A Right Carve Up

[Jeanied]

Oh Flo - what a situation. I am so glad she saved you the seeds and I hope they produce a huge pumpkin patch next year.
I can understand how the teacher made a big mistake though, it is tricky to get things right when you are inexperienced ( heck, I still make mistakes many decades later!)
I hope the teacher can get them to grow their own next year - with a good few extra plants to make sure they had enough! It was a good idea but badly handled.

[Two_Sheds]

Can we give the woman a chance? Has nobody else ever made a mistake? Confronted with a shortage of pumpkins and a class of eager children, she quite possibly just did her best.
Probably the pumpkins were all just put on a table and she didn't know who'd brought one in (asking the kids wouldn't help: half of them don't know what they had for lunch half an hour ago).

She made a mistake. Nobody died.

[taff]

I expect she won't do it again though

[bearded bloke]

Just as well she was not in charge of the gym class can you imagine the kids that remembered/could be bothered to bring it,throwing their kit in a pile,then the one's who "won" the "lucky dip" randomly choosing items to wear

Sorry but I now have an image of Billy Bunter trying to fit into Betty Boo's shorts & vise-versa

Nope not one iota of sympathy here,those that took the pumpkins should have carved them & those that did not (for what ever reason) should have been appointed a different task,maybe given some crayons & a sheet of paper & asked to design a Halloween costume

[Pumpkin Becki]

I love that your little Golden Girl saved you seeds, Auntie Florrie. That's the sweetest thing, and shows what a lovely child she is . Maybe you can grow them together next year, then something good will come out of her recent life lesson.

[julesapple]

I was pondering last night in the bath.....if the teacher had been as collected as your wee GD, then she might have averted some hurt feelings by collecting a small amount of seeds for each child to dry out and plant next Spring. I'm quite sure she'd have quickly found a printable sheet of instructions on t'interweb to go with the seeds.

It says great things that, in the midst of upset, and feeling hurt herself, your little granddaughter kept her head. Which is more than can be said of her young teacher - and I hope she's recovered her equilibrium too by now, can't have been her best week.....

Jules

[Florence Fennel]

Good place to ponder Jules. The only worry I have is that my GD said the teacher had hardly spoken to her on Friday. Mmm we'll see.

[julesapple]

Sulking. Great quality for a primary school teacher. I hope she pulls herself together, this young woman, or she might well be out of a job. Did the woman expect that her actions would not cause upset? You have to ponder these things (and the fact that I have yet to finish wallpapering my bathroom with pre-war maps) in bath because they are quite so mind-boggling.

Keep us posted,

Jules

[lizzylemon]

Pleased that the situation finally got sorted. such a shame it had to get that far though. your gd sounds like a lovely little girl and you have every reason to be proud of your daughter too.

i hope the teacher finds her feet - my sister is now in her second year as a teacher but i remember how nervous she used to be. And on reflection, i wonder if this new lady went into a blind panic and thought that the fairest thing would be to put everyone names in a hat. A kind of no favouritism thing, which at 1st glance seems like the right thing to do (unless you have a room of children).

Try not to be too sensitive or read too much into her behavour - she probably would have given her right arm not to go back to that class room and face those children again, so she might be a bit standoffish, especially to those that she probably feels like she let down most. most people dont know how to handle embarrassment very well.

[petal]

Can we give the woman a chance? Has nobody else ever made a mistake? Confronted with a shortage of pumpkins and a class of eager children, she quite possibly just did her best.
Probably the pumpkins were all just put on a table and she didn't know who'd brought one in (asking the kids wouldn't help: half of them don't know what they had for lunch half an hour ago).

She made a mistake. Nobody died.

I'll second this- would you fancy trying to teach a class of 30 little kids? newly qualified teachers are usually supported in decision making- she/he was probably told what to do- so don't shoot the 'messenger'!

[julesapple]

I guess you do have to wonder, if the teacher herself was new, did she not have any experienced LSAs with her who knew the class? And, I suppose, whom she should have asked, or they should have volunteered, advice.

As I said before, she has probably learned a valuable lesson. But even though some may harbour a sneaking sympathy for her inexperience and newness, this doesn't help those children who will probably take this away as an abiding primary school memory and who now have a distrust of their new teacher. Sympathy or not she has some ground to recover and I wish her well in doing so. Possibly she will take this away as an abiding memory and it will spur her on to being a better teacher all through her career.

Jules

[Florence Fennel]

Can we give the woman a chance? Has nobody else ever made a mistake? Confronted with a shortage of pumpkins and a class of eager children, she quite possibly just did her best.
Probably the pumpkins were all just put on a table and she didn't know who'd brought one in (asking the kids wouldn't help: half of them don't know what they had for lunch half an hour ago).

She made a mistake. Nobody died.

I'll second this- would you fancy trying to teach a class of 30 little kids? newly qualified teachers are usually supported in decision making- she/he was probably told what to do- so don't shoot the 'messenger'!

I don't want the teacher punished, I just hope she learns from what was a nasty experience for my granddaughter and four other nine-year olds.

[Potstubsdustbins]

If I as a new gas engineer came to your house, serviced your boiler, left a gas escape and it caused an explosion. Would you feel sorry for me I doubt it very much!!!!!

Colin

[di]

If I as a new gas engineer came to your house, serviced your boiler, left a gas escape and it caused an explosion. Would you feel sorry for me I doubt it very much!!!!!

Colin

I guess as a gas engineer you have very thorough training and there's a right way and wrong way no middle ground?
Teachers,yes have thorough training but guidelines aren't the same as one way or another...and with so much emphasis put on Equal Opportunities(quite right too) I can understand how difficult it is for a new teacher.
I agree with the majority here and think she got it wrong and feel for all the kiddies that took their pumpkins in and didn't get to carve them but I also feel for the teacher...I'm sure she would love to go back to that day with hindsight and would probably have worked it much differently.

[bearded bloke]

.... with so much emphasis put on Equal Opportunities(quite right too) ....
..I'm sure she would love to go back to that day with hindsight and would probably have worked it much differently.

Sorry I'm confused ...... Equal Opportunities ....??????

With regard to your second point,yes hindsight is 20/20 vision,but I can clearly remember my mum telling me (more than once)....

A fool learns from his own mistakes,a wise man from the mistakes of others,although I suppose in these enlightened days you could change the gender in line with equal opportunities.