Requesting teachers?

Sherri Tierney

Sherri Tierney

New member
I mentioned to someone that I'm starting to work on some teacher gifts for next year (back to school gifts) and then we got to talking about teachers and requesting teachers, etc. She said her district won't let you request a specific teacher for your child. I found that kind of interesting. I'm sure they have their reasons though.

I never thought to request a teacher for my daughter for kindergarten or 1st grade. I just let the school decide and hoped she got in with the teacher/students that I wanted her with. We were lucky and her teachers were good. There were only 2 teachers to choose from for each grade back then (we had 3 neighborhood schools each with grades k-5). Between her 2nd and 3rd grade year our district shook us all up. We switched to the current system we have of grade level attendance centers. pre-K-1 are in one school, 2-3 in another and 4-5 in the 3rd. Suddenly there were twice as many teachers to choose from (4 doesn't seem like a lot to some but it doubled our options!). I had always assumed she'd end up with one of two teachers for 3rd grade but suddenly there were 4 classes, 4 teachers. A friend and I decided to request the same teacher for both of our girls to keep them together in class. We both felt strongly that the girls would do well with the teacher too. It worked so well that for 4th grade we also ended up requesting the same teacher for both our girls. They are going into 5th next year and I put in my request the other day. I love the teacher that I requested. She works with the Girl Scouts so she's been around my daughter and she's just a super fun lady. My daughter loves her and she's told me time and again she'd love to have my girl next year so I had to put in that request. I found out that my friend put in a request for her daughter too for the same teacher. We didn't coordinate it this year but it will be kind of neat that our two are together every year all through elementary school. They are besties so its pretty nice. Anyway, I also requested a teacher for my son for kindergarten because he is so spirited and I knew the teacher I requested could handle him. She wasn't my daughter's teacher so it was a new experience for us but she worked out wonderfully. We couldn't be happier. For 1st grade I am requesting for him as well. My daughter's 2nd grade teacher now teaches 1st and my son LOVED her when he was little and my daughter was in her class. She gave him a book one day and he still remembers that and always asks about her. She was a rockstar of a teacher so I really hope he gets her. :) After next year my daughter will be in middle school and I won't have any say over her teachers, that will be strange... When my son goes to 2nd I don't know what I'll do. I work at the 2nd-3rd grade building and choosing between those awesome teachers would be really difficult. I admire them all!

So, what about you? Do you just let the schools decide which teacher is best for your child or do you do your own research and request a teacher yourself?
 
Our school sends home a form for us to fill out about our child's strengths, weaknesses, needs, learning styles, and goals for the upcoming year, but they make it very clear that we are not allowed to request specific teachers. If someone does, they ask them to resubmit the form without naming a specific teacher. From what I understand they use the information to make sure each classroom has a diversity for learning styles, cultural backgrounds, etc. They also seem to try to shake things up year to year so the same kids don't stay together every year.
 
Our district doesn't allow you to request a specific teacher. They do have a form that you can fill out describing traits that your child has, and so if you have a concern, you can fill that out and they will attempt to place that child with the teacher that would work best with that child. A child's current teacher has a lot of input into which class they go into the next year...they have learned a lot about their student's personalities and learning styles, and generally have a very good idea as to which teacher would be best for that student. And that works just fine for me.

The one thing that we can specifically request is to have our child in a different room than another student that they have had issues with (and believe me, the teachers give big input on which kids shouldn't be together as well!)

I did work at one school that would allow you to make specific teacher requests, but it became a problem because everyone wanted one specific teacher...and you can't put all 60 first graders into one class, kwim?
 
We've never been allowed to choose teachers, but do have the environmental forms we can fill out (this was for elementary and middle schools). You can also put down a teacher you do NOT want, if your older child had him/her and you don't think that teacher is a good fit for the younger ones. And yes, you can specify another student to be separated from your child. When Wyatt was in 1st grade, the kid behind him in alphabetical order (which was how they always lined up) used to whisper in his ear "I'm going to kill you," so um, yeah, he was never with that kid again throughout elementary school.

Also, our elementary school's policy was to automatically separate twins. So I always specifically asked them to be together. The teacher was always skeptical in the beginning but as she got to know my boys she would find out that they are very independent. They didn't even always play together at recess.

For middle school, my twins are in the most advanced math class (2 years ahead) so they have to be put on the same team as there is only one teacher per grade who teaches that level. So their schedules will be different, but they will have some of the same teachers.

Now high school...forget it. You have no input at all.
 
We can request here thru 5th grade. Doesn't necessarily mean the child will be in that teacher's class but I think they do try to be accommodating. Mine go to pretty small city schools not the larger county schools (one of the benefits of living INSIDE the city limits vs outside)

I have never requested though since I pretty much like them all and feel any of them would be a good match for my kiddos
 
Our school is big, with 4-5 teachers per grade. I have no idea if we're allowed to request specific teachers. In general I've been very happy with the teachers my kids have had. My 2nd grader has had 3 phenomenal teachers who all worked very well with his personality and learning style, and I wouldn't be at all surprised to find out that the school has a system like the one Stacy mentioned in place.

I don't love DS2's K teacher, but she's not bad...she's just not as good as DS1's teachers have been. Even if I'd known that ahead of time I don't think I could have changed his class placement because the school needed to coordinate services for a small group of kids (including DS) who all had to be in the same class. His special ed teacher matters a lot more, and there's only 1 per grade.

Under certain circumstances I'd consider putting in a teacher request, but not routinely. I think I may be putting in my first request for next year, but it's for a student and not a teacher. DS1 is part of a small group of kids changing elementary schools, and if his BF goes too I am planning to put in a request for them to be together. DS is very nervous and being with a friend would help a lot.
 
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I've always been able to request teachers for my kids and they get the ones that I requested.
 
Misty Cato said:
Our school sends home a form for us to fill out about our child's strengths, weaknesses, needs, learning styles, and goals for the upcoming year, but they make it very clear that we are not allowed to request specific teachers. If someone does, they ask them to resubmit the form without naming a specific teacher. From what I understand they use the information to make sure each classroom has a diversity for learning styles, cultural backgrounds, etc. They also seem to try to shake things up year to year so the same kids don't stay together every year.
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I think this must be a WA thing :) Same here, but they do test the kindergarden children and divide them by classes based on ability....they don't want to stick all the advnaced kids in one class and the slower kids in another so they are divided....I do plan to request Abby's teacher for Peyton next year because I beleive she has the style and can really handle Peyton. They only had 2 5th grade teachers this year so I felt ben would get a good choice either way and his teacher this year is absolutely AMAZING! He has only had 2 meltdowns and is one of the top kids in his class in all of his subjects....so I stronly beleive therre are defeinetely some better teachers out their to fit "our" children and I have every intenetion of asking for that teacher. Diversity or not, some kids and teachers don't work well together. Plus they kept trying to blame us last year for ben's issues at shcool and within 2 weeks his teacher this year realized he needed glasses and sat him as close to the board as possible until he got them and he hasn't had harldy any meltdowns all year. Plus she realized he needed to be challenged and she took that on instead of just letting him be bored and that was getting him in trouble last year. So just like with any job, some poepl are stronger in their fields than others :)
 
We are a very small town with one school that is K-8. Each grade has 3-4 teachers depending on the number of students. We are "discouraged" from asking for specific teachers and I agree with this policy because like someone else said, you can't put all 40 kids in one classroom and someone is going to end up disappointed, etc.

That said, they will allow parents to meet with the principal and current teacher to discuss specific placements. When Cheyanne went into 4th grade I did request a specific classroom but not because of the teacher. In 4th grade we have 3 very different types of classrooms - looping (same teacher and same kids for 4th and 5th grade), multiage (4th and 5th grade combined classroom - 2 teachers in this classroom and you have a different group of kids with your group each year), and traditional. Both Cheyanne's 3rd grade teacher and I felt she would do best with a looping classroom, so that's what she got. We also requested that she be separated from another girl because the other girl always antagonized Cheyanne to the point where it was every aggravating for the teacher, classroom, and my daughter. I don't necessarily agree with keeping best friends together each year either - kids need to meet and learn to get along with a diverse group of people. Cheyanne has made some great friends from each classroom each year and still has her "bestie" no matter what classrooms they are in.

Now that she's in Jr. High there's no point in requesting a specific teacher because she changes classrooms for all subjects and has each teacher for 1-2 subjects.
 
Since I work at the school my son goes to i talked directly to the kindergarten teacher when they put together first grade class lists bc we didn't do requests. :). Kindergarten I didn't care. Second grade I mostly didn't care (2/4 were good for me and I was one of the two I didn't want him to have. Lol)

This year the principal opened it up for requests, which I was surprised about. He can't possibly grant all parent requests and keep the classes balanced- boy/girl, ability range, etc. so we will see how it goes I guess. This year I did request tho. Just bc one of my team is going to third and she's great!!!
 
Our school sends home a form for us to fill out about our child's strengths, weaknesses, needs, learning styles, and goals for the upcoming year, but they make it very clear that we are not allowed to request specific teachers. If someone does, they ask them to resubmit the form without naming a specific teacher. From what I understand they use the information to make sure each classroom has a diversity for learning styles, cultural backgrounds, etc. They also seem to try to shake things up year to year so the same kids don't stay together every year.
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Not in WA here, but we have the same situation. Thankfully, we've ended up with fabulous teachers so far! Hope it continues!
 
I've never requested. As a parent and a teacher, I've chosen to let the school determine who will best fit with my child. I also know that my children are for the most part easy students -- top of their class, well behaved -- and that other children might not be, and those children might have a greater need for a certain teacher than my child. I've made the most of who we have for teachers, and I'm not above going in to a teacher and calling them on something if they aren't teaching well or to my child's learning style.

My kids are all in junior high/high school/just graduated now so this really doesn't apply to me anymore, but I have to say it's worked well for our family. My son graduated in the upper 25% of his class and both my girls have 4.0s, the oldest is in honors and AP classes.
 
We are not allowed to make requests for teachers. There is only one elementary school in the county & there are 4-5 teachers per grade. When your child enters the system you fill out a form about their strengths & weaknesses and that one time is it. From that point the teachers themselves have a lot of input as to which teacher they get the following year.

If you are really unhappy with an assignment because an older child had that teacher & you think your younger child will have problems you can request a change but because the school is crowded with 20-24 kids per class they'd probably have to change another child's assignment and odds are they won't do that without a very good reason.

You can request they not put your child in a class with another child if you have a documented history of incidents.

My oldest is fidgity, not diagnosable ADD or ADHD, but close enough & very bright & finished his work quickly so he gets bored. I was really concerned about his teacher this year because I'd heard she was very strict & uncompromising but she & he ended up getting along great. She lets him stand up by his desk for most of the day because he can't sit still & if he follows certain rules he can help others with their work when he is done. I was surprised & pleased by how it all worked out.
 
We have a form to fill out about our children as well. And they test kindergarteners too. But I don't think we can request teachers. We're actually getting a new principal next year, so I don't know what will be different.

They were just starting to implement a program where siblings get the same teacher if the teacher and parents both wanted it that way. I would LOVE for my children to have the same teacher Kathryn has now.

I don't really know anything about the other grade's teachers. I have friends I could ask, but I will just let whatever happens happen, but I am hoping the sibling thing still works out.
 
We are not allowed to request at all. The teachers all get together and do the class lists, so they pretty much know who should go where. Both kids this year got the teacher I didn't want, BUT it has turned out to be the best thing for both of them, so now i've decided to just not have an opinion. :D
 
we aren't allowed to request teachers. we can request not to have our children with certain children and we can describe our child's learning style. i have wrote letters most years asking that adam not be put in class with one boy. as well, i have requested he has a teacher who can handle a gifted and talented kid. this year his teacher requested him i think!
 
I find it interesting how many of you aren't allowed to make requests. I had never heard of that until last night. We had always been allowed to make requests when I was in elementary school even. The only time my family did was when my 4th grade teacher moved to 6th grade the same year I was going into 6th and my grandma requested her for me (and my best friend's mom also requested her but we didn't know it at the time). In retrospect I wish we had not. However, both of us (my friend and I) had the same teacher for 5th grade and we both had an awful year (lousy teacher, even knowing what I do now about everything teachers go through and looking back, she was flat out lousy) and our parents were trying to avoid it again by putting us in with a teacher we had known and liked. The mix of students wasn't great though and we still kind of had rough years in 6th grade.

Our district tests kindergarteners and does their best to mix them up by ability. They take requests into account but don't guarantee anything. I talked to my son's principal before he started kindergarten and asked her if we should request this specific teacher knowing what we do about his personality and her teaching style. She's known him since he was a baby and she actually recommended we make the request so that she didn't forget to suggest it herself. She felt it was a good fit.

My daughter is an easy student, straight A's, etc. Every teacher wants one like her in their classroom (that's what they tell me every year at conferences!) so I know she will do well no matter where she is placed. I know though that she has been hoping for a specific teacher since she was in kindergarten so I felt like I owed it to her to put in a request. :) If it doesn't work out, she'll still do fine. :)

Our teachers get together to help decide which kids will be placed in which class. The teachers for two grade levels get together and discuss placements based on things like personality, abilities, issues with specific students, etc. They make suggestions or requests themselves and then it goes on from there.

Twins are usually separated. We changed to our new structure after my daughter's 2nd grade year. In 2nd grade she had two sets of twins in class but that was because there was only ONE second grade class. With the grade level centers like we have now it will never happen that we only have one class for a specific grade level so twins will be separated unless a parent requests otherwise.

We don't have the problem with everyone requesting the same teacher. It could happen in the future I suppose but right now people are still pretty loyal to the teachers that would have been their child's teachers had our district not changed. We have a pretty diverse group of parents too who are all looking for different things in a teacher. That said, there were some disappointed parents last year who requested a teacher who was reassigned from 2nd grade to 1st. In all though, there aren't many requests in our district, less than 10% by far. In fact, the only parents I know of making requests are those of us who are in PTO and very active in the schools. I think we've just gotten to know specific teachers and feel comfortable with them.
 
mariewilcox said:
I don't necessarily agree with keeping best friends together each year either - kids need to meet and learn to get along with a diverse group of people. Cheyanne has made some great friends from each classroom each year and still has her "bestie" no matter what classrooms they are in.
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For us, its just worked out that way. We only coordinated it for 3rd grade and only because the structure was changing and the kids would be merging with two other schools of 3rd graders and we wanted to be sure our girls had at least one good friend in class with them. For 4th grade we just wanted the same teacher. (DD's best friend's mom and I) I don't see anything wrong with keeping best friends together each year as long as it doesn't become a problem. It hasn't been for us. These two girls of ours may be best friends but they don't spend every recess together. They don't eat lunch together every day. They don't always want to be in the same groups at school (they are both on very different academic levels and have different interests to boot). They don't get in trouble for talking or anything. They both have lots of other friends in the class as well as in other classes. In fact, a casual observer would never catch on that they are best friends. So, nope, its never been an issue and its never kept the girls from making new friends. My daughter is such a social bug it isn't even funny.
 
With my youngest I did not have a choice. There was only one special ed teacher and there were some I absolutely adored and wished he could have every year and a few who I absolutely detested. One particular instance was his teacher left her USB drive thing plugged into the computer and my son fell next to the computer. He broke her USB drive (thumb drive or whatever you want to call it). She actually got mad at my son and blamed him for it like he did it on purpose. She was a little bit nutty too. Her class was run like the army (her husband was in the army). They were all cadets. It was a bit ridiculous. Another one I disliked had decided before even meeting my son that he was 'bad" so she put him in hte corner with a desk that had sides going up like three feet so all he could see was what was on his desk and on those little walls on the desk. She and I did not get along. She also insisted on pairing my son with the one boy he did not get along with anytime they had to pair up. I told her if they dont get along stop trying to force it. Her idea was there are going to be people he is going to have to work with when he is older and actually working and needs to learn to do that. I said yes that is true but at the same time everytime these two get together they end up arguing and then being sent to the office. I do not know why they did not like each other but it was totally mutual and my son had lots of kids he did get along with very well.


He had a few amazing teachers to make up for those though. One who still sends him birthday cards/gifts. In fact when I emailed her about the accident and the fact that it happened a few days before Nicks birthday she sent him gifts and a card and send my husband and myself a card. (mine was a condolence card, my hubby's was a get well card because he did not know about our son passing yet) and she just recently sent a "thinking of you" card to all of us. She was truly an amazing teacher. I believe she is now working solely with autistic kids up in north florida.

Anyhow to answer your question LOL our schools did "allow requests" but they would not guarantee the requested teacher would be the one your child got. They did try to let siblings get the same teacher their siblings had. Like my youngest before he was in the learning disabled class got the same 1s grade teacher my middle son had. I had requested it as well so th efact that we already knew her, had a really good relationship developed kinda pushed them into putting him into her class. I have also requested my kids to not be put into a certain class as well because of experiences I have had with the teacher and they do usually try to honor those requests as they want a positive teacher/parent &teacher/student relationship.
 
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We have never been able to request, but since Rae was diagnosed autistic, I asked at the end of last year if she could have a certain teacher (because the teacher has an autistic child and is really an advocate for the kids in the area). We thought she would be most understanding, and that is who we got for her.

We do have some amazing teachers at our kids school, so I really didn't worry if they would get "bad" teachers. I have never requested teachers aside from that one, and I won't do it again either. But our school is familiar with Rae, and I'm confident they would make the right decision as to which teacher she should go with. Amelia and Benjamin have done well with whomever they've had.
 
My oldest is just starting K this fall so I havent dealt with this at all. We live in a small town though, so for most grades there is only 1 class, 2 at the most. I dont know if you can request or not (we can't for K as there is only 1 teacher).
 
This is an interesting thread. We are not asked about our children's abilities, strengths, etc. I know that we can request that our child not to be in the same class with someone else: we had to do this for 6th and 7th grade with our son and one of his cousins. She was just outright nasty with him and would scream at him in class. Thankfully, all of the teachers agreed that they should be separated.

I was in a unique position until he was in 7th grade because I basically homeschooled and sent him to school for only a period or two a day. In elementary school, I just requested a certain teacher each year, and there was never any problem. In middle school, we were allowed to choose what courses Michael took and the teachers based on who could best give Michael what he needed. Because he was somewhat ahead of the other students, some teaching styles just didn't work well for him (think worksheets).

For high school, there are only about 800 students in my son's high school, and two teachers teach each core subject. It is unfortunate that one freshman team is by far much, much better than the other, and luckily, Michael got that team. I actually don't know what I would have done if he had gotten the other team. Not only is the second team not good educators, they are not good to the students, and he would have had difficulty in that situation. Several parents have already requested that their children not be put in those classes for next year. I don't know what will happen. The vice-principal is trying to address the issue, but, unfortunately, the teacher's union makes it almost impossible for the administration to deal with it constructively. (I am a former teacher and know that there are wonderful teachers in the system.)

In the high school, I know some parents who have had success in requesting certain teachers using a mixture of schedule changes and one-to-one meetings with the principal to discuss why certain teacher-student matches are not desirable. However, next year, my son's chemistry teacher is not very good, and the students come out of there not really understanding chemistry. This is a challenging situation because he will be taking AP Chemistry his junior year. His schedule just won't allow him to have the better teacher, and I don't know that I would request her anyway- his teacher is not bad or mean or demeaning. Therefore, I am not totally opposed to Michael having him even though I know he won't be getting the education he needs. I have just gone ahead and set up one-to-one sessions for Michael with a graduate chemistry student to make sure he not only understands it, but is also challenged.

As an aside, I have been lucky because the county administration has always been willing to work with me. This year, all freshmen had to re-take Algebra I as a result of the school implementing a team-based, project based approach this year. Michael was the only freshman who was allowed to take both Geometry and Algebra II, and then, for the second semester, he was allowed to add an online Pre-Calculus Honors class.
 
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I'm a teacher and my district doesn't allow teacher requests. They do take staff input- so for example my kids come to my school/work and knowing we are all colleagues, they give us input. Parents fill our forms listing their child's strengths, weaknesses, what type of classroom they need to be successful, the characteristics of the teacher they need to be successful and you can list two students who would not be good classmates for your child.
If you request a teacher by name, they will throw it out. That said, our school takes the forms and the grade level sits down and sorts them into classes. So having good communication with the current teacher about your wishes is a good idea. But my school is huge- we had 10 kindergarten classes alone. I trust my staff to put my kids in the right place, but give input too.
 
I never even thought of all this. My son starts kindergarten this fall at a larger school. There will be 4 classes. I never filled out a form with his strengths/weaknesses, etc. They just said they would send out teacher assignments in August, that's all.
 
Our schools have never asked for strengths, weaknesses, etc. either which is one reason I'm glad we can request. To be honest, I wasn't thrilled with my daughter's 1st grade teacher. She was nice enough but I don't think she challenged my girl at all. Kindergarten was really messed up for her. Her teacher was pregnant and gone half the school year due to complications (bedrest, etc.) and then maternity leave. She had a sub that was also pregnant which was kind of funny, the kids talked about babies all year. Anyway, the sub was amazing. I liked her much better than the teacher. Funny though that my daughter barely remembers the sub and remembers the teacher. The teacher is a bit of a pushover and I worried about her control over the class based on the time I spent in the room. So, after two years of so-so experiences we had an awesome 2nd grade for her and that's when I decided that I wanted to have a say in who taught my child. I was debating between 2 teachers for 3rd grade. As I've gotten to know the teachers better this year working with them at school I am certain I chose best for my daughter last year. I still adore the other teacher but I don't think she would have done as well in her class as she did in the class she had. I do, however, think my son would be a great fit in the 2nd teacher's class. :)

I guess I can see when you have a really large school how requesting teachers could become a headache. We're a small school district. We are ending the year with 101 kindergarteners and the only other class as big is the class of graduating seniors this year. We have like 78 second graders.
 
The boys' current school only has 3-4 teachers per grade level and 3000 students across the state (virtual program), so we don't get to request anything. I have no idea how the district here works requests.

Back in Madison, we did make a request when D entered Kindergarten. He was assigned the one teacher I didn't want him to have. She treated him poorly during the open house/meet & greet they offer for kindergarteners. Very brusque and cavalier about anything he/we asked her and I couldn't let him deal with that all year. The principal tried to tell me it couldn't be changed, but I mentioned pulling him altogether (which I should have done anyway) and suddenly he had a different teacher.
 
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