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Student Handbook
By peace | October 9, 2007
This whole stack of work was brought back from school by Clara. Her teacher, Ms Sarsivanni (not real name, name changed as of 9th May 2008…..) said this was their homework. When to hand in to her? “Don’t know. Teacher never say anything.” That was what I heard from Clara. Checked her student handbook, everyday, nothing was written about homework.
On the Teacher/Parents column of the student handbook, I had written a note, asking the teacher to call me. I reminded Clara twice when the teacher failed to call me, nor respond back to me in the student handbook. I gave up. This teacher, Ms Sarsivanni (not real name, name changed as of 9th May 2008…..) is incorrigible. She seems to lose control of the class. Her students seem to have no respect for her. Clara told me that Chua JuEr, one of the girl, had pour water babies into her pencil box. As a result, she was transferred to another class. She even scolded vulgar words to her.
I had passed her the Medical Certificate for Clara’s absence from school when she had sore eyes. Yet, she had asked Clara to come back to ask me for the name of the doctor, and telling me that written letter in future is not acceptable. Why can’t she give me a call or write in the student handbook — sometimes children convey the wrong message and I simply have so many questions unanswered.
I had not even seen this teacher before. How she looked like? But from the way she handled her class and the way she took things, being so irresponsible and ‘uncaring’, she is obviously not a good teacher. Children will talk about things they like and look forward to their class if they like the class. However, this was not so this year. Last year, everything was very well, but after a change of teacher too. Good teachers left.
It seems that sometimes people left because of ‘internal’ problem.
New principal takes over. New systems. Things were different from before. Is this coincidence or is this the teachers’ fault?
When I was teaching, I wrote down all the homework and things to bring and other important reminder on one side of the white board. This would not be erase off. For the whole day, when more work were given, they were added on the list. At the end of the day, I would go round to check that all the students had written down everything in their notebook (during those days, no student handbooks. By the time I left the school, the staff thought of printing student handbooks). By making sure that the students had written down all the work in their notebook, they have no excuse to say that they had forgotten. In doing so, I can also answer to parents’ queries when they asked about it. All this is a matter of time management and it is all a matter of shouldering responsibilities.
Well, it is coming to the end of the school term. Last week, the principal talked to the students about the matter of student handbooks and the weight of the school bags. But I see no changes at all. Teachers are not taking any steps at all. The students handbooks are still ‘empty’. How can I help my children? Can I possibly flip through all their books everyday? Can I possibly empty their bags just to check that they are not lying?
Student handbook, a compulsory booklist item, should be make full use of but it is not fully utilised. I hope that things would be better as soon as possible, though it is late now. I hope next year, this issues about teacher and parents communication can be improved. I hope to see that teachers are more responsible and caring towards their pupils.
