Teachers Who Do & Teachers Who Don’t
True Story Reported to Me by a Parent of a Kindergarten Child.
A five year old kindergarten girl goes happily to school on Monday. The teacher does not want the kindergarten children [girls] to wear fingernail polish. The girl’s mom forgot to remove it after halloween weekend. The teacher warns the girl not to come to school the next day with fingernail polish. The five year old girl spends her free moments in school trying to scrape it off. Here you have a tragic example of a teacher who doesn’t get it.
Teachers who do get it, realize that at the heart of learning is the relationship between the teacher and the student. These teachers understand that relationship building is learning building. Their students come to school in an inclusive, safe environment where they do not expect to be bullied by the teacher.
Perhaps, if the teacher in this story thought enough to call home, send an email to the parent, or even crafted a minor miracle by saying to the five year old girl, “Wow, your nails look great” the five year old girl would have been spared a day of needless anxiety.
An appreciative inquiry minded teacher might even ask, “What is the most positive outcome that I can imagine in this situation and how do I work toward that end?”
Filed under: Appreciative Inquiry and tagged anxiety, Appreciative Inquiry, email, parent, positive, teacher
Oh my, this is a sad story. I feel for the little girl. I thought of myself in that situation and would probably do what the little girl did–try to pick it off or maybe cry.
We can be so hurtful and not realize it. I can understand if the school has such a requirement; however, it appears the little girl’s fingernails were painted because of Halloween. Probably an oversight or maybe the parent didn’t know the rule. I cannot imagine the little girl or the parent would paint the little girl’s fingernails because they wanted to be deviant. Give me a break.
If I were the teacher, I would have sent a note home or perhaps called home to explain. Will we ever learn to be compassionate?
I had a similar incident in our school, but it was handled much differently.
We have a policy about no makeup in our K-6 building except during costume parties. One of the fifth grade girls came to school with her entire face painted to make her look like a princess. She was sent to me, so I simply told her she looked beautiful and it was a special day. After school, her mom called to thank me for allowing her daughter to be a “princess for a day.” They are having family difficulites and did not have money to buy makeup to send in with her. Their neighbor had applied the makeup before school so the child would be ready for her classroom fall party.
We have tremendous power over children in schools and we need to be careful how we use it.