Reply #23: I googled and found it!! [View All]

[teacher gal]

Googled 'music teacher puts two children in hospital' and found a link right at the top that says:

Betty Allen dies at 82; mezzo-soprano and music teacher - Los ...

Seriously, Stoppaddling, if this really occurred, it's terrible.

But getting back to your original post about a 1st grader being yelled at to "shut up"....I confess that one time, in twelve years of teaching special needs children, exhausted and at my wits end, I told a particularly dear but supremely challenging 2nd grade child to SHUT UP. I regretted it immediately and I regretted it deeply. I apologized to the entire class as well as the child, saying what I did was wrong and asking him to forgive me. He hugged me. This has been mere months ago. When I was transferred to another school in November due to the budget crisis, he drew a picture and wrote a letter which I will forever treasure. I truly miss him.

Teachers are not angels. They are human and children need us to admit it when we are wrong. It was a good lesson for me and a good lesson for them. And children are so wonderfully forgiving. Can you imagine what this world would be like if we grownups were as forgiving as little children are?