Teacher Condemned By A Parent For ‘Wasting Time’ On A Fun Classroom Activity — ‘I Demand An Apology’
Activities don't need to be outright "educational" to be valuable — especially for young minds.
Twinsterphoto / CanvaPro As kids grow and learn, their brains are being loaded with new information making the need for rest essential. Teachers are keenly aware of how essential brain breaks are during the school day to keep students happy, motivated, and productive — no matter their age.
However, one mom expressed her distaste for her son’s break time after learning his teacher did a “fun classroom activity” with her students. She sent a message — paraphrased by the teacher in a recent Reddit post on the “Teachers” forum.
As a reward for great test scores, this teacher asked her students to spend some class time naming her new puppy.
“Hello,” the mom wrote. “I was told you wasted my child’s valuable time in your class, forcing your students to name your pet. This is extremely inappropriate and irrelevant to his math class. I demand an apology is issued.”
This teacher couldn’t help but feel conflicted after receiving the blatantly rude message from a parent. Despite her initial feelings about it, she decided to get advice from her Reddit peers and asked for honest feedback on how to handle the situation.
“I need advice,” she admitted. “Do you think what I did was inappropriate? I’ve been very conflicted about it all day.”
This teacher was excited to reward her students for their hard work and give them a fun break from learning.
If you’re a teacher, you know it can be hard to keep students motivated especially in their adolescent years. Sometimes, some light-hearted bribery goes a long way. To get her students motivated to study, she suggested a unique prize for her classroom.
“Yesterday my class got to pick my newest puppy’s name,” she explained. “I told them that if their average test score rose at least 25 points, from 53 to a 78, I’d let them name him. And they did it, just barely — the average was 79.2.”
When the next class came around, she blocked off a short period of time to give her students their deserved break. In the end, amid suggestions like “Joe Biden and Skibidi Toilet,” they settled on the name “Steve Austin the German Shepherd.”
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“Everyone was happy,” she said. “Or so I thought.”
Despite her students’ excitement, one parent voiced her concern over the classroom activity calling it a ‘waste of time.’
After naming the pup, she felt like her entire classroom was in better spirits and they’d bonded over naming her dog together. As lighthearted, fun, and silly as it seemed, it was a step away from the traditional hustle and bustle of their academic school day.
Justifying the activity as a break is enough, but research also suggests that student-teacher relationships are just as important for the well-being of students. If this activity gave this teacher a chance to bond and build a connection with her students, they’re going to be better off for it, both socially and academically.
According to the American Psychological Association, “Those who have close, positive, and supportive relationships with their teachers will attain higher levels of achievement than those students with more conflict in their classroom.”
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“This is the kind of parent who would be angry if their child did poorly on a test… assuming it’s your fault. But, when you motivate them and they actually do better, that’s still your fault,” one commenter said, justifying the teacher’s innocent activity. “It’s literally just entitlement… they couldn’t do your job.”
With known evidence on the importance of breaks and the success this teacher had with her students’ test scores, it seems completely unreasonable to give this parent’s opinion any validity. It’s the teacher’s job to motivate her students to do their best, and if that means bribery with a cute puppy, so be it.
Zayda Slabbekoorn is a news and entertainment writer at YourTango focusing on pop culture analysis and human interest stories.