How do I approach my daughter's teacher?
My daughter has been going to her preschool for over a year now. She started in the 2s room and once she was potty trained, she moved up. Her new teacher is a bit more firm, which is completely fine, as my daughter needs to hear from someone other than my husband and I. Well, my daughter is intimidated or afraid to answer wrong (when asked to tell her letters/numbers). My daughter has basically shut down when it comes to that. My daughter is strong but very sensitive. I have a feeling, my daughter isn't taking to her teacher and will cry and stop herself. I don't want to be rude to her teacher but how would you tell her: she's having a hard time because she's intimidated by you and she's not going to get much out of her? I don't want her to stop herself from learning plus there aren't any other classes since it's a small school.
Side note, I have been doing letter recognition and she actually gets it. I know I'm her mom but she can be super comfortable yet stubborn at the same time.
It’s too bad that nobody answered you 11 months ago! As a teacher I would have told you to just be straightforward with her. This would in turn show your daughter she doesn’t need to be intimidated by her. Set the example. But also, the teacher might not know! For a teacher of little ones it can be super easy to come off as “too firm” or as I have realized myself “kind of scary” to some kids. I consider myself to be super gentle but my firmness comes into play when I have a bunch of the little ones needing all of the best parts of me at once (aka, when they are exhibiting challenging behaviour). I slip into work mode versus nurture mode and I learned quickly in my career that this isn’t the most effective way for young children to learn. Anyways, in the future just politely tell the teacher, “My daughter has expressed that she feels a bit intimidated by you and she is having a hard time expressing her needs because of this. Maybe we can work together to get her out of her shell?”