Rx: Teacher TO Teacher

Abstract

Last week one of the teachers sent this note down to my room. “Are you doing anything with the g/c/t kids fifth period? Can I keep them?” I analyzed this note as one more knock against the pull-out program from a teacher who recently had made no secret of her negative feelings toward the g/c/t program. And, unfortunately, she's not the only one in the school who feels this way. Sometimes I feel I invest more time and energy negotiating with the sending teachers than I do teaching my students. What can I do to ease the tension and turn things around in my building?

Gather any group of g/c/t teachers together, eavesdrop on their conversation, and chances are the troubled relationship between g/c/t and regular classroom teachers will be discussed. We've all heard stories of g/c/t students being punished for missing classwork during time spent in pull-out programs.

Name-calling is not uncommon, either. One sending teacher dismissed g/c/t students with a sarcastic send off. “Okay, wifty gifties, it's time for you to go get gifted.” Students may be dismissed late or not at all. In addition, the g/c/t teacher often receives her fair share of snide comments, remarks that broadcast anger, resentment, and even confusion over exactly what goes on in the g/c/t program.