We hear so much about bad teachers and bad schools on this forum, I thought I would share a story of a good teacher with an understanding of how to deal with first graders. When my son's class is done with their work, they have the option of reading on the carpet until everyone else finishes. Andrew had been complaining that he was tired of reading on the carpet - and it became somewhat apparent that it was because he spent the majority of the day doing that. I told him to discuss it politely and respectfully with his teacher. Apparently he did. She asked what he would rather do, and he said draw pictures. So she gave him a spiral notebook and said that he could draw pictures as long as he wrote a story to go along with it. Now he enjoys going to school again, his writing is improving, and he doesn't whine nearly so much about doing his reading at home. Thank goodness for flexible teachers!
