Six and Stressed at School

Megan is an optimistic kid and enjoys life.  So when Megan began expressing worry about 1st grade and her ability to learn to read, my concern was peaked. She began complaining about headaches and stomachaches and was visiting the nurse pretty frequently. At first I figured that this was due to her teacher being pregnant and subs coming in periodically, then transitioning to a long term sub. It would take time for anyone to adjust to a new teacher, but Megan's stress seemed to be getting worse instead of better as time went on. When I talked to Megan she had 2 main worries- social interactions with other 1st graders and not being able to learn. I was really worried about Megan and was glad it was American Education Week and I was visiting the classroom.

It all made sense to me when I observed the class. There was no classroom management, and even though they kids are pretty good it was chaos. I doubt if any of the kids were learning anything. I wasn't impressed with her handle on the lessons either but the constant movement, talking and interruptions made focusing on the instruction almost impossible.

Megan was complaining about not being able to hear and after what I witnessed I was not surprised. I already had a conference scheduled for the upcoming Monday, so I contacted the sub and asked for the guidance counselor and someone from the administration to attend. The meeting with them went really well. I felt listened to, no one was dismissive or defensive, and they came up with steps to make changes in the classroom immediately. My part was to then come back to observe after 2 weeks time.

I went in and I was really glad to see that the long term sub was using more classroom management tools. It wasn't great but it was better. This visit allowed me to see more of the instruction and bluntly, it was horrible. Jim and I talked it over and we decided to ask to have Megan moved to a different class. Megan is still anxious and although the social aspect of her stress has gotten much better, she is upset about not learning. She wants to do well and she wants to understand things and I am grateful that she is aware enough to realize that she is missing things by no fault of her own.

I am awaiting a response from the school, and I am praying that changes can be made quickly.