7 Things Teachers Wish Parents Knew

I like all of the tips mentioned above for parents. In my home we are our kids first line of learning and then their teachers. I agree with liliflowers about the lack of involvement from parents and its connections to their kids poor performance in the classroom, I saw it with my niece and nephew whose parents weren't involve in their academics coaching.

SIMFELICITY: that was one of the most genuine, simplest, honest, and appreciated things I have ever heard. Well said!

5. If the teacher deserves a good grade, give her one.
7. The teacher's on your side — give her the benefit of the doubt.

Give HER one? Listen Lisa Collier Cool, what decade are you living in when you think all teachers are females? This article is a joke.

Teachers need to act more like teachers and parents need to act more like parents. Simple solution.

Money? In teaching? I received my first raise in 5 years this summer....We got a whole extra $4.60 a day.
When I first started doing it, I really liked the kids, and still do, but the bureaucracy is about to kill us now. I hate to say it but when one of my high school seniors ask me about going into teaching, I suggest nursing as a good major to help the community.
I just spent $300 of my own money at WalMart this week to get supplies the kids will need for the coming year.

As a student, I actually agree with all of this. I just graduated high school, and I can hinestly say i'm happy to be going to college so my parents can stop pressuring me about my grades. To them, it didn't matter how hard I tried , the only thing that mattered was the number on the report card, and it really made me feel like the work i was doing didn't matter and that i could never live to thier expectations.Even though grades are important I think having support and encouagement is even more important because you need that to succeed in life. I feel like parents these days don't realize how much we have going on in our lives and think that if we just study all day it'll make the grades, but it doesn't. We need our space and free time so when we study we can focus on that versus thinking about the party your missing or what else you could be doing. This article rocks!!!!

The link to this article is "7 Things Parents Wish Teachers Knew"..and the article is "7 Things Teachers Wish Parents Knew" ...lol

It's a shame a list like this has to be made, it seems like people have no common sense anymore, and if you do not have common sense, don't have a child! The only thing I don't really agree with is #5, there are a lot more thankless jobs in their world than being a teacher, and being a teacher should be a rewarding job in of itself.

I admire most teachers, but there are those bad apples out there (the ones that constantly complain about the job and the amount of pay, etc...) that are really making me sick of hearing anything about teachers in general.

How about a list of things parents wish the teacher understood?
Like Teachers, control your classroom...don't call me because my child forgot a pencil, deal with the child right then and there.
Don't expect kids to learn over the din of other students.

Admit that you DO play favorites. Because you do.

Admit your mistakes...everyone makes em, even teachers.

Say what you mean and mean what you say.

When a parent e mails you, ANSWER them...and not after 5 e mails, several weeks, and interference by an administrator.

Kick the ball player out of class when he/she is disruptive...and violate them on good conduct so they can't play for a game or too...ven if they are the "star player".

Assign grade appropriate material.

Learn to spell.

Be an advocate for ALL kids. If the parents can't help the child, and asks you to get them help, DO IT.

Stop using Hollywood and MOVIES to teach History. Kevin Costner is an ACTOR for cripes sake. Dances with wolves is NOT REAL.

If you don't want to be a class sponsor, help with extracurricular events, take tickets, and deal with all the aspects of school, DON'T be a teacher.

The article sounds very reasonable and encouraging. I am a grandmother who has brought up four sons and am now helping one of my sons with his kids. I have always been on board with cooperating with teachers. The discouraging part of this whole situation is that so often the teachers don't respond to the parents efforts. I have been chastised and rebuffed by very snooty, insensitive teachers and more often by the teachers of my children that made straight A's and never had discipline problems. I actually had a teacher tell me not to allow my child to read books that have not been introduced in the school curriculum because they may not totally understand the material and miss out on the value of the book. I have encountered many many other distressing behaviors in teachers that make me weep for the future of our children. Sometimes I think parents need to just agree with everything and do the best you can at home to prepare your own child for his adult life. I have to say that I have more dissapointing experiences with teachers than fulfulling ones and for the record I contacted the teachers very seldom, sometimes once in an entire year and was told that it was NOT necesary to keep in touch with the teachers. I don't believe ANY of the article is true in real-time.

I just find it funny that all teachers are apparently women.

Being a teacher I love the idea of trying to help children to be the best they can be, but I am a realist and what I know about your children does have a severe impact on your child's ability to master the material. I wish parents really knew about how your children behave when you leave them at school...if you only knew.
1.) Your children are not the angels that you think they are, although some are very good, but for the most part even the "good" students have sneaky tendencies.
2.) Most of your children will lie to you when it comes to school, so as to keep themselves out of trouble, it's only when confronted by the teacher during a parent/teacher conference will they speak the truth.
3.) Your adorable children won't turn in homework because they know mommy and daddy won't do a damn think to them...my bad.. I mean you will take away their iPod for a day or so, take away their computer privileges, or even their cell phone..yeah that's teaching them.
Besides this, all your children are so adorable that there is no way our children are having such a hard time succeeding in school. It's a wonder that our country is number 1 in education.

Why do you feel parents need instruction? After 8 years of elementary and middle school, I know your wrong. Most teachers don't want a parent mucking up things for them either way. If you are going to be a suck up that agrees with everything you're approved otherwise they wish you would not show up. They get paid regardless of the job they do or do not perform because of the union. Elementary teachers are more engaged than middle school or perhaps my experience is with very jaded employees. I ignore their wants and coach/teach what they fail to cover at school.

I like how kc and ? look like the same person with different clothes and backround.

Personally, I think teachers complain too much. I am a high school student and most of the time my teachers rant and rave about how hard their job is. I mean hello you chose this job? Some teachers do work hard don't get me wrong, but some of my teachers just pop in a movie for us to watch, and sit on their laptops the entire period. Parents work a lot more then teachers do. Stop complaining that you don't get paid enough, parents aren't involved enough. That is just life, and if you do not want to deal with it, THEN DO NOT TEACH! It is just a simple as that. There is just as many bad teachers as there is bad parents.

"If the teacher deserves a good grade, give HER one."??? "The teacher's on your side -- give HER the benefit of the doubt."???
Best teachers I ever had growing up were male. After 24 years in business, teaching is a second career. Thank goodness, I'm at a school with five other second career MALE teachers all hired by our wonderful FEMALE superintendent. Get the gender out of your head. Studies show that 4 to 7 year old children NEED a positive male roll model and with so many female heads of household the is a major need to more MALE teachers!

When my son was in elementary school, his 23 yr old teacher took it upon himself to express his opinion on how I should raise my son. I asked him how old he was when my son was born....possibly 12 or 13? Then I asked how many children have you raised? He was on his soap box and had no idea on my son or how his home life was.
I openly told him exactly what my opinion was of his opinions.
Teachers are there to teach, not condemn the parents or express opinions
based on something they do not know anything about.

Year after year the moms fight over the title of "class mom" only to realize that it is more than they can handle or not as glamorous as it sounds. To make her job easier, last year I suggested that my class mom use the volunteer forms found at www.signupgenius.com

Of course my class mom was great, but we had more participation from the other parents than we have ever had, and it seems that we seldom heard the excuse "I forgot" We always had plenty of volunteers, tissues, glue sticks, snacks and juice boxes.

As the new school year roll around, I am including the link in all my paperwork to ensure that everyone knows to expect emails and reminders from our class mom using sign up genius.

I am going to present it to other teachers and hopefully their class moms will be agreeable to organizing the classroom activities in a super manner!

I'm a special education teacher and I can tell you that the kids that have succeeded the most are the ones with involved parents. The kids who fail are the ones whose parents don't return calls, won't come to meetings, don't back me on homework requirements, make excuses for their child's inappropriate behavior, etc... Learning and education does not stop at school, and parents have to back us. We are a TEAM, and parents have to do their part. We can't do it on our own.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1027485,00.html'

Entitled "Parents Behaving Badly".

I would like to point out as someone who is now in college studying to be a teacher that i NEVER considered money to be the main goal.Making a lot of money and teaching DO NOT go together. I would also like to say that i was involved in a number of extracurricular activities when i was in school and it was usually teachers who led these. They didn't have to, they could have just said that teaching was enough they didn't have the time to be a coach/director/mentor/tutor. But they said yes even though they got paid maybe a dollar a day or less if getting paid at all for doing this. Also, once your children hit college they are in for a shock. They are now considered adults and the professors will not hold their hands and make sure they get their work done! It just goes back to the PARENT making sure their children have good study skills at home b/c in college their time will be less structured and THEY will have to figure out how to use their time wisely! I can't tell you how many times i would be in groups my freshman year of college and i would be stuck with people who expected someone else to do the work for them! Please, before attacking the teacher (and i know that there are bad teachers in this world) consider what your child's behavior and methods are at home. If it is the fault of the teacher, then you need to take appropriate action and not go ballistic on the school board! i realize i've said a lot but as someone recently out of school and into college i feel that parents need to know that habits ingrained during childhood do not magically change once they grow up. Teachers do their best and i've known many wonderful teachers (and professors) that try to get their students to think instead of feeding them mindless facts.