Belman's The Elephant In The Playroom

452 Words2 Pages

Teachers are supposed to be advocates for their students, they are supposed to protect their students and they are supposed to do whatever they can to help their students learn. Reading the stories of teachers doing everything but that in this section of The Elephant in the Playroom was infuriating. These parents already have so much on their minds and all they want is what every parent wants for their child while they are at school, they want their child safe, happy and to get a good education. “I am my child’s advocate, and sometimes I will have to wage war for him, even if it gets bloody---because there is nothing so deeply gratifying as doing the right thing for your bright, limited, loving, apprehensive, wonderful child” (Belman, p.103). Parents are constantly fighting for their children and as teachers we need to make school one less war that needs to be fought. We need to listen to their own goals for their child and their own fears and we need to communicate in a way that the family can understand. The IFSP/IEP meetings are not about us, they are about the child and the family is who knows the child the very best so we need to be able to speak in a manner that respects that. …show more content…

This is not something that should be rare, there is no reason parents should have to worry that the one talking down to their child is the child’s own teacher. I think sometimes as teachers, we get so caught up in the chaos of the classroom we sometimes forget that the children are not trying to make us crazy, and they are not trying to make our jobs more difficult. They all want to learn and play, some just need more assistance in making that