Shocking Story: 8 Y/o Gets an "Award" from Teacher for Most Homework Excuses.

I think it is funny! My 8 year old son loves a good sense of humor...he thinks that's funny too. It sounds like that teacher has a good sense of humor.

i think it's pretty mean. and really funny.
:)
no, it shouldn't have been done. but i also think all this 'shock' is overblown. who doesn't get exasperated at people who have a gajillion excuses for not doing what they're supposed to do?
khairete
S.

Not very nice. I would need to know the context though. Sometimes teachers do have to stretch things so everyone gets an "award". We used to have to earn awards, not get them. Just like long ago only the winning team got a trophy. Now they don't even officially keep score.

Sorry, but I was talking to a mom I work with and we both had the same idea.
Why is the mom bringing even MORE attention to the fact that her child didn't get her homework turned in.

It's the mom that should be ashamed.

Maybe it was meant "tongue in cheek" if the girl truly has come up with every excuse in the book over her homework. I've raised a couple of kids and have friends who are teachers and I've heard some real dillies.
Some of them have required quite a bit of creativity on the child's behalf.
I don't know that I would have gone to the media over it.

Just my opinion.

The wrong person received the award, the mom should have got it.

Sorry but the whole story begs the question how far do schools have to go to make a parent aware there is an issue.

Think about what the whole story tells us. There was an issue all year that this child was turning in homework late. Mom apparently took no responsibility. They put her in an after school program so she could work on her homework. Still mom accepts no responsibility. The child received this award. Again mom accepted no responsibility instead she goes to the media to attack the school.

If this was about the child what mom would go running to the media so that now not only does the class know about the award but the whole country does. That is clearly about the mom and her inability to accept responsibility for her child's failure. I feel sorry for the child because the only lesson they learned was don't accept responsibility, it is always someone else's fault.

All My Great Excuses

by Kenn Nesbitt

I started on my homework,
but my pen ran out of ink…
My hamster ate my homework…
My computer’s on the blink…
I tripped and dropped my homework
in the soup my mom was cooking…
My brother flushed it down the toilet
when I wasn’t looking…
My mother ran my homework
through the washer and the dryer…
An airplane crashed into our house…
My homework caught on fire…
Tornadoes blew my notes away…
Volcanoes rocked our town…
My books were taken hostage
by an evil killer clown…
Some aliens abducted me…
I had a shark attack…
A pirate swiped my homework
and refused to give it back…
I worked on these excuses
so darned long my teacher said,
“I think you’ll find it’s easier
to do the work instead.”

If that were my child, I would have first asked why she got the certificate for not having homework, as in "Why have you not been turning in your homework?". Not saying it's right or wrong. Am I shocked? Not so much. And I won't be shocked when this mother gets her fifteen minutes of fame on all the talk shows, either. Yes, let's reward this woman with money and tv time. (BTW that last statement was in total sarcasm)
Something tells me there's more to this story, as there usually is in the media. Like perhaps notes had been sent home to the mother that precious little Cassandra didn't give to her so that she wouldn't get into trouble, etc.

Ha! I actually kinda like the idea.

So, the mom who wasn't ensuring that her kid's homework was done is now pissed off that her child received a joke award about it? Shouldn't be upset that the homework wasn't done/turned in & focus on fixing that?

Her attention is in the wrong place. Maybe she should focus on being proactive in her child's school work and not trying to get her 15 minutes of fame. This is what's wrong with people nowadays.

As far as it being embarrassing for the kid, her classmates most likely already knew of her homework issues, and little Cassie can thank her mother for making her issues nationally known. You know what, though? I bet you that she starts doing her homework/turning it on time.

If my child came home with that award, I would take it in the spirit it was meant and laugh it off.

Of course, I plan on teaching my child to actually complete and turn in her homework on time, not come up with excuses for not having it... ;)

I would be shocked if she cameh ome with that award becuase I would have made sure she was doing her homework in the first place!

The Mom basically showed her complete lack of interest in her child -1st in that she was unaware that her daughter was not getting her homework done at home, 2nd in that she apparently never speaks to her daughters teacher and 3 that she so into get her 15 minutes of fame that she just advertised the award to the world...

I am guessing that the teachers have a relationship with the kids that lets them do this... no where did it say the daughter was upset by it...

i'd be mortified and make D*** sure she did her homework from now on!

okay maybe it's a bit over the top ("unprofessional" comes to mind) but if it's true, well...............?

what can they really say? and i agree that the mom is an idiot for making a huge drama out of it...just makes her look even worse.

Has anyone considered that **maybe** the girl was doing her homework, but was forgetting it or losing it? She got an "award" for "Most Excuses for Not Having Homework". On the news clip the little girl had a folder of papers she was going through. She and her mom claimed that to be all her completed homework. So, maybe she was doing it, but turning it in late. Or she was having to miss recess and redo it at school.

My initial perspective on this was that it was out of line because I was thinking of it as the teacher putting the girl on the spot for not doing well in school. Now I think it was more along the lines of "Cassie's a great student, but she never turns in her homework".
I still don't think it was the best way to address the issue because I wouldn't want my kids to to think it was funny/a joke that they weren't doing what they are required to do. If left uncorrected, bad habits like that now are setting her up for much bigger issues in school, college and life.

Anyway, today this "award" just doesn't seem as harsh as it did yesterday. We don't know the true context of the classroom awards. I don't think 8 years old is too young to understand the "joke". If the girl was upset maybe it's because she really wanted some other silly award or maybe she went along with her mom's vibe.

The mom claims the principal blew her off, but maybe the principal said "I'll check into it" and then he/she came back and said they didn't find anything wrong so the mom got more upset. She should have asked for a meeting to discuss this instead of getting the media involved. I hope she's committed to her child's success next year no matter what school she sends her to.

"If the shoe fits...."

I'm not really clear if this was just one of many joke rewards handed out (funny) or if this child really did have homework issues and was put on the spot (not funny). At this moment, I feel like I don't yet have enough information to form an educated opinion.

The mom is contradictory, which just adds to the confusion. She apparently said that she 'was not aware her daughter had a problem with homework, and that the girl had been enrolled in an after-school homework assistance program.'

How can you say you're not aware that your kid needs help with homework, while in the same breath say she's been formally getting help for homework?!

I would look at myself and figure out why I was such a lame mother that I allowed my 8-year-old to not have her homework done on a regular basis.

Not very nice of an adult to ridicule a child like that. :(

I think the Mom in this story just won the "Owha Tajer Kiam" award.

When I read it yesterday, I thought my kid should've gotten it. My kid would've laughed. My kid not turning in his homework has been a year long battle. We don't know what the other awards were. Maybe they were the 'Loudest Belcher', or 'Wackiest Shoes' or 'Wildest Hairdo'. We don't know.

I do think that 'Catastrophe Award' is a bit harsh. Although, it could be something that the class would've understood. Maybe they had just been reading Ramona or Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Those types of extreme terms are in those books and mindsets.

Anyway, I think the humor of it would've gone over better if it was the
'Best Procrastinator'
'Most Creative'
'Most Imaginative'

Maybe it was the teacher's way of making sure that every kid got an award at the end of the year and this was as creative (poorly worded) as she could get.

I think the mom over-reacted, to be honest, and if she were so concerned with embarrassing her daughter and her daughter's hurt feelings then she shouldn't have taken this to the media. Idiot.

I think it's much more likely that the award was misinterpreted. The girl handed in every (or nearly) homework assignment, so the award looks like it was an opposite award. Hence the joke. A child that young might miss the joke, but you'd think the mother would get it and try to ease it over with her child instead of making it a much bigger deal than it is by going to the media over it.

Even if this is a valid thing to be upset about, and it's not something simple like I believe it is, it should not have been handled the way the mother is handling it. Privately and without the drama is the way to go with things like this FOR THE CHILD'S SAKE. If I were her daughter I would be horrified that the entire world now knows about it.

EDIT: The little girl shows off a folder stuffed with all of her finished homework throughout the school year.

This was already posted this morning. Most of us thought it wasnt the best idea in the world for that age group. Scroll back a few pages, you'll find the other post.

sometimes the Truth Hurts, no need to be upset.....maybe the girl will do better from now on & the mom too with making sure her daughter completes her homework. Perhaps mom should also get an award for not making sure her daughter completes her homework

http://www.mamapedia.com/questions/6727113235386007553

Beat ya to it this am .... awww man Laurie beat ME to this response too!

At first glance, this seems like poor judgment on the teacher/school's part and potentially damaging, but...on second inspection, I think it all really does come down to that kid and that teacher and what exactly happened all year with the homework.
Was the kid really precocious and always coming up with something wild to "get away" with not following the rules for everyone else? Did the parents get notified about the situation and do nothing? If that's the case, then the teacher's award is simply an acknowledgement to a rather intelligent child and unsupportive parents that the teacher was not a dunce all year, and noticed that this behavior was so unique it deserved special attention.
However, if the child turned no homework all year as a result of not being capable of organizing or completing it and with no parental assistance (which, I have to say, I think I'd still be making sure my kid is doing their homework and turning it in at 8 years of age), then it's an unfair stigma to the child, who may feel bad.

If the child were older, it wouldn't bother me. But kids don't really "get" sarcasm until they're at least 10 years old, and sarcastic adults around children tend to border on abusive, in my opinion. I had my kids in gymnastics one place I lived, and one of the instructors was absolutely wonderful - I told him that when he applied to college (he couldn't afford to go and was working for several years to save the money) that I would write him a recommendation letter for his dream of being an elementary ed teacher, if he wanted me to - he was THAT great with kids. But the other instructor was what I NOW call a dickhead. (Sorry...) I heard his crappy remarks over and over until I "broke" and told him that I was sick of hearing how much he didn't like his job in front of the kids. He looked shocked and said he loved his job and I told him that the kind of sarcasm he dishes out on little kids, it sure didn't sound like it. From then on, he shut his mouth around me, though I'm sure he said plenty in front of the kids. (I doubt he listened to my admonition - people like that don't care whether it's wrong, to be honest.)

I don't know if this teacher you are talking about is the same kind of person or not, but I don't think I'd let that pass. Children this age generally don't understand the sarcasm, but it does affect them. It makes them feel bad inside, a little sick. When they get older, if they've heard stuff like this enough, they start to act sarcastic too.

This is probably how I would have handled it. I would have a talk with the teacher and maybe calmly torn her "award" into pieces in front of her. Then tell her that a caring instructor would sit a student down and have a heart-to-heart talk about the homework excuse problem. If she wants to be sarcastic with students, she needs to move to a higher grade where kids are old enough to understand her "jokes". I wouldn't be mean or catty. But tearing that award up in front of her would speak volumes.

Dawn