Teacher Writes Note On Boy’s Homework, Has No Idea Who Dad Is

Teacher writes note on boy's homework. Has no idea who dad is. A crushed boy walked with his head bowed toward his house from his school. He didn't want his parents to see the tears in his eyes, but they could see that the seven-year-old had been crying and pleaded with him to tell them what had happened. The child reluctantly got a piece of paper out from his school bag. He handed it to his parents and it would hold all the Camden Pilland was always just a normal kid. He never strived to get amazing grades, but he would stay out of trouble nonetheless. He wasn't hyperactive and he didn't spend all his time watching TV and playing video games. His parents were caught off guard when he came home devastated. They read the note he had given them and his father stirred with a frown. As he kept reading the test paper, his face became more flushed with anger. Camden was a student at Valley View Elementary School for a number of years. There had never been an issue with him at the school, but everything changed when he walked into school as a second grader. Now his parents were getting more and more complaints about their son's behavior. Chris decided he had heard enough and decided to look into his son's complaints. There aren't any elementary school children who like to do their homework, especially when they or playing games once the bell indicates the end of the school day. Camden was no exception and his parents understood it was part of being a kid. But Camden started handing in his assignments late. The drastic change in behavior only started in the second grade. His parents hated seeing their child struggle so suddenly with his academics. What changed Camden's attitude toward his school? Chris was sure that his child could take on the second grade and all its challenges and the fact that he wasn't made him start to worry. It wasn't normal for Camden's performance to plummet so drastically in his academic life. His teacher was Alyssa Rupp Bowenek and one day he arrived home with some feedback from her. That's when Chris thought she might have a part to play in Camden's newfound difficulties. The father's intuition would prove useful. Everyone's had that teacher that seems impossible to impress. Some kids keep their heads down and somehow slip through. Some stick out, especially if they are kinder and indecisive. This is the teacher that Alyssa was. At the school, Alyssa had already gained a reputation and seemingly picked on Camden before anyone else. The boy's joy started to wane as the constant criticism impacted his self-esteem. He didn't ever let anyone know that it had such an impact. All parents dream of their children doing well at school, but when they catch wind that their child is the opposite and only in the second grade, it's hard for them to swallow. Parents can get involved to help their child, like after-school tutoring and having a more watchful eye on their child when it's homework time. But one thing stands out as outdated, and it never works. Tough love. It's not just children that hate pointless negative feedback. Everyone would prefer a more constructive approach to criticism so they understand how they can improve and not repeat the mistake. Confidence and self-esteem are the most affected when someone is given criticism. Now imagine a teacher giving such negative feedback to a child who's trying to do his best. Being a teacher for young children versus older children have completely different approaches. You need to be more involved in the younger child's education when you teach to help them understand the concepts. Being a good mentor reflects on the children as well since you are a role model. Chris felt like Alyssa wasn't practicing this way of teaching when she was in the classroom with his child. How could she think her comments were actually helping? Chris can't be blamed for his anger and frustration toward the teacher. The comments on his child's paper were just discouraging. They didn't only affect his confidence, but they were also unprofessional. No parent wants to see their child hurt. The comment on the math test was absolutely pathetic. He answered 13 in three minutes. Sad. Now this made Chris angry. It was bullying and there was nothing constructive about these comments, not even in the slightest. The problem was that this comment was not the first that this teacher had left Camden and it was the straw that broke the camel's back. For Chris, it was the last straw and he intended to do something about it. He took insult from how the messages were right from the beginning of the year. It was time to confront this nasty teacher. It's a go-to action that a lot of people take. Posting a worry or thought on social media a lot of the time is because we can get so close to the issue that we can't see them clearly anymore. Chris wanted an opinion on this situation. What he wasn't expecting was to have such a large impact. Chris began by just stating the facts along with a picture of his son holding up the offending test paper. He was sure that everyone would agree with him. Chris was absolutely amazed at how the post took on a life of its own, racking up thousands of reactions, comments and shares. It seemed that a lot of people felt really passionately about what happens in the classroom, how children are treated and what skills a teacher should have. He felt significantly better that his gut instinct was right and he hadn't been overreacting at all. Almost everyone disapproved of the harsh words that the teacher left on the piece of paper. Teaching is not known for being an easy job. It's far more challenging than standing in front of a class and talking. Every child learns differently and it is a responsibility of the teacher to find out how each child learns so that they can succeed in school and later on in life too. Leaving harsh comments seemed to Chris like this teacher wasn't teaching his son how to learn. She was taking the easy way out and putting the blame on his son. No one likes to work in a negative environment. Take yourself for instance. If your boss was constantly on your case no matter how hard you worked, you would very soon lose your passion for your job and quit. But Camden still had so many fundamental things to learn, new abilities, skills and tasks to take with him in the future. Quitting wasn't an option. The teacher had to understand that learning is most effective when it is carried out in a creative yet inspiring way. Chris was glad that he was getting so much validation from his little Facebook post. But then things took a turn for the worst. He couldn't believe it but all the strangers that had rallied behind him had started a kind of movement of their own. Someone had even taken it so far that there was now a petition online calling for the sacking of Bowenek. It was great that people felt so strongly and Chris was sure this was something that he wanted to go ahead with. The situation became serious now. Ms. Bowenek could lose her job because of a mean comment. She needed to protect herself against the angry group of people on social media that kept on growing. Chris was still so angry over the whole incident that he did want to get her fired. After all, getting a new teacher for his son seemed like a great idea. Amazingly, the petition was tallying up an unusually high number of signatures. Already over 10,000 people wanted the teacher sacked with very little information or her side of the story. But teachers at her school took a stand on Ms. Bowenek's behalf, saying she did not deserve to be fired at all. Even though little Camden went on to say she made me really sad and upset, I was really mad and it was really mean to do. You don't write that on anybody's paper, let alone a little seven-year-old second grader's paper. It said on the top of it that he answered only 13 of them in 3 minutes and that it was absolutely pathetic with a sad face. It broke my heart, Chris said, as he spoke to more and more papers and TV stations. He was still absolutely furious about the whole ordeal. I believe what you wrote on his paper was extremely unprofessional and just very rude, and she messaged me back and said she was sorry I felt that way, he explained. Everyone agreed that the teacher had indeed done something wrong, but should she be fired for it? It seemed a very harsh punishment for something that a firm talking to could change. The school felt like she only had to be reprimanded for what she did. They thought that it was too much to fire her for this. Teachers, parents and other adults are those who mold these kids into what they're going to be in the future. The school decided to look further into the matter and make sure justice is served. Chris posted an update and said, Thanks to all the efforts and support of the dedicated people who signed and shared this petition, I'm happy to announce that the teacher in question is currently being investigated by the Valley View School Board. According to a news outlet, school superintendent Rose Minitti has become aware of the remarks written on the assignment. After having a meeting with the Valley View School District and the teacher, an investigation had begun, but would Chris get justice? As a response to the media, Minitti said, As always with everything, we're going to try to do what's best for the students and what we need to do for the employee under investigation. Speaking to the same news outlet, she said, It's a personal issue and the results of that are not going to be dictated by social media. It's going to be dictated by the facts and evidence. Hopefully something will come of the investigation. Although the inquiry was underway, people from all over the world continued to respond to the story on social media, and the petition had garnered over 20,000 signatures. But some people weren't on Chris' side. Instead, they decided to place the blame for Camden's teacher's behavior solely on Chris. Some people felt that it was necessary to reprimand the dad and said that he should spend less time on Facebook and more time helping his son with his homework. Furthermore, they had the audacity to argue that the incident wouldn't have happened at all if Chris had taken more of an interest in his son's curriculum. Then a new detail about the teacher emerged. The people who were following the story closely and learned that Ms. Boanek had, in fact, been pregnant for the past few months. It came as a surprise to many that she would be having a baby of her own soon, and this opened up another can of worms on Facebook. Netizens were left divided. Some Facebook users were empathetic to the teacher's situation, pointing out that pregnancy hormones could easily be to blame for her behavior. It wasn't lost on other parents that this could have caused her to become more impatient and short-tempered than usual. However, the story also brought another question into the spotlight. What would she have done if she found herself in Chris's situation now that she had more of an insight into the life of a parent? Would Ms. Boanek just let it go, or would she make a point as well? And as a teacher, she also should know that the best way to get the most out of your students is to inspire them, and teachers have to be inspired as well. If a teacher feels dispirited or has to deal with personal issues, they might bring their personal problems into the classroom. An inspired teacher will be more upbeat and positive, which encourages more interaction from the students and fosters better results. Perhaps that is the true issue of the story. It is important to ensure that teachers are also in the right state of mind, since they often have such a huge impact on the development of the children and other learners. People's reactions online were mostly negative towards the teacher. As you'd expect, people had more than enough to say on the matter and went on to voice their opinions on the post as well as the petition. A teacher bullied a second grader, said Peckville resident Beth O'Brien. I think they should be fired. Chris explained that by raising awareness about the incident, he was looking out for his kids. It's something that shouldn't happen and be tolerated at all, he said. On top of filing a complaint, Chris was having Camden move to a new class. Maybe it'll be taken seriously now, and it'll keep it from happening to other teachers and other students.