Students failing to meet reading goals punished with face painting

Quote: "The class had discussed their accelarated reading goals and tried to put together incentives," said Gaylen Smyer, Cassia superintendent Since when does a fouth grader have the decision making process appropriate for this kind of thing? I hope the teachers of my children read this and know that if my kids come home with this on their faces or I find out they participated in doing this to other kids.... there will be hell to pay. Surely there are other ways to build incentives...and when it comes right down to it.... some kids will never be great at reading until they are older. Truth be told I was a below average reader as a kid and now hold a petroleum Engineering Degree. I had to deal with enough stress about it just by myself, forget publicly being humiliated.

 

Also note in the quote…. Accelerated is spelled incorrectly …. Maybe that Superintendent needs to be shot in the face with a paint ball gun.

Maybe this is why school sucks now; my teachers can't let anything out of the ordinary happen or, guess what, they get slammed for it. It sounds like the students got to choose the punishment and they did have the choice to skip recess.

 

And I'm sorry, but having an incentive that might actually people who are being lazy to try would finally make things fair for the people who honestly don't understand; because then the teacher can say, "well I don't think that he would have wanted to have that consequence if he could avoid it, so he really must not get it." This way the teacher can spend time with people who are truly behind and ease the suffering of those who are ahead!

As an experienced educator and librarian, who's familar with AR, there are much better ways of inspiring and supporting kids to read. This is not one of them. To allow 4th graders to choose something that is not appropriate in the first place is beyond me. Perhaps some training for both the principal and teacher about positive classroom management would be in order? It's one thing to have kids skip recess to catch up on their reading, it's another to walk around humiliated with marker on your face. 4th graders don't have the maturity to know this, but the staff should.

I also think it's important to say that the overuse of the word BULLY is about as bad as the overuse of the word racist.  It deminishes the extreme ugliness of both words when they are used to describe so many actions or people.  To me, this was bad judgement by the teacher.  Perhaps this was a first year teacher that is clueless, it's possible.  Another thing to question is the parent that is complaining, also.  (Don't get me wrong, I'd be talking to the teacher and the principal about this, but I'd also be working with my child day and night to get them on or above grade-level too) How upset is this parent that their child doesn't meet the standard?  Did she know that her child wasn't on level prior to this?  Is she more upset at the ridiculous action of the teacher than she is at solving her child's inability or lack of effort to reach grade level goals?  The fact is, teachers have a mountain of weight upon them to get the little darlings to meet or exceed standards.  100% have to reach those goals according to NCLB.  If some dumb arse teacher gets desperate to keep their job b/c NCLB and other federal, state, and local requirements are forcing them, sad to say, you will see more desperate actions by teachers that really shouldn't be in the classroom to begin with.

That's insane and any principal who would agree to it needs to be replaced, along with the teacher. You can't motivate kids to learn by humiliating them.

The students may very well have had a say in what occurred if they didn't meet their goals, but I'm betting the ones that knew they would do well were the only ones that wanted the humiliation consequence for not meeting their goals. As a mother, I wouldn't want my child to embarrass any other child for ANY reason. My daughter's 5th grade class just took a math test and the students who made a 100 were invited to tutor 1st and 2nd graders. That seems a lot kinder and supportive of other students. I think the principal of this school and the teacher, for that matter need to be counseled on positive teaching. 

It's been my experience that kids LIKE to have their face painted, but by adults.  Why didn't this teacher allow the ones that met their goal to GET their face painted by perhaps adult volunteers, made it a celebration of success, rather than a scarlet letter, so to speak.  I'm all for taking away recess, but holy hell, parents freak the crap out about that too, instead the teacher could have simply not allowed those that didn't meet their goal to GET their face painted, and perhaps had them sit in a small group and practice fluency with partners.  You attract more bees with honey.  What seems to be lacking in the classroom, all the way up to the FEDERAL level, is a lack of common sense. 

This is rediculous - if a student does not meet an academic goal, it should be betweent he parent/student/teacher - not the clas or the rest of the student body during lunch, recess, etc.. this opens the door for the entire student body to tease/comment to a student the rest of the day and beyond. Once again , keep it between parents/student and the teacher. I would raise hell at this school if I was a parent - teaching kids to read is supposed to be fun, not a stressful situation!

KTVB has the update (as usual).  There is currently an investigation, the teacher is still in the classroom; however it was stated that this behavior won't be condoned.  Stay tuned (to KTVB) for further updates.

I feel sorry for the kids growing up today. When they get out in to the real world, they won't have a teacher to protect them. If they don't learn to stand up to bullies, how are they going to make it when they are out of school? I was just about the smallest kid in my grade. I weighed 118 pounds when I graduated High School. I didn't care how big someone was, if they tried to pick a fight with me, I didn't back down. As soon as you teach children that all bullies are cowards at heart, the better they will be able to cope. If you want your child to be a follower all their lives, than by all means protect them from bullies. If you want them to be leaders, teach them to stand up for themselves and what they believe in.

This "The class had discussed their accelarated reading goals and tried to put together incentives," said Gaylen Smyer, Cassia superintendent. "One of the incentives is that those who met their goal would be able to paint the face of those who didn't meet their goal."There are 24 students in this particular fourth grade class. Nine of the students did not reach the reading goals and six opted for the face painting option. The other three skipped recess."

 

So apparently this was not a case of bullying, but a class designed incentive to reward students who met their reading goals.  They could either get their face painted or skip recess.  If they chose face painting then that is their choice, they were not bullied.  Last time I checked in the years I was bullied I never once thought man I am being bullied by choice here. 

 

All we have here is a creative kid empowering decision on the best ways to motivate themselves to do better.  I am sure that the next reading assignment has a higher percentage of people meeting their goals.  If it is the same group of kids then we can explore what is preventing them from doing better.

 

Of course I am guessing most parents will argue, but my kid needs to sit on his butt playing X-Box all evening long, he yells at us if we don't.  Well dearies here is the thing.  Stop letting your kids fail at school and sit down with them and help them learn.  I do it with my two kids and this as a dad who has limited time with them before they go back to their mother's.  Think I want to waste time arguing about school work.  No!  But, i do not want them to have their grades suffer either.  If their teacher comes up witha way to encourage them to learn then I am all for it.

 

I also checked some things out...apparently faces can be washed off.  Who knew.  But realize that at the end of the day they could either have their face painted or skip recess.  Clean face and recess seems to be a good reward for doing the work assigned.  Helps them get used to the workplace where if your slack off you get fired. 

 

Personally, if my kids failed to meet the reading gaols they would also face punishment at home.  I am not going enable them to fail.

Seriously?  This is horrendous educational practice.  It's never appropriate to punish or brand students for "lack of progress."  What purpose does this serve and for whom?  Those kids were branded as sub-par, and the effects will be very long lasting on their own self image.  Rewarding for reaching goals seems a more appropriate and effective response...reinforce the good, don't punish and mimic those who have yet to achieve some randomly set average that doesn't meet individual needs.

This is why many believe teachers have a substandard education to be demanding more pay and benefits. Perhaps this could have been a mentoring reward. Reach your goal and you can receive extra credit by  helping another student. This was bodily assault sanctioned by the teacher. She should be fired.

Did the teacher ever stop and think that maybe the student did study and worked hard on this assignment?  Maybe they just couldnt do it. Bully  Bully  Where is the teacher?????

This is so unacceptable that this teacher should be suspended without pay and possibly fired.  Public humiliation only produces resentment, as it should.  Positive reinforcement yields much better results than Draconian punishments.

All four of my children participated in the Accelerated Reader programs at their schools.  I grew to resent the program because of teachers like this one.  The whole point of the A/R program is to ENCOURAGE children to develop a love of reading.  When their teachers used positive incentives, it was wonderful.  However, if they got a teacher that punished children for not reaching their goal, it completely discouraged ALL the children.  It seems the program needs to be reviewed.

 

Another prime example of a public school conducting themselves in a horrendous way. I thought the school was supposed to help students who may be on the slow side or even slight development delays. That is not only disrespectful to the child but to the families and communities. I can say this though, if I find ANYONE whether it be a school or teacher or whoever abusing or what I think is abusing my kid it will turn into the wild bunch game on scenario

Honestly this is like saying that the Germans voted Hitler in so it was okay to exterminate the jews.  What kind of insane over educated idiots are these people

What kind of school allows FOURTH GRADERS to decide classroom policies!  Even if the students floated this as the initial idea, then the teachers/administrators missed the opportunity to teach the students about bullying and tolerance by allowing this to actually become the final decision.  Kids making decisions...next up: ice cream and cookies for lunch, all day recess, video games instead of reading....my nine-year old would love to have this type of authority in the classroom!

One thing I wonder is how much of this goal was related to being able to read quickly. My kids are super-fast readers and can whip through a book in a single evening that will take me three or four evenings to finish. My brain has always refused to process what I read quickly, even when I was taught how to "speed read".

 

If they weren't keeping up because they were goofing off, that's a whole other matter and I think missing recess would be a plenty appropriate "punishment" during which time they could work on catching up.

WE CAN PUT A STOP TO TEACHERS & PRINICPALS WHO ALLOW BULLYING!!

 

http://www.causes.com/causes/797374-save-your-daughter-with-a-positive-body-image/actions/1705044

I sure hope the investigation goes further than, "We have disciplined the teacher by telling her not to do that anymore". She should be fired!!!!! Very poor teaching tactics. Just curious, were they permanent markers???

That is a very poor excuse for a teacher.

Perhaps the teacher should be paid on how many children she is able to teach to read at a certain level!!! After all she did go to school to teach these children and if they are all the same why did she fail to teach 9 of them!!!! Apparently she forgot that not all children excell at the same rate....wonder if those 9 are better in math...we all have our strong and weak areas. May I suggest that the teachers who don't have all their students at a certain level have this done to them by the other teachers and see if they think its not humiliating, maybe even put their photo in the paper!! BULLYING IS WRONG!!!!

This is absolutely disgusting. You do not humiliate children who are probably already feeling bad b/c they know they are "slow readers." You encourage them. And this was NOT "face painting." The teachers allowed peers to humiliate children by writing names and mustaches on the faces of those kids. This teacher should be fired but probably won't thanks to unions.

If the kids really did discuss methods that's great. Unfortunately the teacher lead them in the wrong direction.

This sounds like Lord of the Flies to me...why again are we paying teachers and administrators for this kind of "learning"????   Perhaps next time you can just toss the students out who fail to meet goals.  Shame on you.

I disagree that "punishment" is used in the classroom at all. Punishment sets up a pecking order that children would  be happy to follow. They are very observant.  Reward is always better than punishment. A grade should be sufficient to record students progress. It sounds to me like the teachers are under huge pressure to show "progress" among their students. There is a better way!

Oh please.  You're telling me you can't come up with any mature way of handling the "lack of meeting goals"?  I am becoming more and more ashamed of the "adults" in this country every day.  Shame on the teacher and her backers.