So here it goes.... my son was in pre-k last year to this May. I told his teacher last August when he started school that he is left handed. She said most kids at this age don't know what hand they use and we'll try to make him use his right hand. This made me mad. I held my tounge and said to myself we'll see.His daddy, my husband is left handed. I told her this also. Anyway my son continue to used his left hand. This August she switched schools and decided to teach kindergarten and got my son again in class again. She didn't say anything about him til the parent/teacher conference. She said she knows he use his left hand but been trying to make him use his right but he keeps putting his pencil back in his left hand. She told us she just gave up but she can't help him because it's too hard for her to teach him to trace or write like that because she's right handed. She gave him a "N" (needs improvement) on his report card which makes it out around a C or D. I understand it's hard because I'm right handed also but I do "try" to help my son. I told my husband he's going to have to help and teach him. I'm just wondering if a "N" was to harsh. I mean he's 5!!! Thoughts??
updated: thanks for the replies. My husband and I agree that he will help him a little more and I'm going to practice a little every night with him on tracing and writing letters. He's a smart boy. The only reason I told his teacher he was left handed that way she knew, not because i thought it was a "handicap". Yes, I know I probably freak out a little about a "N". I just want the best for him. I told my son you write with your left hand because that is the one that works better for you and don't let anyone tell you to write with your right hand. I know I shouldn't held my tongue during the first time last year and believe me I should of said something. My son loves her and never had a problem with her. I have her phone number she gave me so I'll keep up to date on his writing and see if he's improving in that area. If we have this problem later on I'll get him switch into another class. Thanks again!! :)
If she's "giving up" on teaching a left handed child to write, she should give up her job! Children come with challenges and this is a small one. If she can't handle this, I wouldn't trust her to be in charge of my child's education. I would ask to switch him to a teacher who rises to challenges, not gives up on them. She doesn't set a good example.
An "N" is not a C or a D, it means needs improvement. So he needs improvement in his penmanship I assume. It's not a grade though. Here grades don't start unitl 3rd grade.
I also have never heard of a teacher trying to make a child use the opposite hand to write, very weird!
WHAT THE HELL??!?!?! That's NO teacher!!
My oldest son is ambidextrous - **I** am ambidextrous - my best friend is left-handed....
I would have a talk with the principal - AND the teacher - and demand he be moved because he's NOT going to be TAUGHT by this "teacher" as she's already stated she "gave up" and is NOT up for the task of teaching your son.
While I wouldn't get hung up on the "N" - it's a statement of progress - not a failing grade - I would find a teacher that works FOR your son, NOT against him!!
I would be pissed if my child was FORCED to use his right hand because that's what the teacher does or because that's what "everybody" does. You made a point to tell the teacher he's left-handed. She made a point to try and change him.
Good luck!
You are your son's advocate when it comes to his teacher. You should not have held your tongue in pre k when told that they were making him use his right hand. And teaching a left handed person to trace letters is no different than teaching a right handed person to trace letters. Let him shift his paper however is comfortable for him and he'll be fine.
In my household 4 out of 6 are left handed. I'm right handed. The tips I can pass along are to make sure your son has hard graphite in his pencil since standard #2 can smudge. And when he starts writing with a pen pick up fine (its marked on the packaging) so that the ink dried the minute it hits the paper and there's no smudging.
As far as the grade? A n isn't a c or d. Its a n. He's in k. A n on his report card in k isn't going to keep him from going to Yale. Let it be and just remember to advocate for your son and his needs. And seriously what teacher is too stupid to figure out how to teach a child? Not like he's the only left handed person in the world.
Poor kid. Of course his handwriting needs improvement, she spent all her time trying to make him switch instead of letting him practice with his dominant hand!
It's really simply about practice at this age. I would just let it go in a general sense, and if you can find ways to get him to practice his writing at home in a fun way, that would be great (just don't make a big deal about it in a way that makes him hate writing).
(and btw, I'm a lefty with a lefty in preschool)
An N is not a grade. It's simply an evaluation of progress, not a punishment. DOES he need improvement? It sounds like he does, for whatever reason. You're right, it's only kindergarten. So why are you so offended? You've got a lot of years of fighting with teachers ahead of you if this wigs you out so much.
That's absurd! I would have already gone to the principal if she switched my child's hand. I have two lefties and I am right handed. I'm not sure where she thought this would help him.
i'm pretty surprised that in this day and age any teacher would have an issue with a southpaw. but i also doubt that the N is due simply to that. what else is going on?
and i'm equally surprised that a savvy mom would be mad AND bite her tongue when it comes to her kid. if you're okay with it, quit kvetching. if you ARE genuinely angry that she's trying to force your kid to change something so natural for him (as i would be) then don't bite your tongue. how is she supposed to know you're not pleased if you're too meek to speak up and advocate for your own child?
you don't have to be a cow about it. just state simply and straightforwardly 'angus is left-handed and we do not want him forced to be right-handed. i'm sorry you don't feel you are capable of teaching him write. we'll handle that at home. but please don't make him switch hands.'
khairete
S.
My daughter is left dominate foot and hand. She's the only lefty in her kindergarten class and the family. Her teacher is awesome with working with this. If my child's teacher kept trying to force her to use her other hand I would call fora mmeeting with the principal and ask for him to be switched to a different class
An N is not a C or a D. It is simply what it is, "Needs Improvement". I wouldn't read anything more into it than that. Most kids in Kindergarten do "Need Improvement". They stopped letter grading the early years so that there wouldn't be the stigma attached to getting a bad grade, but of course people keep attaching a stigma. Please don't make N a bad thing. It is not harsh, it is simply to let you know where he needs practice.
As for making him use his right hand as opposed to his left, it does sound kind of old school. Perhaps she is just not convinced that is his dominant hand? I did recently see a case of the teacher trying to get a child to use his left hand, even though mom insists he is right handed. He couldn't hold the pencil or write naturally with his right, so the teacher is trying the left to see if it works better for him.
So sorry you are dealing with this. Kindergarten is the time to foster a love of learning- and this teacher is doing anything but. You are clearly a concerned mom- and I think it's time to go to the principal and demand a new teacher. Should you live in a district with one class, demand an aide who can assist your son. He is entitled to reasonable accommodations and your teacher has told you she can't teach him- to do the primary thing you learn in kindy.
I can't believe in 2014 teachers aren't well versed in teaching writing to children who write with either hand- but this teacher needs a new job. Don't worry about the "N", use this as an opportunity to get your son the teaching he deserves. Don't let him know what is going on- keep supporting his learning and left handedness. The teacher deserves an "F."
- righty in a family of lefties
Verrucas said it well. For the next few years his report cards and not "Grade Cards" but "Progress Reports." His handwriting probably does "Need Improvement." It doesn't matter that part of the reason his handwriting is not quite up to par is that his teacher doesn't know how to help him. The fact remains that his handwriting is not where it should be, ideally.
His teacher does sound old school. My mother is left-handed and does everything with her left hand except use scissors. She was forced from a young age to cut with her right hand. There are still some who don't realize that being legit-handed is not a choice.
What can you do? Can your husband work with him a bit? Can the teacher give you dome extra practice sheets?
This is annoying, but it is not the end of the world. Your son is going to have teachers that he doesn't click with. That's part of life, and there are life lessons to be gained. Help him work on his skills and move on. Yes the teacher is wrong, but whatever. Keep supporting him at home, and he'll be fine.
It's kindergarten, ya know? Needs improvement only means he needs to improve. If you want to make it more than that then it will be you making him feel bad, not the teacher.
My whole family sans my youngest are right handed lefties. My youngest I just didn't care at that point. Still even the youngest does a lot right handed she just writes left. Best of both worlds if you ask me. Don't have to deal with those odd scissors.
Oh, yeah, kind of tired so I forgot to add, what and odd teacher. With my youngest her preschool teacher told me she seems to prefer writing with her left, do you care? Nope. Never was it anything like I must make this child ambidextrous. Oh, but you do know that is what she is trying to do, right?
Kay,
If this has all happened the way you state here, and there is no misinterpretation of what the teacher said, then I don't think the "N" on your son's progress report is the problem. Most kids in kindergarten are just learning to write, so an "N" is not the end of the world.
Rather, I see the teacher as the biggest problem. I think this teacher is highly inappropriate for trying to force your son to be right-handed. And to make matters worse, she's trying to do it again for a second year in a row.
Where and when was she educated and trained? This sounds like something my grandmother from the old country (who, if still alive, would be 117) would say---and used to say to me whenever she saw me using my left hand!
It's almost hard to believe that in this day and age a teacher would ever say that she can't help or teach a student to make his letters because she, herself, is right-handed. That's an outlandish statement.
I have many friends who are teachers. One of my best friends is a kindergarten teacher. She's right-handed and has taught plenty of left-handed students these past 18 years. It's going on 1:00 in the morning here, so I'm not going to call and ask her, but I feel entirely confident that she would say this teacher is out of line and needs some retraining, at the very least.
In a very nice, but non-negotiable tone, I would let this teacher know your son is left-handed and that you expect no further attempts to change him in this regard. I would also state my expectation that he will be given proper classroom instruction on making his letters. You should also tell her that you and your husband will also continue to work with him practicing his letters at home.
I am not in favor of getting administration involved when things can be settled appropriately with the teacher, but if this "educator" continues to try and change him and say she can't teach your son because he's a lefty and she is not, then that is a problem that requires administrative action for a proper resolution.
Wishing you a good outcome with this.
J. F.
My son and I write with both hands but it is more difficult to teach a lefty to write when you are a righty, however as a teacher she should be up for the challenge. Part of what she needs to teach her class is how to write.
I would be discussing this first with the teacher and then with the principle. My main concern would be a teaching not having confidence to teach a student and not seemingly being willing to learn how to get the job done.
As for your son, practice makes perfect. Help him but make it fun for him. Get him work books so he can trace the letters and then learn how to write them. The more he practices the better he will get at the skill.
I would have intervened last year, going to the principal or director, the moment she dismissed my child's left-handed preference and stated she was going to try to make him a righty. That attitude and practice is antiquated and damaging to a child's physical development and self-esteem.
You didn't step in last year, but now you HAVE TO advocate for your child this year. If this was about anything other than left-handed preference and the teacher stated to you that "she can't help him because it's too hard for her to teach him" would you accept that? What if she was talking about reading or math or any other subject? Learning to write is crucial and your child's teacher has told you she considers him unteachable and has quit trying. That is ABHORANT!!
Go straight to the principal or director and immediately demand they address this issue properly and that the teacher's attitude of giving up on teaching children who are different and, in her mind difficult, is noted and addressed.
I have a home daycare where I teach preschool and work on pre-writing skills. I would never and have never forced a hand choice among my two year olds, let alone a kindergartener. I accommodate all hand preferences and have taught myself ways to use my left hand to help the children who choose to use their left over their right. My kindergartener is also a lefty, has been from early on. I've mentioned it to all of her teachers just as an FYI and if ANYONE, at any point in her education from preschool to now had said they would "fix" her hand preference, I would have let them know that that was not the appropriate way to teach and have taken it to their superior.
This teacher should know better than this, especially know better than to openly give up on a child. Shame on her. Be an advocate for your child, Mama, and take this issue to her superior immediately.
The 'grade' in kindergarten does not matter at all. It will NOT follow him on his college applications. However, it is completely wrong for the teacher to try to change your son's dominant hand. I am left handed and attempts to switch handedness in schools went out when my grandmother was a child. That was early LAST century. You need to tell the teacher that she will STOP this immediately and speak with the principal as well. All kindergartners have hand writing that needs improvement.
If you did not think it was a problem why did you feel the need to tell her that he was left handed?
Evidently, you do feel that it is a handicap.
So basically the teacher has admitted she is inadequate for the task of teaching your child to write and HE gets an 'N' because she is lacking.
Apparently SHE isn't interested in learning how to teach left handed students and she's the one that 'Needs improvement'.
(Yeah we had one of those sorts of teachers when my son was in 1st grade - we survived the year with her but could not wait to get away from her.)
http://handedness.org/action/leftwrite.html
http://www.education.com/magazine/article/Left_Left_Left_...
The UK has made a push in getting teachers trained in how to teach to left handed kids, so they have a lot of articles about it:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/107029...
http://www.anythingleft-handed.co.uk/kids_help.html
http://www.lefthandersday.com/teachers/left-handed-children
Additional:
People are missing the point.
In a way the 'N' doesn't matter but in another way it does.
She gave him an 'N' - he needs improvement - but SHE is not going to help him improve - she gave up.
The only way she wants to help him is to force him to use his right hand - she refuses to teach him to write using his left hand.
Yes he needs help but his teacher is not going to teach him.
Like she's saying "Yes I'm a teacher but I'm not going to teach your child because he's different from what I'm use to so I'll grade him and judge him but it's up to you to do my job in this area.".
Maybe I don't understand this but since when does a teacher get to pick and choose what she'll teach and who she'll teach it to?
A good teacher should have several teaching methods under her belt and if one method of reaching the students doesn't work, then find another method that does work.
That one 1st grade teacher my son had would read from the text book - and the whole class would look at her like she's speaking Greek and not understand what she wanted.
Her method for getting it across? Read it again LOUDER.
Every parent that had a kid in that classroom might as well have home schooled their child for that year.
It was a small private school and there was only one 1st grade teacher and she was best friends with the principal.
