As teachers we've always been taught to advocate for our students. If we notice a change in behavior, physical changes, or "red flags" with our students, we're required to report these things, AKA "advocate" for our students.
I have experienced a situation where I was put in a tough situation where a professional perception of me was stated, which was not true. I wrestled with the idea of what I should do...do I pretend that nothing had happened and continue to teach like normal, or do I confront the person to clarify that what had been said was incorrect? I was obviously bothered by this situation since what was said was untrue, so of course I needed to act!
What I have learned is that we're professionally responsible to advocate for our students, but it is equally important to advocate for yourself because if you don't, who will?
I completely agree. I had a similar situation happen to me. I ended up caling the parents and discussing the importance of what was really going on, such as why the student feels the need to act out against their teacher. The parents were very understanding and we started to work on the real problem, which was the student's lack of academic confidence.
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