Hi! I am a future teacher.. I was wondering what annoys you the most about your son or daughter's teacher?

Question

** I want to know so I can prepare myself for working with my future students' parents : )

Answer 1

it depends about the students... are the high schoolers or elementary or middle? because they all are different. if you are in a elem school then you must have a lot of patience and with dealing with parents you must control your temper even when the parents dont understand something or start arguing with you.

Answer 2

There are a few things that will really annoy parents:

Nitpicking: as already mentioned, don't call home over a missing pencil or spilled milk.
Zero tolerance: if your school institutes a zero tolerance policy about things like Tylenol or painkillers, you might kindly overlook it if an incident occurs. It would be best to tell the kid not to bring them back, because the school policy is stupid like that. Nothing will enfuriate a parent more than a kid who has been idiotically sent to the alternative learning center simply because he/she was resourceful (likely a she, because guys don't have purses to carry Tylenol).
Playing favorites: if you think your kids can't tell that you're playing favorites, you're dead wrong, and your class will suffer for it. Parents will not appreciate hearing their kids complain about their teachers, and you'll probably generate a bad reputation with at least a few parents.
Teaching strictly by the book: I don't think you'll irritate too many parents with this, but I know it annoyed my mom more than anything. I had a teacher way back in second grade who taught to the state test (the TAAS test). There was another teacher who we knew from church, and she said she covered TAAS material on one day out of the week, and the rest of the time, they kept going.
Disorganization: if you've got a meeting with a parent, be there. If there is an event coming up, have an itinerary well in advance. Parents are on busy schedules, and so you can't expect them to turn on a dime. Also in this category, if you lose a child's paper/grade, expect a lot of flak. Have a filing system.

Anyhow, these are all I can think of for the moment. I may be a student (college level, now), but I still know what annoys parents. I was listening for all of those years =)

Answer 3

As a teacher I can tell you that dealing with parents can be very frustrating. You will have parents who will support you and others who just don't care. Make sure that you are not too knitpicky and choose your battles wisely - this was mentioned in a previous post. Also, no matter how bad the child is, mention any postive qualities in the student. Offer suggestions and be ready for anything. I had a parent who after I said all these glowing things about their child, said "Well, then why did she get a B?" Also, always try and make parental contact whenever a students grades have gone south.

Answer 4

I am only 20, so I don't have a son or daughter, but I would like to answer it anyway. 1st- It is really cool of you to ask this question, it seems that most teachers don't care. The thing that bothers me most is when it seems that when you try so hard to do a good job, and get a good grade and the teacher only recognizes the jocks, or the preps. Students may not show it, but we like to be reccognized for a job well done, not matter what the grade. Hope that helps.:)

Answer 5

Ok I have no kids but here are some things that annoyed me about teachers! specially HS teachers.
They pick favorite students and often fail others just for the simple reazon that the teaher doesn't like them. That's so UNFAIR!
Also TEACH because other teachers just go there and talk and students end up learning nothing and passing w/ a 90. Like WTH.
Grade students based on their class work and test not on how much they like you as a teacher!
Ask if everyone understood the material because some teachers just go on talking and talking and they NEVER ask if everyone understood the material.
Ok yeah that's pretty much all I can think for now.
Good luck teaching!

Answer 6

I have 4 kids, ranging from 11 to 17. ALL of them have had a problem at one time or another. I go in and talk to the teacher and they are soooo nice to me and my kids tell me they are not like that with them. I think my kids may elaborate some, but not totally.

Another is when my kid needs help. I'm terrible in math. My 8th grader doesn't get it either. Her teacher will not TEACH her. I can't. He will not spend any extra time.

Another thing is, when they start acting holier than thou! This one teacher this year, makes anyone who forgets to get thier book from the back at the beginning of class do push up's in front of the class untill he says to stop. I told my daughter to NOT ever do them and insist to call me right away for any of that crap.

Another teacher will give anyone who has to use the restroom a detention. They can go, but they automatically get one. Ummmm, when you have to pay the bill for UTI, then you can do that. I understand some kids may abuse the bathroom thing, but only punish those that deserve it. What if it's a girl and they are on thier period!

For elementary, I HATE tons of homework! They always say, it shouldn't ever take longer than 20 minutes! Bull! I'v got 4 kids, a husband that works evening, supper and dishes, animals and a house. And 5 to 51/2 hours from the time they get home. You can't spend 2 or 3 hours on homework. It's impossible.

And the list goes on.......contact me if you need more...

Just try to realize these kids have a life outside of school. They can't spend forever on homework. And be honest with the kids and they will be honest with you. My kids do have teachers they adore.

Answer 7

I'm in junior high. So, what annoys me the most is a boring lecture. My social studies teacher talks on and on. Don't get me wrong, she's very educated and intelligent, but it's just that it gets boring. Whenever she talks, I would zone out when she says just a few words. I'm surprised I even passed this subject. Try to make lessons fun. I have law days on fridays in my school and the social studies teacher does this. Last year in sixth grade, my social studies teacher made lessons fun and the law days fun as well with these mock trials. But in seventh grade, it's a big drag. I felt like I was gonna fall asleep whenever she would talk about history. I know I should be listening, but I just can't focused due to too many words. Bring in interesting videos for the students to watch on your subject.

My french teacher is a little scary. She's picky on the supplies. We just HAVE to use a pen and we just HAVE to have a binder. If we don't she goes ballistic. She screams her head off at the student, or students who don't come prepare to class. But she also seems to have split personalities. One second, she's all angry and crazy, and the next, she's all friendly, calm, and nice. So, my advice is to not freak the students out. It might be a good way to control them, but they'll talk crap behind your back. Some called her a "witch". Just don't freak them out or scare them. Try to talk calmly to them, and not scream like a lunatic. Ok, I know it's hard, but you gotta have patience as a teacher.

I know I said it's boring when the teacher goes on and on about something, but you should at least teacher the students. My science teacher doesn't really teach us anything. She just gives us notes to copy, read them aloud to us, and give us homework on the topic. She doesn't teach us, and she makes us do projects that we don't get guidelines or rubrics on. You should teach the students on your subject, but don't bore them to death.

Hope this was helpful! This was from personal experience... obviously.

Hope your future career as a teacher turns out great!

Answer 8

They really don't listen sometimes. When talking to a parent I would advise you to write a memo to yourself to follow through with what you talk to the parent about. When my son broke his left arm, and he is left handed, I talk to the counselor about him being unable to keep up she stated she would make sure he had someone available to help him in finishing his work she never did. He was in cast for 5 months and never once did a teacher call or write he was having trouble in class, but his grades did reflect it. One teacher went so far as to say he didn't care if my son broke the hand that he wrote with he expected his hand writing to be legible and him to do it himself. This same teacher told my kid that he thought my son was pretending it was worse than it was to get attention. My son had surgery on that arm and was at a specialist because of the break. So don't become an uncaring and unsympathetic teacher either, remember to keep your mind open to what a parent tells you.

Answer 9

My grandson is in the 4th grade and we are being frustrated by one of his teachers. We believe in following the rules and working within the system. However, we need to know what the rules are. This teacher keeps changing the rules and making new ones as the year progresses. We don't find out until after the fact. It is driving us crazy. I went to the "meet the teacher" night, the "open house" and two teacher conferences and I still haven't gotten a written copy of her classroom rules and guidelines.

Answer 10

First of all, it's so good of you to ask this question. I'm also aspiring to be a teacher and these answers are helping me too.

My mom always wants to go to P/T conferences to know what is being taught in the class. She doesn't need to hear over and over how well I'm doing, she knows that. She wants to know the subject matter I'm actually learning. So if you have excellent students, don't constantly compliment them to their parents. (But don't skimp out on them either, I love hearing them when she comes home!)

Answer 11

Well, what annoys me most about my teachers [I'm 16] is when they don't give help when needed and when they give pointless assignments. Try to make learning fun when you become a teacher [especially if you're going to teach high school] because students lose interest very easily. Have fun, and respect your students and they will most likely respect you back.