part correctly yet. Never. They were given exact eercises to practice so that they could hit the notes properly, and they didn't practice them as they should. Is there no pride left in the world!?? So, performances start in 5 days, never played it right yet together."

What an ass. Daughter will not be joining band next year no matter how much she begs.

daj59 wrote:I would send a link to the principal and the Director of Curriculum. I would ask if this is appropriate public comments for a teacher in your district. I would expect more professionalism and encouragement from a teacher.

The problem is that it's a private school - there have been issues before (not just with this teacher) but the administration doesn't act. I might send this to someone higher up in the diocese, but not sure that'd do any good either.

daj59 wrote:Diocese or there should be a board of directors for it.

Well, I'm getting myself all worked up about this. I just talked to my s-i-l and she agrees it needs to be sent somewhere, but since neither of our kids are in the band, not sure it should be us that sends it. He's just belittling (or however that's spelled) the kids in his posts. I think I'll take a deep breath (or twenty) and sleep on it and if I'm still this pissed tomorrow, I'll forward it on.

Have a good night folks and see ya mañana.

Josephus wrote:Morning y'all.

My wife just bought a Wii.

What games ought wii to get for it? We have a 3 yr old boy, a 9 yr old boy, a 12 yr old grl, and a couple of geezer parents to entertain.

Ought wii to get extra controllers? It came with one. and what kind? there seem to be a variety of controllers.

Enlighten mii, oh great minds of the PWA.

My 10 and 14 year old boys like "Mario Party", "Mario and Sonic at the Olympics", "Wario Ware", "Lego StarWars Trilogy", and "Wii Play". They also like the bowling that comes with Wii Sports. It's best to have 4 controllers since you have 3 kids. They will want you to play with them! I also agree with Daj about the wrist strap. I also put the silicon gloves on the controllers. It improves the grip and since my kids are possessive, it makes it easier to tell the controllers apart. I also recommend investing in a set of rechargeable batteries. The controllers go through a set of regular batteries in about a month. If your kids have gameboys then they probably already know of a few games they would like on the Wii. There are also several pre-k friendly titles out there for the 3 year old. Like Daj said, rent first if you can. I avoid games with movie tie-ins, since they tend to be terrible!

dontwantaname wrote:Catholic? It seemed like each school was on it's own when I went. Then again, at that time, the parents would never dream of saying anything to anyone past the PTA.
The
PTA did get the nuns to stop hitting kids in 1966 or 67, but I never remember anything else.

Yep - no nuns though. Principal isn't a nun or priest. Priest "oversees" the school, but doesn't have direct involvement since he's the only priest for 3 churches in the parish.

selli wrote:Well, I'm getting myself all worked up about this. I just talked to my s-i-l and she agrees it needs to be sent somewhere, but since neither of our kids are in the band, not sure it should be us that sends it. He's just belittling (or however that's spelled) the kids in his posts. I think I'll take a deep breath (or twenty) and sleep on it and if I'm still this pissed tomorrow, I'll forward it on.

Have a good night folks and see ya mañana.

You could send the principal a link to this person's blog and ask them to read it for themselves. If the teacher's blog allows comments, you could tell him that you feel his comments are inappropriate. Also, if he is so frustrated teaching middle schoolers, then perhaps he should try to find a job working with professional musicians.

daj59 wrote:That's what son's elementary teacher finally did. He went back to school for his masters or doctorate (forget which). That was a better environment for him.

Unless it is a school for musical prodigies he shouldn't expect too much! I wonder how difficult the music he selected was?

daj59 wrote:For the kids? Wasn't that so much. He didn't like boys. He played favorites with the girls. He didn't understand kids at all.

I run into teachers every day who hate kids. I don't know what they were thinking, if your going to teach elementary school, its going to be full of kids!

dontwantaname wrote:Son's 3rd grade teacher told us that. He said there were a bunch of people there that didn't like kids.
He was great. He wondered why they stayed. Is the pension and the money (Long Island schools pay well) worth doing something you hate?

I think a lot of them enjoy being miserable. They have plenty of opportunity to look for something else, especially during summer break.

daj59 wrote:That and the "it's all I know how to do" rut. It would be hard for many of them to find a non-educational job that makes that kind of money..expecially with the that number of days off.

Yeah, its tough to give up the long breaks and summers off.
So, are you having co-worker problems at work?
(subtle change of subject)

daj59 wrote:No, not at all. But there are too many of my coworkers that are wooters, could be lurkers.

Ah, yes I understand perfectly.

So any big plans for the weekend?

daj59 wrote:No, not really. Son will be at dads Fri - Wed. You?

Hanging out with the kids. Maybe do a cookout. Crack down on the last bit of work for the end of school.

dontwantaname wrote:OK

How about you? Any weekend plans?

daj59 wrote:Lots of kissing going on in Gray's Anantomy in these last 10 minutes.

Next week on Gray's Anatomy...Mononucleosis Outbreak Cripples Staff During Freak Urban Avalanche!