Hands up if your child’s teacher has ever mentioned that your child is “very social”. Or “excitable.” How about “a natural born leader”?
These are just some of the secret phrases teachers often use to communicate with parents, a secret teacher code if you will. Now a teacher in America has revealed what these common phrases really mean and they are pretty spot on.
In a recent video, posted to the @bored_teachers TikTok account, Miss Jess Smith, 33, reveals, “We have a code when we email parents.”
She went on to explain the real meanings behind the secret teacher code:
The secret teacher code revealed:
Your child is very social.
MEANS: Your child won’t stop talking.
Your child’s excitement is contagious.
MEANS: Your child will not calm down [and is turning the whole class bat-sh*t crazy].
Your child is a natural-born leader.
MEANS: Your child is super bossy.
Your child is going to make a great lawyer.
MEANS: Your kid won’t stop arguing with me.
We’ve asked several teachers to share their own “secret teacher codes” including:
Your child is an enthusiastic contributor to class discussions.
MEANS: Your child is constantly calling out the answers.
Your child is very active.
MEANS: Your child won’t stop moving.
Your child is very spirited.
MEANS: Your child is as crazy as anything.
Your child is very helpful.
MEANS: Your child often finishes his work early and is used as a classroom assistant.
Your child displays excellent ‘listening’ skills.
MEANS: Your child is very good at pretending to be aware of what’s going on in the class.
Your child is always curious.
MEANS: Your child would rather wander around looking at things than do anything but the schoolwork in front of her.
Your child is open to new ideas.
MEANS: Your child is easily influenced into poor behaviour.
Your child is a unique character.
MEANS: Thank god there’s only one like them in my class.
Your child has an interest in self-guided learning.
MEANS: Your child basically does whatever she wants.
Your child knows the school rules well.
MEANS: Your child likes to tell me these rules daily, especially if I happen to break one.
Your child has a wide circle of friends.
MEANS: I have run out of seats to put your child in where they won’t chat.
Your child is ‘working towards’.
MEANS: Your child isn’t doing it… we just can’t use the word ‘can’t’.
Your child is a pleasure to teach.
MEANS: Your child is actually pretty awesome.
Time to confess, mums, how many of these comments have you seen in an email or on a report card? I’ve seen a fair few!
Secret code talk
As Jess explains, the secret teacher code came from “years of trying to think of positive ways to communicate with parents without nit-picking a child’s personality.”
I tried to be as positive as I could while corresponding with home or writing comments on report cards because I am here to build a relationship, not destroy it through constant criticism or bluntness,” she continued.
“I should add that while I’m not a confrontational person at all, if there was behavior that absolutely needed to be addressed directly — I would do that!”
While many teachers praised Jess’ honesty, some swayed the other way, explaining how they would never use a “secret code” to trick parents.
However, Jess maintained that the videos are meant to be humorous, and the code she spoke about was not for behavior that needed to be “corrected immediately.”
