Home | How It Works | Stats Login | Register         Case: Not A Poor Loser. I teach in an urban elementary school where most of the children are on free or reduced lunch. Most of the students live close to the school, but we have a small number of students from middle socioeconomic status who are bused from nearby neighborhoods. Most of these students do not qualify for free or reduced lunch. When Josh joined my 5th grade classroom two weeks ago, I handed him the free/reduced lunch coupons to be submitted to the lunch room personnel at lunch time. What I did not realize was that Josh did not qualify for free or reduced lunch but I simply made the assumption that he did because most of our students do. When Josh saw the coupons he asked me what they were and I told him what they were. He said, in a loud enough voice for everyone to hear, that he was not one of those poor losers who had to get government's help. I was surprised to hear such a thing from a 5th grade student. I told him that what he said was wrong and hurtful but he did not seem to care much. I wondered if he learned these types of things at home. Because his classmates heard what he said, they have not accepted him as a friend. Josh now is an isolated child. I have to deal with this issue. I have to find a way to bring Josh and the rest of the class together but I don't know where to begin. Do I begin with Josh, or the other students in class? How do I fix this so that all students learn some good lessons about tolerance? Solution: (Rates are posted for this solution!) As I just read in one of the articles about diversity, stereotypes are common and can even be accidental. In this case, you were probably trying to get this new student involved in the classroom as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, making a simple mistake caused for the opposite to happen. He was wrong for calling out such a hurtful thing but his feelings may have also been hurt when you assumed he was just like others in your class. I would start with the young boy and tell him you apologize for making the assumption but that the things he said hurt some of his classmates feelings. I believe once you talk to him and help him understand the situation, he will want to apologize and the other students will most likely accept him into the classroom family.                 Rating The suggested solution is respectful of the individual (student) Yes The suggested solution is relevant to the case Yes The suggested solution is reasonable (easy) for the teacher to implement Yes The suggested solution is likely to solve the problem/issue Yes The suggested solution is original Yes Comments: Rated On: March 3, 2013 8:21 pm Rated By: yTuGyd                 Rating The suggested solution is respectful of the individual (student) Yes The suggested solution is relevant to the case Yes The suggested solution is reasonable (easy) for the teacher to implement Yes The suggested solution is likely to solve the problem/issue Yes The suggested solution is original Yes Comments: Great solution. Josh shouldn't say hurtful things about his classmates in that way. Rated On: October 19, 2014 3:39 pm Rated By: Megan Lee