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Case: Smelly Kid I guess I am still considered a novice teacher because I have been teaching for four years only. I am an elementary school teacher who teaches in a mostly White suburban setting. Couple of weeks ago a new student joined my classroom. He and his parents recently moved from Eastern Europe. His father works at the local university as a music professor. I am not sure what his mother does. He is a wonderful child. Although he speaks little English, he tries to participate in class activities and to make friends with others in the classroom. Couple days after he arrived, I noticed a strange smell around him. I was sure that it was body odor. The other students in the classroom started noticing it too. They started making fun of him. I learned in my multicultural classes when I was at the university that not all cultures promote taking showers everyday, and that body odor is not considered a problem everywhere in the world. Now I have a big dilemma. If I tell my student about it, I might embarrass him. If I sent a note to his parents, I may appear disrespectful toward their culture. But the way he is treated in the classroom by the other students is becoming a real problem. What should I do? Solution: (Rates are posted for this solution!) You should send a letter home with the other students letting their parents know to please speak with them about how they treat others and not picking on other people in the classroom regardless of their situation. You don't have to go into specific details about the problem in the classroom but just let the parents be aware that some students are picking at others and that this is disruptive in the classroom. Then schedule a conference with the smelly child's parents letting them know what is going on. I'm sure that if they care about the emotional well being of their child then they will make some changes so that he will come to school without the odor anymore. Also, having the school counselor present, will make the conference go a lot easier. They may understand where the counselor is coming from a little better. I had a situation like this and both the counselor and I spoke to the parents. Afterwards, there was no problem at all. |
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