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• Elona Hartjes, Ontario Certified Teacher

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“Trust , but verify.” I heard that statement last night while watching one of the zillions of   CSI reruns that are on TV right now. Don’t ask me which episode it was because  I wasn’t actually watching the program. I was more like listening to it while I was trying to figure out a particularly tricky part of a knitting pattern I was using to make a scarf  for a friend. (The scarf’s looking great, bye the way.)  Little did I know yesterday that today “trust, but verify” would become my newest favourite motto.

Why has “trust, but verify”  become my newest favourite motto? Because it reminds me not to jump to conclusions.  When one of my students comes to me and complains that someone, usually a teacher,  is not treating them with  respect , I immediately believe my students and want to go and tear a strip off that person right the wrong.   For some reason, despite the fact that my students have been know  to lie  “to distort” or ” to omit” facts when telling me their story, my tendency is to  believe them (OK, so I still  have some issues) and am outraged and want to right the wrong.  Today after listening to another  tearful story and finding  out later that the facts were not exactly as first related, that motto came to mind. Trust, but verify. Thank you CSI.

It was going to be easy. Everyone was telling me that it was going to be easy. One of my students  was going to earn his Careers credit using the Independent Learning Centre’s on-line course.  Another student  was going to earn his geography credit using the credit recovery geography curriculum and two other students were going earn their credits using the ILC’s course as an on-line text book ( It has some really nice videos) to supplement the lessons I created.

It seemed easy enough. That is until reality set in after the first week.  The student who was to earn his careers credit using the on-line course hates the format.  He is a hands-on learner who hates to read and likes to learn by discussing things in small teacher led groups. The on-line course has tons of reading, that he has to do on his own.  He’s starting to come late and starting to skip class.  The student who was going to earn the geography credit has started not coming to class, is not self-motivated and needs one- on-one all the time. He’s starting to skip class and do nothing in class if I’m not at his elbow.  The other two students love the on-line course, but are getting distracted by their personal problems and sometimes cannot concentrate and consequently do little.
Why does it always look so easy on paper and is so hard in the classroom? Why?  Because of the human factors in the classroom- the student’s learning style, the student’s personality, and the student’s personal problems outside of school.  I guess I forgot about the human factor while I was worrying about teaching subjects that I have never taught before and do not have a degree in.  How ironic.  Dealing with the human factors in the classroom is usually my strength. I was so worried about teaching the content I didn’t know, I forgot about the human factor.  I can laugh now, but I can tell you I wasn’t laughing last week.

Earlier I wrote a post about the difficulty teenagers have in reading the expressions on adults faces. It’s been my experience teaching teenagers that they often think that their teachers hate them when this is not the case. But what if it is the case that the teacher really does hate some kids? It does happen, unfortunately.

What are parents to do when they suspect a teacher is treating students unfairly or discriminating against them? As a parent my first reaction is to want it to go in there and tear off the teachers head or at least give the teacher a piece of my mind telling her or him how dare they do whatever…. But, that may not be the most useful way of doing things. My first instincts are not always the most useful. Let the system work for you. it does work. You just have to be persistent.

First, I think it would be useful to have a meeting with the teacher to find out how things are going for your child in the teacher’s class. Just call and make an appointment to talk to the teacher face to face. Face to face is better because it helps eliminate misunderstandings that could arise over the phone. If you feel uncomfortable going to the meeting alone, take someone else along for moral support or someone who has more experience in this area. I’ve been at meetings where parents have brought advocates. I think that’s a good idea. At the meeting, ask what you can do to help your child be more successful at home and what the teacher will do to help your child be more successful at school. Get details and write them down as you formulate your action plan. Tell the teacher you’ll call in about a week to see how things are going. (You could volunteer to help out if you are free during the day. That’s a good way to see what’s going on.) Keep in constant contact. Keep in constant contact. I can’t emphasize this enough. Write everything down and date it. Create a paper trail. If you are still unhappy with what goes on in the classroom , then meet with the principal and take your paper trail along with you. Give the principal a chance to get involved and see what happens. If things are still not resolved then move your concern up the ladder to the next position of responsibility. Some parents have to take their concerns right to the top. Don’t be afraid to do this. There’s too much  at stake. In our board board, we have elected trustees who advocate for parents and students. Get in touch with them someone as well. It’s their job to help you. That’s why they got elected.

If a teacher is treating a group of kids unfairly, parents could get together as a group and take their concerns to the principal. Parents have a lot of power. More than they realize. Be assertive. It’s not a popularity contest. The principal wants teachers to do a good job. They don’t want problems and it’s their job to help teachers who for whatever reason aren’t doing their jobs professionally. Like I tell my students, you don’t have to love everyone, but you have to respect them and that means treating them in a certain way.

Don’t tell me
It’s easy
When it isn’t

Don’t tell me
It’s easy
When you’ve never
Done it

Tell me
It’s hard and
I’ll help you

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• Dislcaimer

  These are my personal views and not those of my employer.