| Student journals | |
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| Topic Started: Apr 12 2018, 08:37 AM (580 Views) | |
| blkcat | Apr 12 2018, 08:37 AM Post #1 |
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One of my friends has a son who is in 4th grade. They have to keep a journal in their class. One of his classmates wrote in his journal "sometimes I wish school would go away." The teacher apparently thought this was a threat to blow up the school, so the classmate was suspended for two weeks and has to go through counseling. Classmate told son's friend he was not feeling well that day and he didn't want to hurt anyone. Word/rumors/misinformation got around and now there are parents demanding this boy be taken out of the school and put in juvenile detention. One parent called the mom and told her not to sign him up for summer baseball because he's a danger to other kids. I told my friend to tell her son the next time they have to journal about their feelings to write, "My feelings are none of your business." I know I'm probably going to get flamed for offering this advice. If I had a child this age and something like this happened this is what I would tell them to do. Those of you who have kids in elementary school, what would you do? |
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| Lady Wolf | Apr 12 2018, 08:45 AM Post #2 |
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WTH is wrong with these people. The kid was sick and not feeling good. Holy overreaction Batman. This kid has never shown any issues before and was having a crappy day. Everyone including kids are entitled to having a crappy day. He didn't say he want to blow the school up or shoot anyone. Honestly I'm with you on never doing another journal if this is the reaction. Hell there are days I want my work to go away. Hell I wished one of our offices would burn to the ground so we could start over and I even told my Boss. She knew I was joking about it, well mostly lol. That doesn't mean I need to be fired or committed or that I want anyone hurt. |
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| paperbackwriter | Apr 12 2018, 08:50 AM Post #3 |
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Parasitic Lurker
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That's completely outrageous, wtf were they thinking?! If I was the parent, I'd advise my kid to only write about the weather, what was for breakfast, etc. So now the poor kid is going to be too traumatized by being honest to ever want to journal about thoughts/feelings/ideas again! Ugh. |
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| greenbean | Apr 12 2018, 08:51 AM Post #4 |
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Queen Bean
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Wtf? No flames from me. Talk about an overreaction. I'm not litigious, but the parents should sue the shit out of the school. I feel so bad for that kid. Does the community actually know what was written? Do they really think it means a ten year old is going to blow up the school? The world's gone mad. |
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| Starfish | Apr 12 2018, 08:51 AM Post #5 |
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hammer5ed
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I'd advise my friend to escalate this bullshit up the chain of command, maybe even the news. Poor kid. He did nothing wrong. He must be so confused, hurt and feeling totally betrayed. |
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| CraftyK | Apr 12 2018, 08:55 AM Post #6 |
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Your friendly neighborhood Crafty voice!
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That's insane. I hate school journals that get too personal. When I was in school, I refused to do them, or did obvious fiction. I even hated "What I did on my summer vacation" assignments and the like. That stuff is no one's business. On the plus side, it did hone my creative writing skills, which won me awards all the way through high school. |
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| blkcat | Apr 12 2018, 09:08 AM Post #7 |
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My friend didn't say if community people knew all of the particulars. I'm going guess and say they don't, because disciplinary issues (at least in the district where I teach) are kept between the parents/minor child and the administration because of FERPA. They are in a small community and those of you in small communities know how rumors get started. |
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| Grammar Check | Apr 12 2018, 09:17 AM Post #8 |
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I am so happy that the school I teach at doesn't have a zero tolerance policy. The administration actually investigates and makes decisions that are adjusted based on their findings. |
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| greenbean | Apr 12 2018, 09:19 AM Post #9 |
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Queen Bean
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Honestly as a parent I'd be putting them straight. Most reasonable people would not think that it was a threat, especially from a 4th grader. It's preposterous. |
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| MNGal | Apr 12 2018, 09:34 AM Post #10 |
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Jesus fuck! What is WRONG with people? That poor kid. |
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| DarlingDewey | Apr 12 2018, 10:11 AM Post #11 |
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Coach
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That's terrible. I hope the mother is fighting back against this. This is the type of thing that would have me looking for alternative schooling so I could get my kid far away from those nutters. |
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| notstillme | Apr 12 2018, 10:28 AM Post #12 |
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Geek by proxy
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Umm what 4th grader doesn't want school to go away occasionally? Especially on nice warm sunny days, when you could be outside running around and such. If teacher was really worried, rather than freaking out, speak with the kid first. Hey I see in your journal you are feeling a bit down. Is there anything you want to chat about with me? Stuff like that. Edit because phone posting is hard apparently Edited by notstillme, Apr 12 2018, 10:29 AM.
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| allycat | Apr 12 2018, 10:37 AM Post #13 |
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How awful. That poor child. My kid would be devastated if that happened to him. A kid that age wouldnt even know how to process something like that IMO.
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| miss jojo | Apr 12 2018, 10:39 AM Post #14 |
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What normal kid doesn't wish school would go away sometimes or even most of the time? I'd get this in the damn news to set the record straight. |
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| MNGal | Apr 12 2018, 10:54 AM Post #15 |
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Hell...I wish work would go away almost all the time. |
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| Pebs | Apr 12 2018, 10:56 AM Post #16 |
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Orgasmic Peace Destroyer
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This is ridiculous. I get that people are sensitive to school shootings, but there is nothing threatening in what he wrote. When I was in kindergarten, I drew a picture of my school bus on fire. I don't know what made me draw it as I had no evil thoughts about my classmates, and I'm glad no one thought I was a threat. If I had drawn that today, I probably would have gotten expelled. I did not go on to be violent or even bully anyone. I probably had watched a movie or had a dream and decided to draw it. |
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| daisy daisy daisy | Apr 12 2018, 11:30 AM Post #17 |
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I did the same thing, Crafty. After a bad experience with school journals, I started making stuff up. I won several awards for this in elementary and was asked to read one of my (completely fictitious) stories that I wrote during the writing portion of our MEAP test in front of the school board. That all being said, school ruined writing for me. This story resonates with me so much. I loved keeping journals and was excited when writing in one became a requirement for a class. Until a teacher took something I wrote way out of context and involved my parents, the principal, the school counselor. I was forced to sit through "wellness meetings" every other day for almost 2 weeks. While all the other kids were outside playing, I was forced to sit with the counselor who asked me questions that made me uncomfortable and picked apart every word I wrote in my journal in an attempt to figure out what I was "hiding". My parents hired an outside therapist. I tried explaining myself and was called a liar, a trouble maker, "unstable". They tried to force a diagnosis on me of BPD. All for something I wrote in a class journal that was misconstrued by a teacher. I never wrote again unless it was for school because I was terrified someone would see it, misinterpret it and I'd be in trouble again. I destroyed all my diaries. My grades in English slowly started declining after awhile. I stopped sharing things with my parents. To this day I have aversions towards writing and I have a hard time opening up about personal feelings. The closest thing I have to a journal is a planner and even then I find myself choosing what I write in it carefully because I think someone might see it. Not that anyone gives a flying feck what I write in my planner and no one is going to read the stupid thing, not even DH because he doesn't care. But the whole experience has made me paranoid to the nth power to put my thoughts, no matter how mundane, into written word. Posting on here in anonymity has helped me a lot with writing and expressing myself. I still hesitate though. Wow sorry. I had a lot more to say about this than I thought. I don't think I breathed at all when I typed that. Anyway, yeah, I feel bad for this poor kid. I'm glad the parents are siding with him and I hope they fight to preserve his reputation. I understand what he's going through right now. with his parents in his corner though, hopefully they'll put a stop to it. Shame on his teacher and everyone who perpetuated this. Poor kid was having a bad day and now he may be afraid to express himself ever again. Edited by daisy daisy daisy, Apr 12 2018, 11:31 AM.
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| allycat | Apr 12 2018, 01:05 PM Post #18 |
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(((HUGS))) |
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| Karaokemama | Apr 12 2018, 01:20 PM Post #19 |
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15 years is big metal chickens!
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HUGS daisy. That's awful and I completely empathize. I had a similar experience in 3rd grade. It didn't go as far as yours with counselors and such but it was traumatizing and that, combined with a few other things made me very reluctant to write and be open about my feelings. We didn't have a journal, but were supposed to write an essay about ourselves. We had a long term sub because the regular teacher was on maternity leave. I don't remember much about her but my impression of her is that she was very young. She gave us this assignment as a way for her to get to know us, and also to practice various types of writing. It wasn't my original intention when I started it but mine ended up being about how I was bullied and that I didn't understand why because I was picked on for very specific traits. I didn't understand why classmates who had those traits did not get similarly treated. It wound up a very painful impassioned plea for understanding and inclusion. The teacher made me redo it. I remember her horrified expression as she explained that what I wrote was not what she had in mind at all, and that she expected a happy, lighthearted exercise that talked about our families, our likes and dislikes and what we wanted to do when we grew up. |
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| loomatic | Apr 12 2018, 01:34 PM Post #20 |
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My friend's daughter drew a picture of their house on fire, complete with fire truck and firemen. She was in kindergarten, and had been covering fire safety in their classwork. When she showed it to me, she said "but don't worry, Loomy. Everyone got out and the firemen put the fire out". It was her way of processing things. No one was concerned she was going to burn down the house. |
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| allycat | Apr 12 2018, 01:40 PM Post #21 |
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That teacher missed an opportunity.
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| clumsy princess | Apr 12 2018, 01:43 PM Post #22 |
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yah. this is a great way to have the child never want to write/express their feelings constructively ever again. my son was being bullied in school, and not too much was being done about it until he wrote a note saying he hated one of the bullies. guess who got in trouble. yup my son. for writing on piece of paper he hated his bully. at home we told him we were glad he wrote his feelings, but perhaps he shouldn't be doing his writing at school. we also told the school we did not care that he wrote it and that the bullying against him needed to be addressed. he did end up having to write an apology letter and his bullier'd did as well. as you can see i am still not impressed. the bullied gets the same consequences as the bulliers. wtf. and it didnt stop there, one of the other bullies ended up biting him and that boy was "suspended" over winter break. they were 11 at the time. and no, the 11 year old kid that did the "biting" was never evaluated. like wtf. who bites at 11 years old. sorry. complete tangent. Edited by clumsy princess, Apr 12 2018, 01:45 PM.
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| clumsy princess | Apr 12 2018, 01:44 PM Post #23 |
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| notstillme | Apr 12 2018, 02:00 PM Post #24 |
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Geek by proxy
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CP that's awful. I mean, you're allowed to hate ppl, especially ppl who are mean to you. What kind of message is that shit? Argh! |
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| Walternate | Apr 12 2018, 02:20 PM Post #25 |
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Walternate is a fuzzy smurple.
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I hope the parents takes a picture of the journal page and posts it to every social media account they can. I'd be supportive of the child and parents if I saw some kid get in trouble for such a stupid thing. |
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