Class Monitor

Reply to Class Monitor on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 00:54:49 GMT

MomDana — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 00:54:49 GMT

I am in total agreement. :evil:

Somehow i beginning to think school teachers are partially responsible for pushing students into tuition centres and mind training classes. Why?

Here is my opinion: parents begin to think their children are under performer based on FT's feedback and tests results. What about FT and ST teaching and class room mgt skills? Don't we also assess them too if the child don't do well?

Pushing the kids to mind training class like mind edges, mindchamps, mindmax etc to restructure their mind for classroom conditions and tuition classes to revise what should have been thought in class by these teachers...its seem so absurd !!!! :siao:

In the 70s and early 80s, there were no needs for tuition unless the child has a real needs (learning disbility) or when their parents can afford. Teachers in this era have the compassion :love: and the genuine interest to help children in their learning. Not to mention their pay is so misery. I am from this era and I love all my teachers. They would stay back extra time to tuition us. Help us to form group study to ignite the passionate in learning etc, teaches us the techniques to study well and even home visits to problem students looking for ways to help them.

But nowaday, teachers are paid well until most of them i observed can drive a car to school. Some even sport car. What are we tax payers paying for many times i ask myself this question? When the students don't do well they just feedback to parents to seek external help (tuition) and if cannot manage the \"hyper\" child feedback to parents to seek external help for learning disability..etc

Frankly, all i can do is to \"air\" my disappointments in the singapore school system here...sigh...

Reply to Class Monitor on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 14:09:52 GMT

Faun — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 14:09:52 GMT

Hi MomDana,

It’s a matter of luck what kind of FT or ST (subj teachers) our kids will get every year. The only thing we can do is to pray and pray in Dec for good ones to come into our kids lives.

Good teachers are needle in a haystack. The way they recruit teachers is less stringent now. Only 1 interview with a panel of 3 interviewers. I guess the attrition rate is so high they are losing their QC.

As for rude teachers, I always find it ironical that the teachers don’t respect the children and always expect them to respect the teachers in return. They don’t walk the talk about values.

Once, dd school principal ask the students at assembly how they find the YOG. One boy answered ‘Boring’. It was not the politically correct answer she wants to hear and he got punished to write an essay about the purpose of YOG. What a great way to train the kid not to be truthful to his feelings and to always say what adults want to hear. And… they want them to have honesty, integrity, etc Aye…

Reply to Class Monitor on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 00:13:43 GMT

MomDana — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 00:13:43 GMT

Thanks all for your feedbacks and encouragements.

What i am most upset was the FT's insensitive remarks :x . Not so much about the monitor position. Does she treat all her students like that? Shut up and keep quiet? Is that what NIE been training teachers? :slapshead:

No wonder nowaday students lack the proper respects for the elders and peers alike. They are exposed to such insensitive environment. :scared:

Not to worry i won't pursue the matters further but i will be keeping a close eye on her (and other teachers) to make my feedback to the school. I felt the role of the teacher is important to inspire and not thumbing down students.

My DS 1st year FT also like that, but last year P2 FT was so much kinder and very firm and caring :grphug: . Look like DS is going for another rough ride this year. Now i understand why some time he came back looking \"blank\". Asked him what he learned in school? Answer don't know most of the time. :scratchhead:

Look like i have to look out for more interesting stuffs \"outside of school\" for him if school is not feeding him developmental needs. Can't imagine they are going to spend the next 10 years in school and they keep meeting FTs like her! I bet their inspiration in learning will go down the drains.. . . :imdrowning:

Reply to Class Monitor on Tue, 29 Mar 2011 17:49:42 GMT

Faun — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 17:49:42 GMT

Dear MomDana,

Sorry to hear about that bad encounter. You son could have caught her at the wrong time. Nevertheless, that was a terribly rude reaction from the FT.

Frankly, I don’t see much about roles like prefect, monitor, etc. I think your son can practice leadership in his everyday interaction with his friends. There are many leaders who don’t get a chance to take up such roles but they are able to garner their friends support when they want to. In this case, not by authority but by sheer leadership. My ds had been monitor, prefect before and he hated it. At P6, his teacher kicked him out of the prefect board and he was so so very happy, because then he could go play soccer with his friends during recess without having to be sneaky. His teacher thought he was not a good leader because he couldn’t get his class to shut up when necessary. However, in his CCA he was so well respected by his friends and they look up to him in every competition for morale support and guidance.

So, play on your son’s strength, help him find his place to be a leader. It need not necessarily be being a monitor. I think it is more fun being a leader in a CCA than class monitor or prefect. Imagine, having to keep
telling people to keep quiet, not to run, etc. It’s a tiresome battle.

Reply to Class Monitor on Tue, 29 Mar 2011 17:16:22 GMT

buds — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 17:16:22 GMT

This was one reason why more of us here discouraged

you from approaching the teacher in the first place...

Most times teachers do indeed have a certain criteria
and requirements of what makes a good leader or
monitor and in cases like your son's school where
there are more opportunities to eventually get to
be one via rotation, the chance would come
sooner or later in my opinion. My girls school
in fact, both their old school & the current
one practise the same. According to them..
everyone gets a chance to be a leader of
something.. This allows for all the
children to have a feel of a leadership
role whether or not it is a \"class
monitor\" role specifically.

Hope your child can spring back from this unfortunate
experience and gain his self-confidence again. :hugs:

From your post above, i can empathize how you must
have felt after hearing your child's feedback.

Meantime, i don't think the matter should be pushed
further with the teacher and at the same time you
may also console your child that he may have caught
the teacher at a bad time... like mebbe she was having
a bad day. He still has like 8mths more to go with this 1.. :snuggles:
JMHO.

Reply to Class Monitor on Tue, 29 Mar 2011 12:56:23 GMT

MomDana — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 12:56:23 GMT

:x with his Form teacher. She acted like an during the parent-teacher meeting but with the students.

Its been 2 weeks after Term 2, i casually asked DS what the status quo of the class monitorship. He replied there was no changes.

Today, he came home and shared with me what had happened. He said he picked up his :oops: courage and asked his FT. She told him to \"Shut up and keep quiet\" :!: :!: :!:

I told him it was ok (knowing his ego had been hurt ) and we will just move on from here. He told me even in future she asked him, he will not take up. I think he is marajok already.

But deep down inside me i am :x furious and offended by how this FT treated her students. DH & me TOTALLY loss faith in this FT

Reply to Class Monitor on Tue, 08 Mar 2011 06:21:58 GMT

MomDana — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 06:21:58 GMT

Hi all,

Thanks for the feedbacks !!!

Well, he is in P3 lower primary. So far last year he was a line leader, this year a seat or so called row leader collecting books or handout for his row. Well, that's about it.

He said he is interested to become a monitor and he was sure that he can do a better job than the current one. (Such confidence :lol:)

My hubby encouraged him to speak his intention to the Form Teacher but DS wants us to find out from the PTM if he stands a chance before he approaches his teacher.

So, after reading your feedbacks, i decide to share with his teacher his intention and let see how it goes from the PTM...

Thanks a zillions... :celebrate:

Reply to Class Monitor on Tue, 08 Mar 2011 05:52:54 GMT

auntieM — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 05:52:54 GMT

My DS's class uses the voting method.. ..so volunteering won't work..

Perhaps you can get your kid to speak to his teacher to find out more..

Reply to Class Monitor on Tue, 08 Mar 2011 00:12:17 GMT

wkong — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 00:12:17 GMT

Hi MomDana,

There are more than 1 option for your DS to be train being a leader. I know my DD who is in lower Primary is a Group Leader. Each group about 5-6 pupils. Her responsibilities are making sure her team members submitted their homework punctually, collect their homeworks and hand-in to teachers, making sure corrections are done on those folded pages etc. Each time there will be points given for the team to see at the end of each terms which team wins. So being a group leader, you need to ensure all these are being done and interact with different students.

Another way is being Prefect in the school, that can be a option to be train for leaderships too.

Just my 2 cents thought

Reply to Class Monitor on Mon, 07 Mar 2011 11:23:37 GMT

HappyFaye — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 11:23:37 GMT

How old is your boy? If your boy is in lower primary, then I think there is no harm to approach the teacher for help.

My DD1 cried for 3 months during her K1 when she was new to the school because the form teacher was very fierce, even though she loved and wanted to go to school everyday. I approached the teacher about my concern and asked if she could be appointed as monitress (termly chosen) or model student (monthly chosen) but the teacher replied blunctly that they have criteria for choose model students or monitor. I was upset but no choice, just continued to send my crying DD everyday to school. Till one day I could not take it anymore and I went straight to the Principal. The principal talked to my DD1. The next day, miracally, my DD1 stopped crying and she was selected twice as model student the following month and a few months down the road. Her confidence has since improved and no more crying! I felt bad for not bringing the issue up to the principal early enough.

So if you think that will help your boy, go ahead! Explain to the teacher your concerns and as mentioned by others in this thread, there are many leadership roles in the class nowadays. I believe that a good teacher will be able to fit your boy in any leadership role.

However, if your boy is in upper primary, then you may have to discuss with him if he is ready to be a leader. it is true that there is criteria set for leadership quality in the upper primary. If he is forced to be a leader which he is not comfortable, his peers may gossip or question about his leadership. It will not do him good.

HTH!

Reply to Class Monitor on Mon, 07 Mar 2011 07:34:07 GMT

teh_oh — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 07:34:07 GMT

Hi,

Does your son wants to be a monitor?
My child does and we encouraged him to raise up his hands when teacher asked for volunteers to help out in class. He is vocal and offers his assistance to teachers as and when the need arises. We encourage him to help out his weaker friends too and he was appointed study buddy last two years to the weaker students (he even received Thank-you notes from his ‘buddy’). When he lost out in his second term of monitoring job due to popularity vote (he lost by 2 votes), he took it in his stride and assist the appointed monitor in whichever way he can.
One does not need to be a monitor to hone leadership skill as he/she can start with being a good leader and offering help to classmates and teachers.
With his personality, my child is eventually appointed school prefect and he told me that his ‘goal’ is to continue to help his teachers and friends.

Reply to Class Monitor on Mon, 07 Mar 2011 07:31:22 GMT

sakura_2009 — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 07:31:22 GMT

Since you understood from your DS that the school rotates the appointment of class monitors, then he too will have a chance to be appointed, isn’t it? You can re-confirm with the teacher again during the PT meeting, and at the same time, check to see of there are other opportunities for your DS to be involved in activities that exposes him to some form of leadership skills. My DS is also the only child (similarly not much chance to mingle with cousins nor really have friends that he can hang out with). He has never been appointed as a prefect or class monitor before (I believed the teachers have their own set of criterias when selecting students for such positions) but he has been involved in other roles which gave him some form of ‘leadership’ training such as being the leader for some Maths program etc. Similarly, his classmates have also been given the same opportunities to be a ‘leader’ in some other projects. Do check with his form teacher on this during the meeting

Reply to Class Monitor on Mon, 07 Mar 2011 07:24:41 GMT

Flipper123 — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 07:24:41 GMT

You need to know whether he wants to be a monitor? If not, you may be interfering with his social life :lol:

Reply to Class Monitor on Mon, 07 Mar 2011 07:11:56 GMT

MMM — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 07:11:56 GMT

Personally, I feel that there is no harm talking to the teacher about it. I believed as a parent, we do things within our means to expose them and this is one of them. Nothing to feel shy/ embarrassed about. I would do it in the form of sharing with the teacher and if the teacher think it’s do-able then give the child the chance.

It’s good that kids are rotated in some school. In my kids’ school, they don’t. The same person holds the role for the entire year unless his performance is really bad and the teacher got to replace the child. The other bad part is that when they start the new year and kids harboring hopes of becoming a monitor, the teachers have tendancy to choose a student who was ex-monitor. So every year, they ended up feeling disappointed.

But this year, my P4 got lucky. When one of the monitor got "promoted" to prefect, her class teacher asked her to be monitress. It was like a dream come true for her. It’s really interesting to see the kids behaviour when they hold such posts. Are they playing favoritism to their friends, will they be impartial? Do they dare to stand up to their friends and say they are too noisy, etc… So it’s a good learning experience.

Reply to Class Monitor on Mon, 07 Mar 2011 07:06:29 GMT

buds — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 07:06:29 GMT

This is one inititative the child has to make on his own in my opinion.

It is not one where a parent should come in to initiate. The teachers'
opinions of the parent aside... the child should want the leadership
role as much too and not due to reasons of family background or
number of siblings in the family. I for one would rather not have
my girls be monitors if any of the tasks they have to do are to
always walk around carrying this and that and missing classes.

Here a joke over our dinner table sometime back which i've
shared in another thread.. just share again with you here.

DD1 : I get to be teacher's helper carrying books. I get to go to the
teacher's room ya know.. Do you get to do important stuff like me?

DD2 : Ya of course lah, more important than you even...
I get to carry balls! :idea:

They have aspired to be monitors since they started primary school
DD1 cos of peer pressure and DD2 from the stories jiejie shares with
her about the pride of getting to be one. However, for the wrong reasons
i would say... for if they want to be a monitor because they get to be in
charge, get to write names in the book (trigger-happy)! :lol:.. or because
they want to show off the shiny badge to others.. demean other classmates
who are not in leadership roles.. then i'd rather they not be monitors. All
the wrong reasons. So in P1, i asked if their class monitor was any good.
They both said the monitors were loud, bossy, choose their friends every
other day (one day friend you, another day don't friend you) and at times
the monitors use emotional blackmail on the friends.. like if you don't give
me your new eraser i don't friend you and i'll tell everyone not to friend u..

So, to cut story short.. like tankee and qms.. i believe if the child has got
what it takes to assume the role of monitor or any teacher's helpers they
will get it eventually. If they themselves want it, they will work hard for it
too... to get good grades.. to be on good terms with all the rest of the
classmates.. respect the teachers.. hand up work on time and with the
greatest effort put into the work as well.. help others when in need..
pay attention in class.. etc Climbing the ladder this way will be more
beneficial to the child in general for the child learns to build better peer
relationships and with figures of authority.. learns to be a better student..
learns to be at his or her best at all times. This way the child gets respected
where respect is earned and the nature of this built up character will make
him a leader anywhere the child goes now or later. So my take is do not
rush it.. the time for leadership will come for every child; especially since
in today's context of rotational leaders everyone gets a turn. If not
class monitors then, Mother Tongue monitors, or PE leaders or library
leaders.. (etc) .. many opportunities in my opinion.

My girls are monitors in their classs this year and i like to think that they
have been given enough training time to be better students in general &
learn from the past monitors to be fair ones, if not better. :love:

The plus is they also try their darnest best to achieve better in their studies
to keep up the form, if ya know what i mean.. :evil: Win-win situation! :celebrate:

Reply to Class Monitor on Mon, 07 Mar 2011 06:59:33 GMT

3kiddos — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 06:59:33 GMT

From my experience with P2 dd and P4 ds, these days there are many opportunities for just about everyone to have a chance to be a "leader" in some way or other, from various class monitors (PE, music, art, AV, and so on) to group leaders and assistant group leaders. Even my P2 dd, who is very very shy, and would really rather NOT be appointed anything was library monitor in P1 and is a group leader now in P2.

So I wouldn’t worry too much. I’m sure your son will have a chance.

Reply to Class Monitor on Mon, 07 Mar 2011 06:31:23 GMT

qms — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 06:31:23 GMT

What if all parents were to make the request? :scratchhead:

Teachers have their own criteria when they appoint monitors.

If your son gets selected to be a monitor, good for him. If not, you should encourage him to excel in his everyday life so as to enhance his chance of being selected as a monitor.

My two cents.

Reply to Class Monitor on Mon, 07 Mar 2011 06:16:03 GMT

tankee — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 06:16:03 GMT

IMO.

If your child wants to be the class monitor, then let him approach the teacher himself. This is the first step to be a leader. We should advise, encourage but never interfere.