What do I do when I don't like my child's teacher?

Happy New Year!

I want to cover this topic because now that my oldest is in 2nd grade, I've seen more and more parent teacher conflicts! We can all remember when we didn't like some of our elementary school teachers. But what happens when the parent is the one who doesn't get along with the teacher. Unfortunately, I've seen this one too many times and even parents putting in requests for certain teachers as young as Kindergarten so they don't have to deal with all those rumors that went around regarding certain teachers. So, what do we do?

If you can remember back, how many of you actually got taken out of your class because your parents didn't like the teacher. We'll not many of us. And, what I have found is that the principal and faculty tend to stick together. The best thing to do is try to work out your conflicts with the teacher directly. Going over his or her head to the principal doesn't really work well because the principal will then speak to the teacher who will then be upset.

Teachers really appreciate hearing directly from the parents especially when there is a problem. The more you work with the teacher and listen to what they have to say, the more you will find that everyone will be happy, especially your child. What child really wants to be pulled out of a class to go to a new one? Now a days, teachers even give their e-mail addresses and in some cases their home phone number to parents. Stay in touch with the teacher on a regular basis and get to know other parents by joining the PTA.

And most of all, don't take what the teacher says as negative critism of your child. They are just trying to help correct problems that your child may be having in class. Remember teachers have our children for most of the day starting first grade so we may not notice what the teacher notices. In fact, in most cases you will learn a lot from the teacher about your child's habits!!