[vocalstudent]

Hi I'm new- I have been subbing since Sept. and I am credentialed in music and english- just got this May 2009.

Anyway, today I was doing a 3rd grade class. The teacher was on campus in meetings all day.

The day was going okay, a bit chatty, but I used the recess trick you all had on here and the aide in the class loved it! A bunch of the other teachers used it after I told them at lunch. They even put book or movie as incentives so that they could still do those things.

Then an African American girl came up to me crying. She said this boy had told her "at least I'm not black like you". It was about lunch so I had the boy stay in the room with the aid while I walked the other kids to lunch. Then i asked to boy to tell me what happened. He admitted he said this because he didn't like how she was doing her work. I took him to the principal who took it from there.

The teacher saw him in the office and said I did the right thing. Was just shocked to have this at an elementary level.

They learn it from their parents and/or influences their parents allow into their lives.

[vocalstudent]

I don't see that kind of behavior in most classes I substitute for. The principal said it was the first time an incident of that nature had happened to her knowledge.

[viktoriag]

You absolutely did the right thing.

That kind of remark really can't go unaddressed. If you were the one who heard it, unfortunately, you were the one who had to act on it. The only other option is to tell the teacher and let her handle it.

I was once in a class where one of the students made a disturbing remark, and the guidance counselor happened to come in. I told her about it, and she took the girl out, and the next thing I knew, they were sending the kid home, and she had major conferencing sessions for days afterwards!

I felt guilty, because the regular teacher was in the building and I could have told her, but with the guidance counselor sticking her head in, and with the nature of the remark, I thought I should probably say something. Other students knew about it, and were likely to go home and repeat it to their parents.

[yoohoo]

good for you...a lot of times the subs let these little slights go...often times it's about somebody taking somebody's pencil or saying something bad like "you're a doo doo" at which point I talk to the perpetrator and remind the class that we are all to respect each other (this only works in elem). as for MS the outbursts are very few and far between

That's awful. Good that you sent him to the Principal. I wonder what the parents' reaction was.

I work in a suburban town that has more African American students than White students in the public schools. The only time I've seen a racial incident is when a 2nd grade boy called another boy the n-word. It was at Recess and I told him I'd have to send him to the Office once we got inside. I called the Office and told them I was sending him down. Overall, there don't seem to be many racial issues at all, which is great.