You've made a student cry? (warning: long)

The BBQ Pit
1

I know I have next to no posts, champion lurker that I am, but I have to bitch about this before I kill someone.

And it’s not even really my problem. It’s my baby sister’s. (Some might agree that’s even worse.) She’s learning disabled, the worst of it being pretty severe dyslexia. She was 10 before she could read anything. She’s 17 now. Her school system had been very helpful, by and large. She works her ass off every day. She’s been mainstreamed in most of her classes at this point and has straight A’s. Last year she made the decision to go mainstream in her last class, English. The school system set it up so she would be in class with all the other students, but would be tested by a special ed. teacher. This is because she needs different tests (often oral, differently formatted, extra time, etc). This term they hired a new special ed. teacher. This is where the wheels came off the wagon.

My sister’s problem is that she’s smart. She’s thoughtful, articulate, and astonishingly well read for someone who needs assistance addressing an envelope (god bless audio books). You meet her in a non-school setting and you’d never know. The teacher-- we’ll call her Ms. Cunt—takes one look at my sister and decides that, despite all the tests and professional opinions, my sister is just lazy. Ms. Cunt decides my sister is simply not trying hard enough.

Fast-forward a month and some, regular English teacher calls my mother: all the grades Ms. Cunt is giving him for my sister are failing, and she might fail the class, though her class participation has been excellent. (Ms. Cunt doesn’t count things like participation, only her tests). We finally got to see these tests, and I don’t think I could pass them. My mother, who has an MA in English Lit, doesn’t think she could pass them. Every week my sister is supposed to memorize 20 vocab words, with spelling, meaning, antonyms and synonyms, and then get tested on all of that, including making them into a poem.

You can’t do shit like that to a dyslexic! The regular class is being questioned on sonnets, but nooooo. The fact that sis can’t write is because no one taught her the words! Of course! If you just make her memorize lists, it will solve all her problems. Because after all, she’s just lazy. This is all a big scam. I confess. When she was in 1st grade my parents taped her eyes shut* so she wouldn’t learn to read.

Raw words are her worst nightmare. She’d get a 42 or something awful like that, then my mother would complain, and the teacher would let her ‘make it up’ by giving her an open book test (which got 100). Then she’d average together, leaving my sister with a 71. Every test is like this. My sister used to be so proud of her grades. It’s like she’s punishing her. Or she’s decided that learning-disabled students are simply not allowed to get good grades. Why not just give one manageable test? And now, Ms. Cunt is trying to campaign her cause to my sister’s caseworker. She’s even doing it to my sister. She told my sister she was lazy and worthless. She said this to a student!

Listen, bitch, you make sister cry again and I am going to fly across the country just to shove an avocado up your ass. I hope your car got stuck on the turnpike under a drift and you’re freezing to death right now.

There are really people like this in our classrooms. Makes me sick.

((Wow. This is really long. I appologize to anyone who made it down here))

Zillah
*with duct tape

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Gee, the poor kid! I do hope your mom brings this to the attention of the administration and demands they do something. It sounds as if your sister has made tremendous progress and actually wants to learn. The stupid teacher should recognize this quality and foster it. Learning is not about tests.

Good luck - keep us posted

Oh, welcome to the boards!

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That’s pretty awful.

I’m sure things’ll turn out okay!

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Lurker rants are cool. Especially when they give us gems such as:

On behalf of my dyslexic former household (also a pretty damn cool individual) please feel free to add an extra-hot chilli up the left nostril

5

Wow. What a fucking bitch.

I don’t even know how to articulate what kind of person this is (though it fits in with the group that think people live in slums in the inner city because they’re “lazy”) but I DESPISE their kind. They are evil ignoramuses, simple as that.

6

I mean, housemate

I guess given the subject of the thread an egregious misspledding is appropriate though…

7

As a tribute to how often I read e-mail from my sister, I read that just fine the first time.

Also, I figure an avocado is the dangerous thing I’ll be about to actually get in my luggage.

My mother is trying to get her to be tested by the regular English teacher, who’s a great guy. We figure this will be best at this point, but Ms. Cunt is making it into a political game.

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Is it her english teacher whos doing this or the LD teacher?

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Man, if we’d had a teacher at my (all male) old school called Mrs Cunt, she wouldn’t have lasted 5 minutes.

  • Bubba.
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I work at a tutoring center, and often times I can’t always recognize if a member has a learning disorder. Sometimes it can get a little frustrating, but once I am aware/told the member has a learning disorder, all those feelings go away. If a child has a particular difficulty in learning, I can adapt to help them. I have tutored children who are dislexic. I’ve also tutored semi autistic and mentally retarded children. In general, these kids are very intelligent and extremely hard workers, but just have trouble with some aspects of learning. I’m a flexible and dynamic enough individual to be able to help them regardless of any handicap.

I’m saying this because you’d figure if a college student who works part-time at a tutoring center (making minimum wage) could help dyslexic students and not destroy their self-confidence and self-esteem than an English teacher should have no trouble with it. I find that teacher quite apalling.

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I applaud your devotion to your sister, but it doesn’t seem to me that shoving an avocado up her ass is an approporiate response.
You should use that other well-known product of California agriculture, the artichoke. Nice and prickly.

12

We have lovely pineapples, too.

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Aslan, It’s the LD teacher. That’s why it’s shit x 2. The English teacher is great. He asked my mother to borrow a couple books on it, and is very interesting in learning how my sister processes information. This woman is trained specifically in teaching children with special needs.

True, but I like articokes. They’re yummy. I’d hate to waste them. Avocados scare the crap out of me. Like a giant mishappen turd or something. I am not someone who wants to think about where her guacamole comes from.

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I am a retired English teacher. Professional ethics require that Ms. Cunt teach your sister based on the level at which she is capable of learning. Did she even take the time to pre-test?

If I were your Mom, I would request a conference with both the principal and the teacher present. If the teacher actually said that your sister was lazy and worthless, she is not fit to be in a classroom and a letter of reprimand should be placed in her file.

Did Ms. Cunt say this in the presence of anyone else?

If all else fails, your sister should carry a small tape recorder with her to class. Each time the teacher speaks with her, she should tape it. She should not try to conceal the recorder, however.

Meanwhile, here’s a link that may cheer your sister a little:

http://www.dyslexia.com/qafame.htm

It’s a list of famous people who are or were dyslexic – a real eye-opener!

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I’m with Zoe. A conference with the principal and the teacher is in order. There is no way your sister should be punished for having a learning disability.

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That’s ridicoulous. She’s trained to help, not say “stop being lazy”.

17

God, what a bucking fitch!

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For some reason, this struck me as a hilarious line. :smiley:

Do you have a sig yet? If I were you, I’d consider that one.

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damn.
i’d like to meet said teacher and introduce her to LOTS of fruit and vegetables, things like lychees and starfruit and pumpkins…

it’s so sad when your sister is obviously very capable and is cut down because she can’t do a spelling test.

stupid teacher

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Dyslexia…that’s where your brain transposes letters and numbers, right?

My SIL was a Special Ed teacher. I can’t imagine her telling a student she’s lazy and worthless.

Here’s to hoping your mom goes to town on the bitch.