"How can you know what pride is if you have no sense of shame?"

I said this to one of my classes after I'd had enough excuses for bad behavior.  Whether it was lying, sneaky, evasive attempts to avoid responsibility, an air of entitlement, irresponsible behavior. 

There is no way around it.  You can't know darkness unless you know the light and visa versa. 

A mother is complaining that a teacher's giving her daughter "the catastrophe award"  is bullying.  The award is given to students with the most excuses for not doing their homework.  Maybe attempting to ween her daughter or toilet train her can be considered bullying too.  Certainly, that caused some trauma to the child as she had to make a change.  That is what growing up and being responsible entail.  My question is always "What would you prefer, an uneducated adult who knows no shame?"  Aren't we already doing a great job of producing enough of that right now?

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2012/05/30/catastrophe-award-given-to-8-year-old-student/


I believe the award is not meant to be taken so literally.  "Yes but the child is only a child and will take it that way." But you can't have it both ways.  This kid uses the fact that they are a child to get a free pass regarding, not just irresponsible behavior, but also lying.  Huh?  Sure.  All those excuses are basically lies and adults know it and just accept it because "she's just a child."

Don Van Lierop cleared of rape

Ferris High School coach Don Van Lierop was falsely accused of rape by a mother and daughter who went to the police.  Allegedly, the mother was hoping for some revenge.  No charges will be pressed by the police.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TRKIcMb5ao

The cloud of suspicion on male teachers

“I thought it would only be in emergency situations,” Bush said. “It is alarming that you send your kid with your schools, you think they are safe and protected, and these types of goings on are happening. It is very disturbing.”

Genoa Middle School mother, Kim Bush.


What was disturbing?  That a teacher had texted a female student on a field trip asking for pictures?

What?  Why is this disturbing?  The teacher is asking her for pictures to share with the class when she returns.

It seems it was unusual in that it was a list to be used in case of emergency.  A concerned parent could have taken it to the school and waited for the facts to come out.  But this went right to the press, probably ending his career. For a teacher to be suspected of  sexual improprieties when it is far more likely he was trying to raise morale by asking a student to share their experience, exposes the nasty sentiment some parents feel for male teachers.

http://www.10tv.com/content/stories/2012/05/22/westerville-teacher-accused-of-texting-female-student-asking-for-picture.html#comment

ABC news reports:

...overzealous suspicions of sexual abuse are one of the top three reasons why the teaching profession doesn't draw more men. 

Here is the full report.
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=5670187&page=1#.T8PJmFKwXm0

Teacher asks kid if he ate his homework...it may end his career

Not that I condone this.  But it seems a bit frivolous to end a career.  The teacher says he has asperger's syndrome and doesn't read people well.  Sadly enough, when a quarter of your students are overweight, it is easy to get caught picking on them even if you don't mean to do so. 
 http://www.azcentral.com/offbeat/articles/2011/03/30/20110330connecticut-teacher-insults-overweight-student.html

I had a chubby little boy that snagged a candy bar meant for someone else during a question and answer game I played right before Halloween.  He ate it immediately and when he got a question correct and asked for a candy bar, I said "it looks like you've had enough already," since he had grabbed the other one beforehand.  One of my students immediately streamed to the office claiming I had called him "fat."  I was expected to meet with the principal with my union rep in tow.  The principal then said that no student had come forward claiming I called him "fat" so the issue was moot. This same student went on to accuse me of trying to film her chest the following year and helped end my career. The same year, I was playing basketball with a student during lunch and a couple of kids sat on the sidelines laughing if I missed a shot, etc.  I glanced over and saw pizza in their hands and said "why don't you go get another slice of pizza."  The kid is chubby, but I'd have said it to a skinny kid too.  I thought they were being brazenly rude to a teacher who was minding his own business.  The kid hated me from then on even after I tried to explain.  Maybe you can pick him out from the ones that tweeted that they had me fired. 

http://teacherhunt.blogspot.com/2012/05/students-twitter-about-getting-teacher.html

Who runs the asylum?  That's right.

Teacher on the spot for knocking on sleeping teen's head

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2012/05/18/teacher-accused-of-slapping-student-upside-the-head-gets-support/

Mommy held a protest to curb everyone's favorite catch word: Bullying

Student alleges teacher used Obama in assasination math problems

It gets more complicated from there.

http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/05/16/46544.htm

Now the teacher is trying to remedy the circumstances created.
What do you think?

About time....

Student alleged to have said she was going to "get Bennett."

http://www.kcci.com/news/central-iowa/Jury-acquits-teacher-charged-with-sexual-abuse/-/9357080/13381682/-/item/0/-/3eyuryz/-/index.html

When teachers are accused of violence there are typically tell tale signs.  Sexual abuse, on the other hand, is particularly troublesome.  Usually, it implies a student was alone with the teacher and there are no other witnesses.  There is also next to no evidence...well...I suppose it depends on what was alleged. So it comes down to one person's word versus that of the other.

The jury acquitted David Loren Bennett of Melchor-Dallas HS after the girl's story started to fall apart. Let us hope he can get on with his life.

PLEASE POST YOUR STORY

I set up this blog presuming there were other teachers who had been falsely accused.  Most of the accusations don't make the news and admin wants it that way. Help create an awareness of the harm that false and frivolous accusations do to people that have chosen to work with children.

Roswell teacher and coach acquitted of sexual misconduct

http://www.abqjournal.com/main/2012/05/11/abqnewsseeker/roswell-coach-acquitted-of-sexual-contact.html

Gosh...look what happens when there is some scrutiny put on an accuser instead of automatically believing them.

Two years after Tonya Craft's acquittal

http://www.wrcbtv.com/story/18348539/tonya-craft-it-will-never-be-like-it-was

For today..a collar and a collar

The real punishment and pain in many classrooms is having to sit there for 50 minutes at a time quietly paying attention to a lecture on something you have no interest in.  Why is it a teacher can bore the living daylights out of students for that amount of time and that is called "normal operation," while the second any physical contact is made becomes the beginning of a lawsuit or police action?  No offense to the teachers trying to do their jobs.  We did not demand that students be there.  The state did.  But the teachers get saddled with most of the responsibility when they end up in such a pressure cooker.

Ben David Cowan, a science teacher at Rio Hondo High School, was locked out of his room by a student. Upon gaining entrance, he allegedly put his hands on the students neck.  The real question should be whether he squeezed or this was a way of joking and blowing off steam.  He was served at his house by law enforcement.

http://www.valleycentral.com/news/story.aspx?id=751940#.T6wbnVKriCU


Then there is the story of the other students who were collared.  A teacher in Florida used an animal collar as the "cone of shame."  I suspect it was done  for some tongue in cheek humor. Does anyone truly believe "The flogging will continue until morale improves," is meant to be taken literally? Generally speaking, many kids like that kind of humor.  They watch horror movies because they get bored with the enclosing safety of 4 walls around them and 25 safety nets under them. 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/10/laurie-bailey-cutkomp-teacher-uses-dog-collar-to-punish-students_n_1506376.html

Teacher Appreciation Week- Hollow and Perfunctory

Well said.
I still recall getting the mug that said "You make a world of Difference and are Appreciated" at the same time my district was doing whatever they could to ignore my contribution and magnify any transgressions they could find. I was in the "Who's Who among America's Teachers" at the same time they were ready to put me into "program improvement."  Most teachers know that PI is the first stop on the way out the door because they want you gone.

Teacher appreciation is a bit of a joke at this point.  They pay you something for the baby sitting service and have next to no idea whether their kids are learning anything substantive.  You get some kudos for being a teacher no matter how well or poorly you do your job.  "Hooray for Everything!"

http://lubbockonline.com/interact/blog-post/carol-morgan/2012-05-08/teacher-appreciation-week-hollow-and-perfunctory#comment-form

fake skype account costs a teacher his job

http://teacherhunt.blogspot.com/2012/05/students-twitter-about-getting-teacher.html

A district has decided not to renew the contract for Bryce Benekos, a teacher and coach in Burleson, Tx.

He was on his honeymoon while a female student alleges he was contacting her on skype. Sorry Bryce, you don't get the benefit of the doubt from these people.  But maybe it's better to be pushed out of the shark tank early, rather than find out how corrupt it is, down the road.

Students twitter about getting teacher fired. GO TEAM!

 
How did they do it?   The easiest way was to accuse the teacher of looking at them in a sexual way.  Rather than go to the teacher, the parents would call in and complain.  This bypassed the normal route.  Naturally, there was no way to prove things one way or another, leaving the teacher with a stain a doubt on their reputation and helping create a little feeding frenzy.  But there were also accusations of using physical force, yelling at them....making them feel BAD about themselves.  

Some of these students are presently going after their principal, due to everything but academics.  Let's see....the football team ,  the colors of the school uniform, and the flubbed jr. prom.  See the http://dixonpatch.com for more.  

http://dixon.patch.com/topics/Promgate


Consider looking up the post on lack of empathy in the current generation.


27 Mar Jenna Bassler ‏ @jennabassler13_
#MiddleSchoolMemories getting m--------- fired

Retweeted by Miranda Williams

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Chaz says you get flagged for simply being accused

Why do this? You put the entire careers of educators in the hands of a few vindictive kids or opportunistic administrators.  So much for the bill of rights which supposedly covers you at work as well as outside of it.

http://chaz11.blogspot.com/2012/05/doe-attaches-discipline-flag-on-files.html

This just cinches up the power that the fat cats have over the peonage.  They will claim "you can never be too careful."  Fine, then why aren't you and everyone in the house wearing a helmet to sleep every night, just in case the house caves in? You wouldn't want to risk anything would you?