Letter

This letter is from Anne to the parents of a kid that needed to be contacted about their kid’s poor verbal choices in class:

Hi Ben,

My new thing when a kid says something inappropriate is “I’m gonna tell your mother you said that” and I do, after one warning.  

Here is the email:

Dear [Parent] –

I’m hoping you will support me in a conversation that I’ve been having with X.  He is a great kid–helpful, funny, engaged.  I need a note-taker in my class and X is frequently the only volunteer, which is particularly significant given that writing isn’t his favorite activity.  

Although he wants to do the right thing, I often have to speak with him about what is and isn’t appropriate to say in class.  As he may have told you, we build stories together in German, and I elicit details from the class.  It is usually very funny and often borders on the bizarre.  I think it is hard for X to know where the line is.  Yesterday, for example, he suggested a scenario where someone shoots into a crowd.  At another point yesterday it was a rather crude suggestion involving body parts.  

I know X well enough to know that he is just trying to be funny and get a laugh, but these comments are inappropriate and disruptive.  Part of our job as educators is to teach kids “time and place;” this is to be expected.  I am hoping that you can reinforce the message at home, as I have spoken to him repeatedly and the behavior continues.

Thank you in advance for your support.

Best regards,