"Catastrophe Award" For Most Excuses For Not Having Homework

[Kathianne]

to an 8 year old.

http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/8-old-gets-catastrophe-award-most-homework-excuses-113936385--abc-news-topstories.html


The mother of an 8-year-old Arizona girl who was presented with a "Catastrophe Award" (http://www.kgun9.com/news/local/153932645.html?hpt=us_bn10) for apparently having the most excuses for not having homework believes her child was humiliated by her teacher.

Christina Valdez said her daughter, Cassandra Garcia, came home one day from class at Desert Springs Academy in Tucson, Ariz., with the paper award.
The document, which looks like a colorful card, contained the following message: "You're Tops! Catastrophe Award. Awarded to Cassandra Garcia. For Most Excuses for Not Having Homework."


The teacher signed the card "Ms. Plowman," added the date - May 18, 2012 - and even included a smiley face...

The mom doesn't seem to realize her own contradiction:


..."I think it's cruel and no child should be given an award like this. It's disturbing," she said, adding that she was not aware her daughter had a problem with homework, and that the girl had been enrolled in an after-school homework assistance program...

Obviously she knew of the problem and had enrolled her...

My own take has been the 'award' was a bit over the top, but an incentive not to skip homework, a necessary part of actual mastery of material. Seems I was too kind:

http://shine.yahoo.com/video/shine-6786795/catastrophe-award-mom-daily-shot-5-31-12-29520169.html#crsl=%252Fvideo%252Fshine-6786795%252Fcatastrophe-award-mom-daily-shot-5-31-12-29520169.html

[ConHog]

to an 8 year old.

http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/8-old-gets-catastrophe-award-most-homework-excuses-113936385--abc-news-topstories.html



The mom doesn't seem to realize her own contradiction:



Obviously she knew of the problem and had enrolled her...

My own take has been the 'award' was a bit over the top, but an incentive not to skip homework, a necessary part of actual mastery of material. Seems I was too kind:

http://shine.yahoo.com/video/shine-6786795/catastrophe-award-mom-daily-shot-5-31-12-29520169.html#crsl=%252Fvideo%252Fshine-6786795%252Fcatastrophe-award-mom-daily-shot-5-31-12-29520169.html

When I was a senior in high school I won an award for worst French accent. It was given to me at a fancy award's banquet , my parents were pissed.

I'd insist that any teacher who humiliated a child in such a way be fired. Your job is to teach, not ridicule (and no Kath I didn't mean YOU specifically)

[DragonStryk72]

to an 8 year old.

http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/8-old-gets-catastrophe-award-most-homework-excuses-113936385--abc-news-topstories.html



The mom doesn't seem to realize her own contradiction:



Obviously she knew of the problem and had enrolled her...

My own take has been the 'award' was a bit over the top, but an incentive not to skip homework, a necessary part of actual mastery of material. Seems I was too kind:

http://shine.yahoo.com/video/shine-6786795/catastrophe-award-mom-daily-shot-5-31-12-29520169.html#crsl=%252Fvideo%252Fshine-6786795%252Fcatastrophe-award-mom-daily-shot-5-31-12-29520169.html

I'm all for teachers getting students to turn in assignments, but this teacher just gave a master-class in how to bully a student and make it sound like a joke. Seriously, as a teacher, how do you not get that using a contrived "award" to humiliate a student is going to teach the kids in the class that such behavior is completely okay, even to be lauded?

The school may not have contacted the mom, who may also have enrolled her kid in homework assistance, generally assuming that the program would assist the girl with her homework. There is a general frame of mind among parents that the school will automatically contact you when you kid starts to lag behind, but that's not really true in all instances. I had one teacher who let me get 39 days behind in my homework before finally saying word one to either of my parents, who obviously were pissed at me, but pissed at the teacher as well for not saying anything sooner. The general question was, "Why didn't you say something when he was, say, 5 days behind and had a whole weekend to make it up?"

[Kathianne]

When I was a senior in high school I won an award for worst French accent. It was given to me at a fancy award's banquet , my parents were pissed.

I'd insist that any teacher who humiliated a child in such a way be fired. Your job is to teach, not ridicule (and no Kath I didn't mean YOU specifically)

By high school I'd assumed that both your French teacher and yourself had a relationship, if I'd attended said ceremony. Now if I was your parent and realized that you'd had a horrible year with said teacher, yeah, I'd be mega pissed.

However, what I posted was about a 3rd grader. No question the teacher shouldn't have made it a class or school award. However the larger issue was failure to do homework. Necessary for success.

That was where the comments on Shine site were focused.

[Kathianne]

I'm all for teachers getting students to turn in assignments, but this teacher just gave a master-class in how to bully a student and make it sound like a joke. Seriously, as a teacher, how do you not get that using a contrived "award" to humiliate a student is going to teach the kids in the class that such behavior is completely okay, even to be lauded?

The school may not have contacted the mom, who may also have enrolled her kid in homework assistance, generally assuming that the program would assist the girl with her homework. There is a general frame of mind among parents that the school will automatically contact you when you kid starts to lag behind, but that's not really true in all instances. I had one teacher who let me get 39 days behind in my homework before finally saying word one to either of my parents, who obviously were pissed at me, but pissed at the teacher as well for not saying anything sooner. The general question was, "Why didn't you say something when he was, say, 5 days behind and had a whole weekend to make it up?"

I already posted that I felt that the 'award' was over the top. Link me or give a good anecdote of a parent signing their child up for a homework assistance site that hadn't been notified of a problem.

[ConHog]

By high school I'd assumed that both your French teacher and yourself had a relationship, if I'd attended said ceremony. Now if I was your parent and realized that you'd had a horrible year with said teacher, yeah, I'd be mega pissed.

However, what I posted was about a 3rd grader. No question the teacher shouldn't have made it a class or school award. However the larger issue was failure to do homework. Necessary for success.

That was where the comments on Shine site were focused.

I just dislike the idea of a teacher embarrassing a child, school is hard enough without some teacher making it worse on purpose.

And of course you're correct young children need the repetition of homework to master subject matter.

[Kathianne]

The last post I read was the one I made myself. I want to back up here a bit.

I doubt as a secondary teacher I'd feel the way I do, my kids 'won', 'earned' all positive awards in lower grades. If I was only in secondary schools to judge, I doubt that I'd have noticed.

However for more than a decade I was a middle school teacher in ps-8th grade school. Unlike secondary the teachers in lower grades were forced to come up with awards for every student or worse yet, 'like number' of awards for each student.All school assembly. What do you do with the kids that don't perform, they are there.

What do you do with the kids that work their butts off, but can't compete? Easier. Effort awards. But the bright kids that don't work? YOU write those, go ahead.

[DragonStryk72]

I already posted that I felt that the 'award' was over the top. Link me or give a good anecdote of a parent signing their child up for a homework assistance site that hadn't been notified of a problem.

Me, when I started at La Salle Institute in 7th Grade, they had a "homework club"-cause yeah, lamely trying to make it sound cool was gonna help- which my dad signed me up for immediately. Hell, my friend Sarah has her kid on help, and the kid is pulling straight As(granted, that's somewhat out of fear of coming home with a B, because she expects better than that from Jayme). Some parents do it to give their kid a leg up, some do it because they're simply not around when their kid gets off at school, having jobs that they can't just step away from.

[Kathianne]

Me, when I started at La Salle Institute in 7th Grade, they had a "homework club"-cause yeah, lamely trying to make it sound cool was gonna help- which my dad signed me up for immediately. Hell, my friend Sarah has her kid on help, and the kid is pulling straight As(granted, that's somewhat out of fear of coming home with a B, because she expects better than that from Jayme). Some parents do it to give their kid a leg up, some do it because they're simply not around when their kid gets off at school, having jobs that they can't just step away from.

Club is not the same as homework assistance in after school program. If you are looking to make yourself look grand and taking this child with you, good luck. You may win the argument, but the kid will lose in the long run. Unless the mom is sold on the reasons for homework.

[Mr. P]

When I was a senior in high school I won an award for worst French accent. It was given to me at a fancy award's banquet , my parents were pissed.

I'd insist that any teacher who humiliated a child in such a way be fired. Your job is to teach, not ridicule (and no Kath I didn't mean YOU specifically)

Interesting. In High school Latin class one of my best friends was humiliated by the teacher. He turned 180 degrees because of it. He was considered the dumbest kid in our entire class. He told me that that humiliation would never happen again..the next two yrs he took every class he could, read stuff we were supposed to read in eight grade, took every math class offered. That was in 1970. He's been a ER Dr. now for many yrs.

Perhaps a bit of humiliation is a good thing. Oh, and the teacher, she was one of the best at the school, and that comes from one who failed her class. ;)

[Missileman]

Interesting. In High school Latin class one of my best friends was humiliated by the teacher. He turned 180 degrees because of it. He was considered the dumbest kid in our entire class. He told me that that humiliation would never happen again..the next two yrs he took every class he could, read stuff we were supposed to read in eight grade, took every math class offered. That was in 1970. He's been a ER Dr. now for many yrs.

Perhaps a bit of humiliation is a good thing. Oh, and the teacher, she was one of the best at the school, and that comes from one who failed her class. ;)

People aren't all necessarily motivated by the same thing. For some it's a pat on the head, for others, a kick in the ass.

[ConHog]

People aren't all necessarily motivated by the same thing. For some it's a pat on the head, for others, a kick in the ass.

I've no problem with a kick in the ass, but that is not what teachers are supposed to be doing. That's a parent's job.

[Missileman]

I've no problem with a kick in the ass, but that is not what teachers are supposed to be doing. That's a parent's job.

Let me re-phrase. Some kids are positively motivated, some negatively. I have no problem with a teacher using negative motivation on those kids for whom positive doesn't work. In fact, I would hope most teachers could figure out which students required which type and get all their students motivated.

[ConHog]

Let me re-phrase. Some kids are positively motivated, some negatively. I have no problem with a teacher using negative motivation on those kids for whom positive doesn't work. In fact, I would hope most teachers could figure out which students required which type and get all their students motivated.

okay on that we agree. Humiliating a student in public goes beyond negative motivation though IMO.

[gabosaurus]

Let me re-phrase. Some kids are positively motivated, some negatively. I have no problem with a teacher using negative motivation on those kids for whom positive doesn't work. In fact, I would hope most teachers could figure out which students required which type and get all their students motivated.

Exactly! I asked my mom (who taught elementary school for 25 years) about this and she was appalled. To my mom, there was no such thing as "negative motivation." If my mom had anything negative to say about a kid, she said it to the kid's parents.
My masters thesis was based around the idea that kids are a product of their environment. A kid who doesn't do homework is likely to have developed this habit because his parents didn't care or took no interest. Too many parents are only interested in results (grades) and not how they were obtained.
I was once told by a parent that "it was the school's job to teach" and that she, as a single parent, had too many other things to worry about. Failed parenting often results in failed kids.

[ConHog]

Exactly! I asked my mom (who taught elementary school for 25 years) about this and she was appalled. To my mom, there was no such thing as "negative motivation." If my mom had anything negative to say about a kid, she said it to the kid's parents.
My masters thesis was based around the idea that kids are a product of their environment. A kid who doesn't do homework is likely to have developed this habit because his parents didn't care or took no interest. Too many parents are only interested in results (grades) and not how they were obtained.
I was once told by a parent that "it was the school's job to teach" and that she, as a single parent, had too many other things to worry about. Failed parenting often results in failed kids.

Yep, that single mom is the 90% of parents who will never darken a school doorway nor attend a school board meeting unless something pisses them off. Just show up to commend hard working teachers or to offer some help or to see how they can assist? Nope, but yell at their child, spank their child, or look at their child crosswise and boom then they know their way to the school.

[gabosaurus]

Yep, that single mom is the 90% of parents who will never darken a school doorway nor attend a school board meeting unless something pisses them off. Just show up to commend hard working teachers or to offer some help or to see how they can assist? Nope, but yell at their child, spank their child, or look at their child crosswise and boom then they know their way to the school.

I am not indicting single moms as a whole. Just pointing out that the ONE mom in that instance was a single mom who used that as an excuse.
*slaps ConHog around* :slap:

[ConHog]

I am not indicting single moms as a whole. Just pointing out that the ONE mom in that instance was a single mom who used that as an excuse.
*slaps ConHog around* :slap:

you misread Gabby. I wasn't indicting single mothers, rather I was pointing out that the single mother in YOUR example was just like all the other parents who don't want to participate in their child's education.

Oh, and if there is to be any slapping around in this relationship, YOU will be on the RECEIVING end of things. :D