Virtus Training

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rainy918

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I went to my training and I do my bulletins and take the situation very seriously.

Here is my question that I can’t seem to find an answer too…
I have a class of wonderful children… it is their first year in PSR and I am trying to make it an enjoyable experience, so they are not miserable and want to come back and live in Christ!!

I have one little girl… she wrote me a note…
in it she just said that i was a god teacher and that she loved me and it was fun to be in my class. She asked me to please please write back.

I want to write her back so that she feels like the lines of communication are open to me… but I am wondering if this would be viewed as inappropriate! I don’t want anything to jeopardize the Church, or me, or the PSR or anything.

I did give her letter to me to the DRE and she just said it was sweet. I didn’t ask her if I could write back… it didn’t occur to me that maybe I couldn’t until later. I have a message into my DRE, but want to make sure to write this little girl back before the next class …

Just wanted some opinions from here.

Thanks
 
One of the big principals expounded by VIRTUS is that you avoid having a one-on-one relationship with a student. I think you were wise to show the letter to your DRE.

It sounds like you are the only teacher in the class. (Do you have an aid?) I think the answer to your problem is to send a reply, but not just from yourself. If you have a co-teacher or an aid, then make the letter from both of you. Let your DRE know what you are doing and why. If you don’t have anyone else in your classroom then maybe you can make the reply from yourself and the DRE.

You would be setting a good precedent for your Parish School of Religion.
 
rainy918 said:
I went to my training and I do my bulletins and take the situation very seriously.

Here is my question that I can’t seem to find an answer too…
I have a class of wonderful children… it is their first year in PSR and I am trying to make it an enjoyable experience, so they are not miserable and want to come back and live in Christ!!

I have one little girl… she wrote me a note…
in it she just said that i was a god teacher and that she loved me and it was fun to be in my class. She asked me to please please write back.

I want to write her back so that she feels like the lines of communication are open to me… but I am wondering if this would be viewed as inappropriate! I don’t want anything to jeopardize the Church, or me, or the PSR or anything.

I did give her letter to me to the DRE and she just said it was sweet. I didn’t ask her if I could write back… it didn’t occur to me that maybe I couldn’t until later. I have a message into my DRE, but want to make sure to write this little girl back before the next class …

Just wanted some opinions from here.

Thanks
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You probably want to let your DRE know that you wrote back. I would also make sure that the DRE has a copy of all correspondence, both the girl’s and yours. As long as your correspondence is open (ie others know that you are writing and what you are writing) and non-suggestive, you should be fine.

I would also suggest that you let the girl’s parents know what is going on in case they have a problem with it.

The key is to be open and not do anything in secret.

Peace

Tim
 
Thank you for those suggestions!

I am the only teacher… we can barely get enough teachers in our parish, let alone aides.

The teacher that is next door to me might quit, so I might inherit 14 more kids!

I will definitely show my DRE everything…
I hesitate making the letter from both of us because I don’t want the girl to feel funny about sharing things if she thinks that I am going to run off and “tell on her”. You and I both know that that isn’t the case but I don’t want her to feel badly about doing something so sweet.

I love the suggestion of just showing the DRE… that makes it seem simple and innocent, as it is.
 
oh… by the way…

does anyone have any scripture that I can put into the note beside the one where Jesus says let the children come to me…

I am trying to find something to put in there for her about being a good student or following Jesus or being a good friend…

🙂
 
rainy918 said:
oh… by the way…

does anyone have any scripture that I can put into the note beside the one where Jesus says let the children come to me…

I am trying to find something to put in there for her about being a good student or following Jesus or being a good friend…

🙂
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Try the Beatitudes 🙂
 
sure write back to her and explain about the mountain of life…experience…that you are right near the top…and she is near the bottom and therefor should listen to you…since you are near the top you can see longer and farther then she can …she can only see whats near her …PC and latest fads etc…while you have been there,done that…no one is so tall as one bending over to help a little child to find the path to God!..Nino
 
rainy918 said:
I went to my training and I do my bulletins and take the situation very seriously.

Here is my question that I can’t seem to find an answer too…
I have a class of wonderful children… it is their first year in PSR and I am trying to make it an enjoyable experience, so they are not miserable and want to come back and live in Christ!!

I have one little girl… she wrote me a note…
in it she just said that i was a god teacher and that she loved me and it was fun to be in my class. She asked me to please please write back.

I want to write her back so that she feels like the lines of communication are open to me… but I am wondering if this would be viewed as inappropriate! I don’t want anything to jeopardize the Church, or me, or the PSR or anything.

I did give her letter to me to the DRE and she just said it was sweet. I didn’t ask her if I could write back… it didn’t occur to me that maybe I couldn’t until later. I have a message into my DRE, but want to make sure to write this little girl back before the next class …

Just wanted some opinions from here.

Thanks
Click to expand...
We are all a bit paranoid these days. I would call the parent(s) and ask them if you could write her back and let the DRE know that the parents approved it. (if they do)
 
It isn’t that simple.

The parents don’t speak English… and I don’t speak their language…
 
rainy918 said:
It isn’t that simple.

The parents don’t speak English… and I don’t speak their language…
Click to expand...
I would then be careful that something is not misinterpreted. There does need to be a balance. We do need to reasonably protect children. But also we don’t want to go so far as to place everyone in plactic bubbles, so as to have no human contact. Children need to be able to learn to develop right relationships with adults, while protecting them from wrong relationships. The parents are the key
 
you can respond in many ways, first by verbally thanking her for her note, you can return the children’s assignments with a personal note on each, valentines is coming up, you can make “friend-tines” in class, or make one yourself for each child. The idea is to strike the balance between treating each child as an individual and not being exclusive in your attention.
 
Ok… I did a little of everything. I wrote the little girl back and made sure that the DRE read the note. I also handed it to her in front of her mom and said to the mom… “She writes me the sweetest notes in class… I wrote her back tonight.” The mom just smiled.

I also gave all the kids a little valentine with a bible passage on it, so that it didn’t seem as if she were the only one getting a note.

Thank you for all the suggestions… and for grounding me. 🙂
 
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