Diary of a First Year Kindergarten Teacher: 15th Entry

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TRIGGER WARNING: Contains sensitive material about sexual assault.
While this is a work of fiction, situations like those depicted in this story do occur in classrooms. I believe it is essential for these stories to be told.  You can't cure a disease without knowing the symptoms first. 

Friday, September 20
Dear Diary,

I stayed late today to tidy up the classroom (It seems that if I don't sweep the floors, vacuum the carpet, wash the tables, and wipe down the bathroom it won't get done.) and get my lesson materials ready for Monday. 

         
Since I was unable to complete the individual behavior charts yesterday for Devon Wilson, Ramona Johnson and Christopher Matthews, I did them this afternoon.

            
Sadly, I also had to write a pink slip for one of my students. The behavior was much too serious to leave it undocumented.

So in order to cover all of my bases, I was left with only one option. The child needs help and a consistent paper trail is one way to make sure he gets it.

An incident that I had never conceived of occurred in my classroom this morning. 

A sexual assault. 

A sexual assault in kindergarten!  

           
I was completely blindsided by this. The boy who acted out the harmful behavior was, Tyrone Whiting, one of my better-behaved boys.

Thankfully, Miss Mary was present for the incident, so I had a witness as to how I handled the situation.

            
After a reading of, "No, David!" the children were directed to the tables to draw a picture of David and write the title as best they could.

During this time period, Miss Mary was working with a small group of students who needed support to complete the task. 

         
I was rotating among the tables to offer assistance as needed. I was in the middle of correcting Christopher Matthews for eating his crayons, when I heard a commotion at the table behind me.               

When I turned to face the students seated there, Katie Thomas, Tyrone and Cyrus Jackson were all staring, wide-eyed, at me. I knew immediately that something was wrong.

         
"What's going on?" I asked.

            
Katie told me Tyrone had touched her inappropriately while Cyrus nodded in agreement.

Naturally, everyone in the class stopped what they were doing to look at the trio. My mind started spinning as I tried to process what I had just heard. I knew that I had to act quickly before I lost control of the situation. 

           
I told the children to flip their papers over and draw whatever they wanted on the back. I asked Miss Mary to keep the paper flowing for those who finished their drawings.

After that, I separated Tyrone and Katie and called down to the office to report what had happened.

"Mrs. Conroy will be up in a minute," Ms. Monroe had said.

Mrs. Conroy is the school counselor.

By the time Mrs. Conroy entered my classroom, I had taken three separate statements from Katie, Tyrone and Cyrus about the incident.

Although Tyrone admitted to touching Katie inappropriately, he said he'd touched her by accident. 

           
In contrast, Katie and Cyrus stated that they both had told Tyrone to stop what he was doing, and he didn't until Cyrus threatened to tell the teacher.             

            
When Mrs. Conroy arrived we spoke briefly about what had taken place. She advised me to write a pink slip and an intervention form for Tyrone; she would handle the rest. After that, she left with Katie and Tyrone.

            
Katie's father, Mr. Thomas, had a few angry words for me at dismissal. "Where were you while this was happening? Weren't you paying attention? What kind of a teacher let's this happen?"

            
Katie had gone home shortly after the incident with Tyrone, but her father had returned to pick up his other children. 

           
I explained to Mr. Thomas that, I wished I had become aware of what was going on with Katie sooner, but I couldn't see what was happening because it had occurred under the table and was out of my line of sight. 

         
Mr. Thomas didn't seem too happy with my defense, and as a parent, I guess I can understand that. However, there are 25 children in my classroom and I'm dealing with a lot of difficult behaviors.

            
After I left work at 6:00, I called my husband and told him what had happened with my students.

To help lift my spirits, he took me out to dinner. At the restaurant, we sat at the bar, and although I don't usually drink, I had a few glasses of sangria and got a little tipsy.

Have you ever dealt with a similar situation?

10 Reasons Why Teachers Shouldn't Carry Guns In Schools

            

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 As a teacher, I must weigh in on the gun debate gripping our nation. I believe in the Second Amendment to our Constitution.

I agree that people should be able to protect themselves and their families from predators, however, I also believe we need to set limitations on the caliber of weapons that end up on our streets. 

            
Like all Americans, teachers want children to be safe. Our profession demands it and we demand it of ourselves.

Teachers spend hours training, collaborating, and soul-searching the best practices for student safety everyday.

At my former school, we conducted fire drills, lock downs, and shelter in place drills every month.

Prior to employment, every teacher must pass a Child Abuse Clearance, a Criminal Background Check, and an FBI Clearance.

Every year, countless teachers must contact social services to remove students from abusive and neglectful homes.

            
I do not believe that teachers should bear the responsibility of carrying guns to school. 

  
Here's why:

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1.  Workload    

Teachers are already overworked. Due to poor parenting, teachers bear a heavy burden disciplining students. (Discipline means to teach.)

Not only do they have to instruct students on the basic subjects, many students have to be taught how to behave properly in public, how to use their manners, how tocontrol their anger and aggression, and how to achieve basic human interaction.

2. Scrutiny

Teachers are under a microscope. Everyone has an opinion on teachers.

Politicians are constantly blaming teachers and teacher's unions for the state of education in our country. Placing guns in our hands would only make the pressure on us worse. 
          
The public, the politicians MUST listen to what educators are saying.

We haven't received smaller classroom sizes or more funding and the consequences have been devastating.

If we say it's not a good idea to arm teachers with guns, people should listen.

3. Student Voice   

Students all across the country are crying out for change. We must listen to them!

If the passed two weeks are any indication, the students want gun reform, and that does not include teachers carrying guns to school.

4. Funding    

 Let's be real! How is the government going to fund a program to arm teachers? The cost would be astronomical. 

Many public schools already go without essential supplies like paper, textbooks, computers, and teachers.

What else will need to be cut to achieve arming teachers? What will happen if politicians choose to raise taxes to fund this program?

            
There are approximately 3.1 million teachers in the United States. President Trump has suggested arming the elite 10-20% of this population with guns.

Let's break this down. It's about $400.00 for a low-end handgun, times that by roughly 700,000 educators, and you get $280,000,000.00--and that's without proper training.

5. Expectations

Do we require bank tellers to protect a bank, in addition to their regular duties? Do we expect regular airport personnel to be armed for our safety? 

No, we hire trained security guards to do this because it is a difficult and demanding job.

6.  Overpowering

I hate to break it to you America, but there are many more Nicholas Cruz's sitting in our classrooms right now. 

What would happen if one of these students overpowered a teacher armed with a gun? It could easily happen.

Remember, a teacher is alone, in the classroom, with at least 30 students, in some cases.

A student like Nicholas Cruz would delight in knowing teachers were carrying weapons. It might be seen as a game or a challenge to disarm one of these teachers.

7.  Teacher Error

Teaching is a highly stressful job. So stressful in fact, that the life expectancy rate for teachers has dropped.

What happens when a teacher, who has spent at least one school year in a volatile classroom without support, misinterprets a student's body language and shoots the way police officers have done over the years?

8. Disgruntled

What if another educator, teaching under the same circumstances, is having a mental breakdown?

9. Mission Statement

Teachers are public servants not body guards. Like doctors, a teacher's mission is to nurture and support. 

Drawing a gun, under chaos, and shooting a moving target accurately, is not in our nature, let alone our job description.

10. Other Options

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One of the most important lessons learned in school is to compromise.

The politicians, the NRA, and the citizens of this country need to stop ripping each other apart and engage in meaningful dialogue that focuses on long-term solutions, not belittling a different point of view.

How do you feel about teachers carrying guns in schools?

Violence In The Classroom

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Violence in the classroom, those two words should not be in the same sentence, let alone be allowed to occur in a school setting. Unfortunately, it does occur, every single day in classrooms across the country.  

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Each morning parents send their children to school expecting them to be educated by caring teachers in a safe and secure classroom. 

While some parents may be nervous entrusting their child to an adult stranger, they have peace of mind knowing that teachers go through a vetting process that includes a criminal background check, a child abuse clearance, and an FBI clearance.

Yes, teachers and administrators are approved to be in the classroom, but what about the students? In my 17-year career as a public school teacher, I witnessed a lot of violence enacted by children in my classroom. So much so, I had to leave the profession due to stress and mental fatigue.

What grade did I teach? The answer might surprise you. It wasn't middle school or high school. The last 3 1/2 years of my career I taught Kindergarten. That's right, Kindergarten. 30 students in a regular education setting, where both diagnosed and undiagnosed socially/emotionally disturbed children were placed.

I was expected to teach all of these students and achieve measurable results through differentiated instruction, small and large group instruction, and following the IEP (Individualized Education Plan) goals of special needs children. A tall order when classrooms are overcrowded and your district has cut funding for vital programs and essential school personnel.

Things happened in my classroom you had to see to believe. One school year there was three sexual assaults in my classroom: children assaulting children. That same year, one of the students who'd committed an assault, tried to stab two classmates with a pair of scissors he'd brought in from home.

I've had chairs thrown at me and tables pushed into me. I've been punched, kicked, bitten, slapped, pinched, spat on, and pulled to the floor. I've had students empty an entire classroom library of books, throwing the books and book bins at their classmates.

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I've had students push classmates down the stairs, stab each other with pencils, flip over shelves, jump and tackle students while they sat on the carpet, and down right brawl during instruction. 

One student liked to open and slam the door while I taught, another would sometimes scream whenever I opened my mouth to speak, or just scream for the sake of screaming. One student threw chairs at his classmates for fun! He laughed while he did it.

On more than one occasion, I had to remove students from the classroom due to violent outbursts by their peers. Children can't learn when a classmate is throwing chairs at them or climbing on cubbies while throwing pencil boxes and lunch bags at them.

When I couldn't control the severe and dangerous behaviors I was penalized. My principal gave me poor scores on my observations. To some this may sound unbelievable.

Photo courtesy of: Hanna Kovalchuk; courtesy of: Pixabay

How could a teacher be held accountable for the actions of children, who should be learning social norms at home, and receiving the medical support they need from their parents? I asked myself that question everyday until I resigned from my position.

This is the first school year that I'm not teaching. I had hoped that the teacher who took over my classroom would have a better experience than I had, but according to one employee who works there, things are still the same. This cycle of educational neglect needs to be undone.

What more has to happen before we as a society take collective responsibility for our nation's educational future? Many of us are so busy pointing fingers at those with differing points of view that we've lost sight of the truth: our nation's children are losing out on their inalienable right to a free and fair public education that is rigorous and utilizes the latest research-based methods.

There has been a strong push to increase the literacy skills of students. Our students need to compete in an ever-evolving global economy. While I agree that being literate is essential to a productive society, I would argue that nurturing our youngest citizens mental health should come first.   

 

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It is a moral imperative that we safeguard the welfare our future. Parents and educators alike must make their voices heard for this essential need. Parents have to work together with teachers, petitioning leaders and volunteering at schools to fill the void left behind by so many cutbacks. 

     
It is a daunting task, but together those of us who believe in our children can achieve what some have forgotten, that all children regardless of race, religion, or gender are our only hope. Let's give them the tools they need to succeed.