How to overcome prejudice?

last SG · 2009-07-31T23:46:17+00:00

Thanks to all the people who had posted for your advises.

S.gal83 SG

I am a new kindergarten teacher. I have been teaching my class for four months now.

There is a boy in my class that I do not like. All the other children are all right.

Why I don't like him:

He is unable to do his homeworks all the time.

He never pays attention during my class.

He beats the other children and always gets into troubles.

His mother thnks too highly of him. When I tell her that he cannot write his alphabets even though he is already in K1, she tells me proudly that he does not have this kind of problems at home. She tells me how smart he is, and how he is able to write long sentences at home. (Well, I have to listen with a smile to her rant, but when I test the boy on his spelling, he is not even able to spell a simple word like boy. He is also not sure of his abc.)

I am really struggling to like this boy. I find it hard to do so. I find myself getting angry with him at least once a day. How do I get rid of my prejudice of him, and how do I actually help him improve on his study?

BadzMaro SG

To be kindergarten teacher didnt u have to go through early childhood preparation courses to deal with this ?

As there are procedures and individual evaluation of every single different kid for them to excel in thier own way.

Maybe u can check ur handbook or consult your seniors.

Forbiddensinner SG

I am a new kindergarten teacher. I have been teaching my class for four months now.

There is a boy in my class that I do not like. All the other children are all right.

Why I don't like him:

He is unable to do his homeworks all the time.

He never pays attention during my class.

He beats the other children and always gets into troubles.

Take him to be transparent. I am serious.

Some teachers adopted this method of taking certain students to be transparent, as these "special" children would never listen to you or obey you. You might feel that it is wrong to do so, but if you have tried your best to talk to this child, and he doesn't change and continued to be a major disruption in the class, the best thing for you to do is to either send him for counselling or ignore him.

Since counselling doesn't seem like an option in this case, then do not care about him if he is not paying attention, as long as he his not troubling the other students with his antics.

If he coutinues to injure the other students, have the parents meet each other instead of you bearing the brunt of the injured students' parents' anger.

You wish to get rid of your prejudice of him, but the truth is that you have no such feelings against him. Prejudice refers to an adverse judgement without knowledge of the appropriate facts, but the truth is set before your eyes. You could continue to try to change this child, but make sure you do not cross the border and risk the anger of his parents.

Forbiddensinner SG

To be kindergarten teacher didnt u have to go through early childhood preparation courses to deal with this ?

As there are procedures and individual evaluation of every single different kid for them to excel in thier own way.

Maybe u can check ur handbook or consult your seniors.

Yes, in fact one would have to complete a diploma in pre-school education.

But some students are really very hard to deal with, and they don't include "working" methods to deal with such students in the Student Teacher's Handbook.

So the end result is that you either ignore the child, or you get warnings for punishing the child or trying to change his attitude ( Especially in this case, as the mother is standing on the child's side ).

S.gal83 SG

To be kindergarten teacher didnt u have to go through early childhood preparation courses to deal with this ?

As there are procedures and individual evaluation of every single different kid for them to excel in thier own way.

Maybe u can check ur handbook or consult your seniors.

I do not have a diploma in early childhood. I join the kindergarten under the Adket scheme.

Basicaly, this is the Adket scheme:

You study for your diploma and you work at the same time.

In the morning, I work in the kindergarten as a teacher. In the evening, I study the course, "Advance diploma in Kinergarten Education".

So, I am basically untrained. (Or at least I have only 4 months of training-- those trainings I received during the evenings for the four months I work in the kindergarten in the morning.)

S.gal83 SG

Take him to be transparent. I am serious.

Since counselling doesn't seem like an option in this case, then do not care about him if he is not paying attention, as long as he his not troubling the other students with his antics.

If he coutinues to injure the other students, have the parents meet each other instead of you bearing the brunt of the injured students' parents' anger.

Sigh... but I want to be nice to every kid, as much as possible. Even though he is really naughty, I hope to be like a good teacher for him.

Wanting to make the best out of each child's life was why I join the kindergarten profession in the first place. (The pay in a kindergarten sector is really low.)

Fugazzi SG

Don't expect, dont compare, eliminate ideals; teach and be done with it. The archer who misses the target corrects himself!

Forbiddensinner SG

Sigh... but I want to be nice to every kid, as much as possible. Even though he is really naughty, I hope to be like a good teacher for him.

Wanting to make the best out of each child's life was why I join the kindergarten profession in the first place. (The pay in a kindergarten sector is really low.)

That is very kind of you, even for a teacher. But you must understand that part of the responsibility lies on the shoulders of the child's parents, and if they are unwilling to do their part, there is only that much which you could do.

I can tell you that quite a number of teachers ( irregardless of which level they teach ) starts out with the same dreams as you, to try their best to change and mould the future of the students, only to fall into despair later as they realise that there is a limit to what they could do.

Nevertheless, if you truly wish to try, then do everything within your abilities to change this child, so that you will have no regrets later if you fail to do so.

marcteng SG

I do not have a diploma in early childhood. I join the kindergarten under the Adket scheme.

Basicaly, this is the Adket scheme:

You study for your diploma and you work at the same time.

In the morning, I work in the kindergarten as a teacher. In the evening, I study the course, "Advance diploma in Kinergarten Education".

So, I am basically untrained. (Or at least I have only 4 months of training-- those trainings I received during the evenings for the four months I work in the kindergarten in the morning.)

adket? stands for what?

S.gal83 SG

Adket stands for advanced diploma in kindergarten teaching.

marcteng SG

I am a new kindergarten teacher. I have been teaching my class for four months now.

There is a boy in my class that I do not like. All the other children are all right.

Why I don't like him:

He is unable to do his homeworks all the time.

He never pays attention during my class.

He beats the other children and always gets into troubles.

if he never do his homework or beat up other kids, scold and punish him, but dun beat him hor. if he doesnt know his work, scold and embarrass him in front of the class.

as for his mother, tell her that if you continue to spoil him, he will grow up to be a monster.

Forbiddensinner SG

if he never do his homework or beat up other kids, scold and punish him, but dun beat him hor. if he doesnt know his work, scold and embarrass him in front of the class.

as for his mother, tell her that if you continue to spoil him, he will grow up to be a monster.

Try that and TS will be receive lots of complaints from his mother. She might even be dropped from her course due to it.

TS is still doing her diploma, so the best thing for her to do now is just to tolerate the child ( In chinese : "ren" ).

xtreyier SG

Every child is precious, for in their naive perceptions lie their innocence.

I admire and respect teachers the most in my life, for without their guidance and efforts, I would never had been where I am today, not that I am great or anything, but that I am able to comprehend my world around me is already significant.

Thus teaching is a vital and critical role in the developement of a growing child's perceptions. Not all children have equal developement or born under fortunate circumstances of a good family background support.

Some either spoil their children, or ignore them. Either way, the child suffers. And it will be the responsibility of a teacher to spot such errors of upbringing and bring it to the attention of the principal.

If the pre-school is a respectable and responsible one, the principal may take pains to guide and counsel how best to help the poor little child.

There is absolutely no reason why a child would practice violence upon another or take up the vices of sloth except through parental consent or impressions. The root of the problem is never the child, but the parents, which must be counselled early, to snuff out such bad traits at an early stage, or that child may become a monster to others later in life, hurting not only others, but himself as well.

We often can easily turn a blind eye, push the buck to someone else, but somehow, somewhere we must make a stand - now or never. The best course of action if you truly care is to have a heart to heart talk with your principal, and invite the parents for talk.

No parent will accept that their precious kids are portrayed negatively, but if it can be done with diplomacy, tact, reason and logic, you may well be saving a child - the very reason why you are a teacher, cause you love kids, just as teachers in my life loved us all to bear the daily struggles sharing their knowledge and experience with angsty clueless growing adults such as me.

Good luck.

zAGrion SG

You know... kids are kids. There are bounds to be some kids jumping around like monkey and chit-chat like there is no tomorrow in the classroom. Kids are innocent and very susceptible to influence. Sometime you might want talk to them gently and explain in a way that they can understand why it is not good. There are also some kids who are very forgetful. You told them not to do there and one minute later, they continue to do the wrong thing. So you need lots of patience in the classroom. You might also come across some kids with hidden issues due to family’s problems that induce them to behave in a certain way. It is not their fault when they behave badly because they don’t know how to express their feeling. They are also some kids who are spoilt by their family. So what to do? Continue to instil some good values to these kids. Try talking to your experienced supervisor or colleagues about classroom management techniques if you haven’t. It is always the hardest.

At the end of the day, kids are still adorable and even the naughtiest kids also have their funny and kind sides.

jojobeach SG

if he never do his homework or beat up other kids, scold and punish him, but dun beat him hor. if he doesnt know his work, scold and embarrass him in front of the class.

as for his mother, tell her that if you continue to spoil him, he will grow up to be a monster.

This is a very stupid idea.

jojobeach SG

S.Gal

A friend of mine was a disruptive kid in school. Right from pre-school to college.

But that does not mean anything, because now he is a very successful professional.

Have you consider perhaps that child has ADHD ? Or perhaps that kid is just bored with your mundane methods of teaching ?

Do you let the parents know he has homework to do ? How often do you work with parents to assist his progress ?

I assume you must not have kids of your own.

Parents are protective of their own children. The last thing you want to do is belittle or bad mouth the child to their parents.

Instead of giving parents the negative... offer a positive approach.

Beating and scolding will not help a child to grow. These will only cause the opposite of what you want to achieve. When a child hates going to school.. that will be the end of his learning mind.

At kindergarten level.. your purpose is not to make those kids into academic scholars.

Rather.. you are there to teach them how to LEARN and make learning enjoyable. Every child learn in their own way and at their own pace....but... you probably know this already.

Arapahoe SG

This is a very stupid idea.

i tripple double that....It is the most stupid idea.

Arapahoe SG

S.Gal

A friend of mine was a disruptive kid in school. Right from pre-school to college.

But that does not mean anything, because now he is a very successful professional.

Have you consider perhaps that child has ADHD ? Or perhaps that kid is just bored with your mundane methods of teaching ?

Do you let the parents know he has homework to do ? How often do you work with parents to assist his progress ?

I assume you must not have kids of your own.

Parents are protective of their own children. The last thing you want to do is belittle or bad mouth the child to their parents.

Instead of giving parents the negative... offer a positive approach.

Beating and scolding will not help a child to grow. These will only cause the opposite of what you want to achieve. When a child hates going to school.. that will be the end of his learning mind.

At kindergarten level.. your purpose is not to make those kids into academic scholars.

Rather.. you are there to teach them how to LEARN and make learning enjoyable. Every child learn in their own way and at their own pace....but... you probably know this already.

same old method mar.....hammer every nail that stick out..............that is how Singapore destroy creativity.

Forbiddensinner SG

At the end of the day, kids are still adorable and even the naughtiest kids also have their funny and kind sides.

Naughty kids are common, but the real problem is that this child that TS is in charge of goes about beating up others.

And to make things worse. the child's mother is unwilling to do anything and still view her son as a little angel, thus adding on to the problem.

Now that is a real headache.

candiz SG

yikes, being a kindergarten teacher kills