He Called Out A Teacher For Failing To Help Their Struggling Student, And Now The School District Is Unhappy With Him
This 30-year-old man has a job as a substitute teacher, and over the last few weeks, he has filled in for a teacher who encountered a family emergency.
He took over this teacher’s fourth-grade class, composed of 9 to 10-year-olds. One girl in the class named Lydia caught his attention, as it appeared to him that she was treated as a lost cause.
Everyone told him Lydia was just a terrible child. He picked up on her behavior problems, but he thought she was being mislabeled in a way that was not fair to her.
On the first day that he took over this class, he was told “carpet time” was how the students began their morning.
All the students would sit reading on the carpet for this chunk of time. There was a huge carpet on the floor of the classroom with a tinier rug in the middle of it.
“Lydia wanted to sit on the rug instead of the carpet, and when she didn’t get her way, she threw herself on the floor, flailing and crying,” he explained.
“I picked her up, placed her in a chair, and told her, “You’re going to stay here until you stop.” When she got up, I physically placed her back in the chair.”
“This repeated multiple times over the first few days—probably around 30 times in the first three days. Over time, though, her tantrums became less frequent because she realized that throwing a fit wouldn’t change the outcome.”
But on his 8th day of class, Lydia melted down and started yelling about how she didn’t want to sit in the chair because it was ugly.
Julia van der Westhuysen/peopleimages.com – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual person
He told Lydia she didn’t have a choice and seated her there. Lydia pinched him so hard it made him bleed, but he remained calm.
He cleaned himself off, and Lydia stopped blowing up after that day.
As he spent more time with Lydia, it dawned on him that she couldn’t actually read. While Lydia could cite the letters in the alphabet and write out her name, that was the extent of her literacy.
Lydia pitched a fit to get out of doing work since she wasn’t able to convey to him that she was struggling.
After he got to the bottom of Lydia’s outbursts, he was able to redirect her energy and help her gain some confidence in the classroom.
When he let the class and the normal teacher took over once more, Lydia’s behavior was improved, but she still required some help.
The teacher remarked that people told her Lydia was on her best behavior for him, and she wanted to know his secret. Right after the teacher returned, Lydia resorted to her tantrums.
“I explained the chair method and shared that Lydia likely acted out because she couldn’t read,” he said.
“The teacher responded with this email: “If we just give her what she wants, the behavior stops immediately. I think we would have noticed if she didn’t know how to read. It’s very hard dealing with her constantly, and making her sit on a chair doesn’t accomplish anything. It just makes her feel alone and left out.”
“I replied: “You have two options. You can either fail her, as you’re doing now and let her grow up unable to read. This will limit her chances of getting a job, teach her that her behavior is acceptable, and possibly lead her to end up homeless, in prison, or even dead because illiteracy will severely impact her life. Or you can discipline her, teach her to read, and help her avoid these outcomes.”
The teacher never bothered replying to him, but the school district complained to him about how he spoke to her.
He’s left wondering if it was wrong to call this teacher out for failing Lydia.
What do you think?
You can read the original post below.
Pictured above is a screenshot of the original post for you to read
Sign up for Chip Chick’s newsletter and get stories like this delivered to your inbox.
More About:Relationships
Read This Next
